From: Thomas Beard (email suppressed)
Date: Mon Sep 14 2009 - 05:45:56 PDT
Light Industry
220 36th Street, 5th Floor
Brooklyn, New York
http://www.lightindustry.org
Jonathan Horowitz
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 at 7:30pm
In an evening exploring the subject of documentary genres, from cinéma
vérité to reality TV, Jonathan Horowitz screens his new video, Apocalypto
Now (2009), along with an early, rarely seen video, Making Pharaoh¹s Red
Flag Video (1988). The videos will be presented within the context of a
prerecorded ³live² introduction/monologue. The artist will be present to
answer questions afterward.
³The work of the American artist Jonathan Horowitz (*1966) employs the
technique of montage much like a music DJ samples bits and pieces of songs.
Scenes from classic movies are combined with obscure bits of media detritus
to make critical connections between disparate narratives. At the same time,
Horowitz presents singular and incisive new narratives, which powerfully
reflect on important issues of the day.
Apocalypto Now is made entirely from found documentary and narrative movie
and TV footage. Its primary structure is taken from a documentary on the
history of the Hollywood disaster movie. Footage from documentaries on
climate change and scenes from movies reenacting the 9/11 World Trade Center
attack are intercut. Connections are drawn between disaster as
entertainment, real life catastrophe, and the apocalyptic beliefs of
religious fundamentalists.
The central figure connecting these strands is the actor/director Mel
Gibson. In interview footage, Gibson talks about his personal struggles with
addiction, which led him to a renewal of his Catholic faith and to making
the movie The Passion of the Christ. As with other players in Apocalypto
Now, (self)destructive impulses are channeled through religion and art, to a
variety of often disturbing ends. Gibson, however, is not always successful
in containing these impulses, as his public relations catastrophes attest.²
- Exhibition brochure, Museum Ludwig
Jonathan Horowitz is an artist living in New York. A retrospective of his
work is currently on view at P.S.1.
Tickets - $7, available at door.
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For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.