02 PM | 29 Oct

andy warhol: a documentary film

Ric Burns, 234 mins, USA, 2006, Digital Betacam. Courtesy: Madman Cinema. Narrated by Laurie Anderson, and featuring Andy Warhol voiced by Jeff Koons

Renowned filmmaker Ric Burns (The Civil War, New York: A Documentary Film) returns with an absorbing portrait of one of pop culture’s most enthralling and influential figures.

Described by art historian Neil Printz as “a touchstone of the culture we live in”, Warhol’s world of commerce/high art meets underground is examined in full, as is the larger story of American cultural history from the 1950s to 1970s. Andy Warhol once described himself as a “deeply superficial” person. But what’s underneath that notoriously vague and vacuous façade? Renowned filmmaker Ric Burns scratches through the shiny mask of this pop art icon in Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film. Screening as part of our First Look series, the film uses archival materials and interviews to examine the intoxicating world of Warhol’s art and life while simultaneously charting America’s own cultural history from the 1950s to the 1970s. And as the artist who amplified Warhol’s unique mix of art and consumer culture to new heights, it’s appropriate that Warhol is voiced in the film by Puppy creator Jeff Koons. It’s fitting too that seminal art goddess Laurie Anderson narrates.

“A must for culture vultures” Variety Magazine

Screened at 2007 Berlin International Film Festival and the Film Forum New York. Australian Premiere!

dates Thu 25 Oct 2007, 7pm Fri 26 Oct 2007, 7pm Sat 27 Oct 2007, 7pm Sun 28 Oct 2007, 3.30pm

Showing at ACMI.

01 PM | 29 Oct

Zoso:Launched

What do Aleister Crowley and Led Zeppelin have in common? What happens when you point a theremin at the street?

Rock music was designed to be transported, captured in the dark matter of vinyl and brought back to life through the rediffusion of hi fidelity. The stylus is to the turntable what the wand is to the magus. Jimmy Page channelled the airwaves with the theremin, the electronic conductor of the spectral. His violin bow is the anachronous coupling of spiritualism and cock rock, a relic from a different age, the sword that invoked the Egyptian god Anubis, the black dog, the despoiler, messenger from the afterlife.

ZOSO is not a work about transformation. It is transformative. The visitor will not be the same when they leave the gallery. They will think differently about vinyl and teak wood finish. They will never take a Persian rug for granted again. They will be able to identify the sound of a Moog synthesizer. And they will never forget that there is no such thing as silence and that words have two meanings. Words, symbols and images will resonate anew. The world, in other words, will be transformed to the power of 666.

A ritual of rock, runes and magick Project Space, RMIT, Melbourne ExhibitLocation:Project Space, Cardigan Street, Carlton, Melbourne Monday, October 29, 2007 at 5:00pm Friday, November 16, 2007 at 5:00pm