MoMA Announces 'Modern Mondays' Feb. Film Discussion Series

MoMA announced Modern Mondays, a February 2012 film discussion series at The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 2.

Modern Mondays include:

An Evening with Tom Kalin and Doveman
February 6, 7:00 p.m.
For this evening, musician Thomas Bartlett (Doveman) (American, b. 1981) and filmmaker Tom Kalin (American, b. 1962) will discuss their collaboration, which began with a series of short films inspired by Doveman's 2009 album The Conformist and continues with an ongoing project that explores the intersection of recorded and live music, digital composition, and projected film. The pair draw inspiration from themes of broken romance, the truth of small gestures, and transcendentalism in addressing such contemporary issues as displacement and urban isolation. Kalin, a prominent figure in the New Queer Cinema movement, is well known as both a feature filmmaker (Swoon [1992] and Savage Grace [2007]) and as an experimental filmmaker (Third Known Nest, 1991–99). He was a founding member of the AIDS activist collective Gran Fury, known for its provocative public art projects. Doveman is a band founded by the 30-year-old Bartlett, who studied piano with Maria Curcio in London before moving to New York City to attend Columbia University. His ongoing live performances, known as The Burgundy Stain Sessions, occur monthly at Manhattan's Le Poisson Rouge. Organized by Barbara London, Associate Curator, Department of Media and Performance Art.

An Evening with Allan Sekula
February 13, 7:00 p.m.
Allan Sekula (American, b. 1951) presents his most recent essay film, The Forgotten Space (2010, codirected by Noël Burch), a critique of the global supply chain, its disastrous impact on the environment and workers' rights, and the standardization of a capitalist world economy. The documentary follows container cargo aboard barges, trains, and trucks, as well as the individuals involved in—and marginalized by—the global transport system. Inspired by Sekula's book Fish Story (1995), The Forgotten Space seeks to understand contemporary maritime culture in relation to symbolic notions of the sea. A pioneer in the use of documentary photography as both an art form and a historical record, Sekula, a self described "critical realist," is regarded as one of the foremost photography theorists of our time. From the onset of his career, he has expanded his practice by introducing photographic works into spatial installations and slide projections. By appearing in several of his own works, Sekula subtly combines the contradictory fields of photojournalism and performance. Organized by Sabine Breitwieser, Chief Curator, Department of Media and Performance Art, and Joshua Siegel, Associate Curator, Department of Film.

A Conversation with Phil Collins
February 27, 7:00 p.m.
In his films, photographs, installations, and live events Phil Collins (British, b. 1970) explores the nuances of social relations in various locations and global communities. He often subverts the conventions of photojournalism to focus on the inherent contradictions of individual and collective systems of representation. Dissecting the political and aesthetic implications of popular visual formats, Collins's works indicate that the meaning of a picture—be it still or moving—resides neither in its form nor in its subject-matter, but rather in the transferences it establishes between the producer, the subject, and the viewer. Throughout, Collins maintains a combination of critical consciousness, immediacy, and the recognition of the camera's ambivalent potential as an agent of both emancipation and exploitation and desire and betrayal. For this discussion, in conjunction with Documentary Fortnight 2012: MoMA's International Festival of Nonfiction Film and Media, Collins presents a selection of his works, including how to make a refugee (1999), dunia tak akan mendengar (2007), zašto ne govorim srpski (na srpskom (2008), use! value! exchange! (2010) and marxism today (prologue) (2010). Organized by Sally Berger, Assistant Curator, Department of Film.

Tickets are $12 for adults; $10 for seniors, 65 years and over with I.D.; and $8 for full–time students with current I.D. (For admittance to film programs only.) The price of a film ticket may be applied toward the price of a Museum admission ticket when a film ticket stub is presented at the Lobby Information Desk within 30 days of the date on the stub (does not apply during Target Free Friday Nights, 4:00–8:00 p.m.). Admission is free for Museum members and for Museum ticketholders.

Modern Mondays is a program that brings contemporary, innovative film and moving-image works to the public and provides a forum for viewers to engage in dialogue and debate with contemporary filmmakers and artists. Modern Mondays presents new—and newly rediscovered—film and media works with the director in attendance, stimulating discourse, dialogue, and interaction in a social setting.

Organized by the Department of Film and the Department of Media and Performance Art. Modern Mondays is made possible by Anna Marie and Robert F. Shapiro. Additional support is provided by The Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art.

The Museum of Modern Art is located at 11 West 53 Street, New York, NY 10019. For more information visit http://www.moma.org/.