Block Cinema - Looking at Listening: Films on Women and Experimental Music

40 Arts Circle Drive,Evanston IL 60208

04 February, 2022

Description

Short films on the themes of electronic music, archival retrieval, and audiovisual experimentation with a live electronic music performance LOOKING AT LISTENING: FILMS ON WOMEN AND EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC"Looking at Listening" is a program of short documentary films organized around the themes of electronic music, archival retrieval, and audiovisual experimentation. These four films extend the inquiries into the legacy of women in electronic music beyond the figures profiled in Lisa Rovner’s documentary Sisters With Transistors: Electronic Music’s Unsung Heroines, while experimenting with the audiovisual presentation of archival material, and proposing new ways of relating the history of music and musical practice. The screenings will include a live performance by electronic musician Natalie Chami (TALsounds) and be followed by a panel discussion with Chami and filmmaker Emily Eddy, moderated by guest curator and NU Screen Cultures PhD candidate Jennifer Smart. Presented with support from Screen Cultures and Sound Arts and Industries at Northwestern University Free and open to all About the Films:(Various Artists, 2019 - 2020, ~69 min, digital) A film about listening (Sam Green, US, 2020, 33 minutes) A film about listening is an intimate portrait of the sound artist and composer Annea Lockwood. Adopting Lockwood’s own listening practices as a formal device, the film marries a close attention to the textures of Lockwood’s sonic universe with reflections on her life and practice. Hacer una diagonal con la musica (Aura Satz, UK, 2019, 10 minutes) Hacer una diagonal con la musica offers viewers (listeners) an introduction to the Argentinian composer Beatriz Ferreyra. Eschewing traditional biographical presentation, the film centers Ferreyra’s music as the soundtrack to sustained takes of Ferreyra recording and processing her sounds in the studio. Space Lady (Sophia Feuer, US, 2020, 17 minutes) Space Lady recovers the life and music of Susan Dietrich Schneider aka the Space Lady, a former street performer who has been belatedly recognized for her contributions to the history of electronic music. Focusing on her present day life in Colorado the film provides a blunt and poignant look into the reality of artistic life. Amour Pour Une Femme (Emily Eddy, US, 2019, 9 minutes) Amour Pour Une Femme is an experimental essay film. Assembled out of lush archival footage, the film stages a horror-tinged but deeply nostalgic visual landscape fusing images of femininity, nature, and childhood. About the artists: Emily Eddy is a film, video, and digital media artist and curator based in Chicago. Combining many forms of moving image, her work utilizes strategies of video diaries, archival practices, and experimental documentaries. She directs the Nightingale Cinema where she has curated film, video, and media works since 2013. Emily was the programmer of the Onion City Experimental Film + Video Festival, a project of Chicago Filmmakers, from 2018-2020. Emily has curated screenings and exhibited work at many venues in Chicago as well as in Los Angeles, CA; Milwaukee, WI; Reykjavík, Iceland; and her hometown, Portland, OR. As an independent artist, Natalie Chami adopted the TALsounds moniker in 2009 for her explorations in the drone, ambient, and electroacoustic improv disciplines. Chami released her first TALsounds LP, "Love Sick," with New York's Ba Da Bing Records. Her second LP, "Acquiesce," arrived in 2020 on NNA Records. Film still from Space Lady (2020) by Sophia Feuer Film still from Hacer una Diagonal con la Musica/Making a Diagonal with Music (2019) Aura Satz The Block Museum is Northwestern University’s art museum. The Block is a dynamic, imaginative, and innovative teaching and learning resource for Northwestern and its surrounding communities, featuring a global exhibition program that crosses time periods and cultures and serves as a springboard for thought-provoking discussions relevant to our lives today. The museum also commissions new work by artists to foster connections between artists and the public through the creative process. Each year, the Block mounts exhibitions; organizes and hosts lectures, symposia, and workshops involving artists, scholars, curators, and critics; and screens classic and contemporary films at its in-house cinema. The museum also reaches national and international audiences through its traveling exhibitions, publications and website. Its growing permanent collection of approximately 5,000 works focuses primarily on prints, photography, and drawings. The Museum is located on the southeastern portion of Northwestern's Evanston campus, near the lake and Sheridan Road. Parking is FREE after 4PM on weekdays and all day on weekends. The nearest parking garage is located at the Segal Visitor's Center on Campus Drive.  The Block is free and open to all.