Art Basel Miami Beach has announced details of its 2016 film component, and it includes a local favorite. Jillian Mayer’s viral 2011 short film, “I am Your Grandma” will screen alongside short experimental films by the likes Ana Mendieta, Kim Gordon and Martin Creed on the New World Symphony’s 7,000 foot outdoor screen at SoundScape Park on a nightly basis during the art fair.
“This will be my first time participating in this fair, and I am looking forward to it,” said Mayer via email. “I am really interested to see how all these works will screen together,” she added, noting Mendieta and Creed as just two of the filmmakers she admires whose works will be featured in the same program.
It’s dubbed “Best Dressed Chicken in Town” and, for the sixth year in a row, it was curated by David Gryn, Director of Artprojx and Daata Editions. On his blog, Gryn writes, “With a title borrowed from a classic 1970s reggae song by Jamaican DJ/singer Dr. Alimantado, this year’s short film program focuses on a selection of international artists who engage with music in a multitude of ways.”
The films range in age and style, from live action, animation to a mixture of both, like Keren Cytter’s “Terrorist of Love,” featuring two performers on an urban rooftop mouthing the words to a middle eastern pop song called “Terrorist of Love” as a kaleidoscope of animated characters familiar to those who use Snapchat fill the edges of the screen. There is even an appearance by Keyboard Cat (or at least an impersonator).
Cytter’s short is among the few newer titles. Some shorts go back to the ’70s, including “Anima” by Mendieta, and the oldest being Tomislav Gotovac’s “Ella” from 1966. Though covering a 50-year span, Gryn says there is a commonality shared in the short films. “All the films in this varied and exciting program demonstrate the power of music to attract an audience, keep it engaged, elicit suspense and tug at the heartstrings. Similar to classical symphony works, the order of the films builds up a crescendo to create an awe-inspiring magic derived from the works in their entirety.”
“Best Dressed Chicken in Town” will screen every night, but the program also features several programs of shorts that will vary night by night. Mayer also singled out the first night’s one-off program, which will show after the shorts, featuring Rita Ackermann and Alfredo Jaar. Ackermann is represented by her 2011 film “Movement as Monument” in which she “digitally collages disparate audio and video source materials.” It will be followed by Jaar’s 2005 short “Muxima” described as “a cinematic elegy dedicated to the people of Angola, structured around interpretations of a local folk song to explore six aspects of Angola’s history: colonization, Communism, the 30-year civil war, the AIDS epidemic, poverty and challenges presented by the oil industry.”
Asked how Mayer feels about having her popular five-year-old short as her official introduction via Art Basel, Mayer stated, “Personally speaking, when I make something, I don’t think about the post experience of it. This work is so loud, and I appreciate that the ideas in this video still resonate with new audiences.”
Here’s a trailer for the films showing at Art Basel Miami Beach this year…
… below you will find a comprehensive schedule of all the films showing at Art Basel Miami Beach this year as provided to us from by the festival via a press release:
Daily (Nov. 30 – Dec. 4):
Miami Beach Convention Center Film Library In addition to the outdoor program, visitors will be able to individually screen over 50 works by artists such as Stephen Dean, Edith Dekyndt, Maggie Lee, Gabriel Lester, Shelly Nadashi, Sophie Nys, João Vasco Paiva, Betye Saar, Jason Simon, Su-Mei Tse and Tuo Wang.
The Film Library is accessible inside the fair halls on touch-screen monitors during show hours. Access with a show entrance ticket.
Nightly (Nov. 30 – Dec. 4):
SoundScape Park. Free. Visitors are encouraged to bring blankets and lawn chairs.
6 p.m. | Sound works in SoundScape Park A compilation of sound works by Ain Bailey, Zoë Buckman, A.K. Burns, Jonathan Montague, Molly Palmer (supported by The Fountainhead Residency) and Susannah Stark.
8 p.m. | Short Film program | “Best Dressed Chicken in Town.” Running Time 120 min.
