Release Date: January 30, 2014

Global Film and Video Art Showcased in New Exhibition Series

Request Press Images

Exhibition Series Features Works from Brazil, Romania, Peru, and Canada

New York, NY - Following the November 2013 launch of the new exhibition series Sights and Sounds: Global Film and Video, the Jewish Museum continues Sights and Sounds with month-long presentations of recent film and video works from around the world. The winter/spring lineup focuses on Brazil (February 2014), Romania (March 2014), Peru (April 2014), and Canada (May 2014). Over the course of two years, Sights and Sounds is exploring new works selected by twenty-five curators from different countries, introducing New York audiences to the latest developments in filmmaking within the art context worldwide. Each curator has chosen new film and video works from their respective regions - including Argentina, Vietnam, Nigeria, New Zealand, Egypt, and others. Their selections are screened for one month each in the Museum’s newly refurbished media center, which has been transformed into a miniature cinema. The works in Sights and Sounds touch on themes significant to both Jewish culture and universal human experience, including spirituality, exile, language, conflict, family, humor, and history. The Sights and Sounds exhibition series will culminate in a 2016 conference and a publication with curatorial statements, essays, film stills and descriptions, and discussions between curators and artists. A full list of participating curators follows below. Upcoming presentations:

Brazil, curated by Luiza Proença - January 31 - February 27, 2014

Brazil’s collective difficulty discussing the traumas of its past is explored in video works that confront history. The presentation features a work from 2012 by Regina Parra, in which the artist walks from downtown São Paolo to the outlying immigrant neighborhood Brás, a video by Cristiano Lenhardt reenacting a military parade from the era of Brazilian military dictatorship, a meditation on the gift of civilization by Rodrigo Cass where a book titled Civiltà Americana is repeatedly wrapped and unwrapped, and Tamar Guimarães’ 2009 work Tropical Blow Up which combines vintage urban crime-scene photographs with the artist’s contemporary images of lush foliage.

Romania, curated by Daria Ghiu - February 28 - March 27, 2014

Works from Romania show an interest in how history is constructed while referencing historical avant-gardes. Visitors can see Anca Benera and Arnold Estefan’s examination of the contested history of Transylvania, Irina Botea’s work questioning the purpose and authority of national anthems, Pavel Brila’s lovingly detailed study of Moldova’s capital city through the seasons, and Mona Vatamanu and Florin Tudor’s haunting silent film featuring children at play.

Peru, curated by Miguel A. López - March 28 - April 24, 2014

As Peru has experienced economic growth in the last decade, its art scene has expanded apace. Artists frequently address the country’s ongoing inequality and the legacy of its troubled political past. Cristian Alarcón Ismodes’ 2010 video explores the distortion of political events in the news media and entertainment industry, Eliana Otta’s work imagines the destruction of Peru’s colonial past while critiquing longstanding social problems resulting from inequality and marginalization, Rita Ponce de León’s film draws inspiration from Mexican social realist painter David Alfaro Siqueiros, and José Luis Martinat’s work examines situational tropes in popular children’s cartoons.

Canada, curated by Melanie O’Brian - April 25 - May 29, 2014

The artists in this presentation - Robert Arndt, Julia Feyrer, Public Studio, and Kevin Schmidt - call attention to larger constructions of identity through shared landscapes and nationality, as well as colonial, political, and cultural histories. Arndt’s work uses cinematic techniques to display a seemingly endless array of everyday objects. Feyrer also references filmmaking in her 2009 work, in which she constructed a “film set” modeled after a local bar to create a collaborative, performative art environment. A work by Public Studio, a Toronto-based artist collective, focuses on public dissent in Canada and the recent student protests in Montreal, while Schmidt’s piece documents the placement of a billboard containing biblical text on seasonal ice in Northern Canada which is left to drift in the Arctic Ocean, referencing Canada’s complex colonial history and ecological future.

Sights and Sounds Curators (In Alphabetical Order):

Nancy Adajania - India

Miguel Amado - Portugal

Jude Anogwih - Nigeria

Emre Baykal - Turkey

Zoe Butt - Vietnam

Natasha Conland - New Zealand

Joselina Cruz - Philippines

Patrick D. Flores - Singapore

Juan A. Gaitán - Colombia

Daria Ghiu - Romania

Erin Gleeson - Cambodia (November 2013 - January 2014)

Inés Katzenstein - Argentina

Miguel A. López - Peru

Carol Yinghua Lu - China

Mailyn Machado - Cuba

Nontobeko Ntombela - South Africa

Melanie O’Brian - Canada

Luiza Proença - Brazil

Sarah Rifky - Egypt

Marí_a Inés Rodrí_guez - Mexico

Suzana Sousa - Angola

Tijana Stepanovi_ - Hungary

Chen Tamir - Israel

Wayne Tunnicliffe - Australia

Joanna Warsza - Poland

Sights and Sounds: Global Film and Video is organized by Jens Hoffmann, Deputy Director, Exhibitions and Public Programs, and Rebecca Shaykin, Leon Levy Assistant Curator.

About the Jewish Museum

Located on Museum Mile at Fifth Avenue and 92nd Street, the Jewish Museum is one of the world’s preeminent institutions devoted to exploring art and Jewish culture from ancient to contemporary, offering intellectually engaging, educational, and provocative exhibitions and programs for people of all ages and backgrounds. The Museum was established in 1904, when Judge Mayer Sulzberger donated 26 ceremonial objects to The Jewish Theological Seminary as the core of a museum collection. Today, the Museum maintains a collection of over 30,000 works of art, artifacts, and broadcast media reflecting global Jewish identity, and presents a diverse schedule of internationally acclaimed temporary exhibitions.

The Jewish Museum is located at 1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street, New York City. Museum hours are Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, 11am to 5:45pm; Thursday, 11am to 8pm; and Friday, 11am to 4pm. Museum admission is $15.00 for adults, $12.00 for senior citizens, $7.50 for students, free for visitors 18 and under and Jewish Museum members. Admission is Pay What You Wish on Thursdays from 5pm to 8pm and free on Saturdays. For information on the Jewish Museum, the public may call 212.423.3200 or visit the website at www.thejewishmuseum.org.

Press contacts

Anne Scher, Molly Kurzius, or Alex Wittenberg,
The Jewish Museum
212.423.3271 or pressoffice@thejm.org