NYAB Event - Lawrence Weiner "Altered to Suit"

Lawrence Weiner "Altered to Suit"

Electronic Arts Intermix

This event has ended.

EAI presents a screening and talk with Lawrence Weiner, recognized internationally as a key figure in conceptual art. Weiner will introduce and screen what has been described as his "rock and roll movie," the sensuous black-and-white film Altered To Suit (1979, 23 min), recently restored by EAI. The screening will also feature three of Weiner's animated videos: Inherent In The Rhumb Line (2005, 7:25 min), Turning Some Pages (2007, 5 min), and his most recent video, Gyroscopically Speaking (2010, 5 min).

From his pioneering installation works of the 1960s and '70s through his new digital projects, Weiner posits a radical redefinition of the artist/viewer relationship and the very nature of the artwork. He has explored the use of language, text and ideas as sculptural material in his highly influential work across four decades. In the 1970s, seeking collaboration, dialogue and new contexts in which to present his work, Weiner produced a remarkable and rarely screened body of film work that unites his conceptual inquiries with live actors and striking imagery.

Filmed in Weiner's studio on Bleecker Street, Altered To Suit is described by Alice Weiner as "a delicate psychological allegory on 'a day in the life of.'" Weiner's players in the experimental narrative—a family "altered to suit"— grapple with agoraphobia, alienation, work and an insistent child who wants to visit the zoo. Through his films, Weiner sought to place his work into the "stream of life," searching for a mise-en-scène that would allow his ideas to reach the widest possible audience. In this spirit, Altered To Suit, with its seductive photography, rock music and dissonant use of sound, was originally presented at New York City's legendary Mudd Club in April 1979.

In his recent series of digital works, Weiner stakes out new territory even as he extends the investigations begun in his films. In these motion drawings or "structures," Weiner's iconic graphics and signature design leap into motion through digital animation. Weiner engages in visual and linguistic play with computer generated graphics.

EAI will screen a new digital video transfer of Altered To Suit, which was preserved by EAI through the Avant-Garde Masters program funded by The Film Foundation and administered by The National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF).

Lawrence Weiner was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1942.

This event is part of EAI's ongoing 40th anniversary programming.