Tromarama, Psylocibin, 2010, 51”, Edouard Malingue Gallery Ana Mendieta, Anima, Silueta de Cohetes (Firework Piece), 1976, 2’23”, Galerie Lelong Anri Sala, Mixed Behaviour, 2003, 8’19”, Hauser & Wirth Derrick Adams with Ramon Silvera, My Jesus Piece, 2’38”, 2014, Rhona Hoffman Gallery Samson Young, The Coffee Cantata (Institute of Fictional Ethnomusicology), 2015, 6’06”, Edouard Malingue Gallery Kudzanai Chiurai, Moyo, 2013, 5’33”, Goodman Gallery Edgardo Aragón, La encomienda, Perú, 2013, 4’45”, mor charpentier Luther Price, Singing Biscuits, 2006, 4′, Callicoon Fine Arts Catharina van Eetvelde (with music by To Rococo Rot), Glu, 2007, 2’28”, Galerie Greta Meert Ara Peterson, Alsatian Darn, 2011, 4’17”, Ratio 3 Matt Copson, Sob Story, 2016, 5′, High Art Martin Creed, Work No. 2656 Understanding, 2016, 3’11”, Hauser & Wirth Jillian Mayer, I am Your Grandma, 2011, 1’3”, David Castillo Gallery György Kovásznai, Memory of the Summer of ’74, 1974, 9’15” Tromarama, Serigala Militia, 2006, 4’22”, Edouard Malingue Gallery Kim Gordon, Proposal for a Dance, 2012, 12′, 303 Gallery Li Shurui and Li Daiguo, The Shelter: All Fears Come from the Unknown Shimmering at the Edge of the World, 2012/2016, 3’09”, White Space Beijing Adam Shecter, Study for Satellites 4 (Train), 2016, 1’52”, 11R Brian Alfred, Chromacity, 2016, 4’17”, Ameringer McEnery Yohe Dashiell Manley, It and another other, 2015, 3’33”, Jessica Silverman Gallery Haroon Mirza, Adhãn, 2009, 4’54”, Lisson Gallery Zak Ové, A Land So Far, 2016, 6’30”, Vigo Gallery Cabelo, Itamambuca Dub, 2014, 4′, Galeria Marilia Razuk Lena Daly, Trix, 2016, 5′, Various Small Fires Nate Boyce, Repossesion Sequence II, 2016, 4’30”, Altman Siegel Tomislav Gotovac, Ella, 1966, 3’25”, Galerija Gregor Podnar Rodney Graham, A Little Thought, 2000, 3’54”, Hauser & Wirth Keren Cytter, Terrorist of Love, 2016, 3’9”, Galerie Nagel Draxler
One off screenings (at Soundscape Park, unless otherwise noted):
Wednesday, Nov. 30
10 p.m. Rita Ackermann and Christian Marclay Running time 53 min.
Rita Ackermann, Movement as Monument, 2011, 22’30”, Hauser & Wirth In ‘Movement as Monument’, Hungarian-American artist Rita Ackermann films several laptop screens, creating a collage of disparate digital images ranging from an excerpt from Michael Gibson’s controversial drama ‘Apocalyptico’ to images of flash mobs and a promotional video of a Michael Jackson record. This overload of information references French philosopher Paul Virilio’s concept of the ‘Information Bomb’.
Christian Marclay, Mixed Reviews (American Sign Language), 1999/2001, 30′, Paula Cooper Gallery ‘Mixed Reviews (American Sign Language)’ is a silent film about music. It features a performer doing sign language interpretation of reviews of musical performances in which the authors employ written language to describe their auditory experiences
Thursday, Dec. 1
10 p.m. | Short Film program | New Parthenon. Running time 49 min.
Classical music and ballet serve as inspirations in this short film program that features a selection of poetic and visually compelling films, including: Rashid Johnson, The New Black Yoga, 2011, 10’57”, Hauser & Wirth Ain Bailey and Sonia Boyce, Oh Adelaide, 7’10” Anna Grenman, Irminsul, 2016, 5′ Alex Prager, La Grande Sortie, 2015, 10′, Lehmann Maupin Penny Siopis, The New Parthenon, 2016, 15’26’’, Stevenson
Friday, Dec. 2
8:30 p.m. Colony Theatre: Maurizio Cattelan: Be Right Back. 94 min. Screening followed by discussion with director Maura Axelrod. Free, but seating is limited.
trailer Maurizio Cattelan: Be Right Back from Maura Axelrod on Vimeo.
10 p.m. | Liliana Porter and Alfredo Jaar. Running time 59 min.
Alfredo Jaar, Muxima, 2005, 36′, Galerie Lelong, Goodman Gallery. “Muxima” is Chilean-born artist Alfredo Jaar’s first film. Structured around recordings of the Angolan folk song ‘Muxima’ (meaning ‘heart’), it is ‘a cinematic elegy dedicated to the people of Angola’ and a portrait of a complex and changing society.
Liliana Porter, Actualidades / Breaking News, 2016, 22’47”, Sicardi Gallery. “Actualidades/Breaking News,” the newest film by Argentinian artist Liliana Porter, imitates the structure of a newspaper. Like a newspaper’s front page, the film opens with breaking news of a train accident, depicted using a model railroad. Porter uses vintage toys and dolls to illustrate each of the thirty segments, such as the classifieds or the arts & leisure section.
Saturday, Dec. 3
10 p.m. | “Love Songs” – Four Films by Wilhelm Sasnal. Running time 60 min.
Ranging from 2002 to 2015, this selection of films by Polish artist Wilhelm Sasnal emphasizes the artist’s interest in the intersection of music, visual art and film. ‘Untitled (Revolution), Love Songs and The River’ all emphasize a symbiotic relationship between music, cinematography and painting. Citing influences from the aesthetics of musical subcultures and indie music videos to artist movements, Sasnal’s early videos begin with a soundtrack to which he adds visual accompaniment to enhance the aural experience and inject abstract narrative. In contrast to these early works, Sasnal’s 2015 work ‘Developing Tank’ uses film scoring to drive the narrative and fulfill the role of spoken words.
* * *
Art Basel Miami Beach runs from Dec. 1-4 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. The films commence Nov. 30, with the shorts repeating every night at 8 p.m., through Dec. 4. Most can be seen on the New World Symphony’s SoundScape Park.
