The Audiovisuals department of Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid, directed by Berta Sichel, presents the cycle “Jack Smith. Kill time See a movie” curated by Bob Nickas and coordinated by Julieta Roitman. For the first time in Spain a complete retrospective of Jack Smith’s films will be exhibited, including less well-know works such as Normal Love and Yellow Sequence, two works by Ken Jacobs (Two Wrenching Departures and Blonde Cobra) and a documentary about the artist by Jill Godmilow and Gregory Merten (Roy Cohn/Jack Smith).
According to curator Bob Nickas the visionary nature of his work cannot possibly be denied. Smith ‘s finely tuned and unique aesthetic absolutely demands not only the awe of his audience, but asks them in a sense to time travel into the world he conjures out of thin air, whether in his films or performance events.
Time is important to many facets of his work with myriad references to the films, music, and soundtracks of his youth childhood, that time of free play and imagination and so in a film from the 1960s we are transported back to the ’30s and ’40s. He goes so far as to suggest that it is not the actor who brings the costume to life, but the costume which brings the actor to life a remarkable observation. He is also in his films precise in the staging of his set and the choreography of bodies in space.
Visual filters plants, leaves, veils, masks, wisps of smoke from a candle, sparks from lit sparklers, lace, and billowing, intricately patterned fabric merge actors and setting, and purposefully obscure and abstract the action or view. With little dialogue, Jack Smith ‘s films are almost pure visual experience.
On October 20th Jerry Tartaglia, director of the Plaster Foundation in New York will be in Madrid for a lecturer, followed by the projections”Performance Reel”, 1975, 30 min; “Sinbad of Baghdad”, 1978, 29 min and “Song For Rent”, 1969, 10 min.
Program 1 : (79 minutes) / 20hs. Fri. Oct. 3rd / 20hs. Wed. Oct. 15th / 20hs Wed. Oct. 24th
– Scotch Tape , Jack Smith, 1959-62, 16 mm, color, sound, 3′ – Courtesy of Canyon Cinema, San Francisco.
– Overstimulated , Jack Smith, 1959-63, 16 mm, b/w, without sound, 5′
– Flaming Creatures , Jack Smith, 1963, 16 mm, b/w, sound, 45′ – Courtesy of Canyon Cinema, San Francisco.
– Chumlum , Ron Rice, 1964, 16 mm, color, sound, 26′ – Courtesy of Light Cone, Paris.
Program 2 : (125 minutes) / 20hs. Thur. Oct. 2nd / 20hs. Thur. Oct. 25th
– Normal Love , Jack Smith, 1963, 16 mm, color, sound, 105′ – Courtesy of Jerry Tartaglia, New York.
– The Yellow Sequence , Jack Smith, 1963, 16 mm, color, sound, 20′ – Courtesy of Jerry Tartaglia, New York.
Program 3 : (63 minutes) / 20hs. Wed. Oct. 8th / 20hs.Thur. Oct. 16th / 20hs. Fri. Oct. 26th
– I Was a Male Yvonne De Carlo , Jack Smith, 1968-70, 16 mm, b/w, sound, 30′. – Courtesy of Canyon Cinema, San Francisco.
– Blonde Cobra, Ken Jacobs y Bob Fleischner, 1963, 16 mm transfer to a DVD, color and b/w, original soundtrack 3′ – Courtesy of Electronic Art Intermix, New York
Program 4 : (70 minutes) / 20hs. Thur. Oct. 9th / 20hs. Fri. Oct. 17th / 20hs Mon. Oct. 28th
– No President , Jack Smith, 1968, 16 mm, color, sound, 45′ – Courtesy of Canyon Cinema, San Francisco.
– Respectable Creatures , Jack Smith, 1950-66, 16 mm, color, sound, 25′ – Courtesy of Jerry Tartaglia, New York.
Program 5 : (90 minutes) / 20hs. Wed. Oct. 1st / 20hs. Fri. Oct. 10th / 20hs Wed. Oct. 22nd
– Roy Cohn/Jack Smith , Jill Godmilow y Gregory Merten, 1995, color, original soundtrack, 90′ – Courtesy of the artists and the Laboratory for Icon & Idiom Inc.
Program 6 : (90 minutes) / 20hs. Thur. Oct. 2nd / 20hs. Mon. Oct. 13th / 20hs. Thur. Oct. 23rd
– Two Wrenching Departures , Ken Jacobs, 2006, 16 mm transfer to a DVD, b/w, original soundtrack, 90′ – Courtesy of the Electronic Art Intermix, New York.