Introduction: Jerry Tartaglia. Afterwards talk with Marc Siegel, Jerry Tartaglia, John Zorn, Ken and Flo Jacobs.
Forum Expanded presents a program of never seen, newly restored films by underground legend and queer icon Jack Smith. The program includes rare footage of Smiths’s drag muse Mario Montez, who passed away in September 2013. Two of the five screened shorts will be musically accompanied by none other than avant-garde musician and composer John Zorn, who will play records from Jack Smith’s personal collection.
The screening is introduced by film restorationist Jerry Tartaglia. After the screening, film scholar Marc Siegel moderates a discussion with Tartaglia, Zorn, and filmmakers Ken and Flo Jacobs.
"Jack Smith was one of the most accomplished and influential underground artists in the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s, and a key figure in the cultural history of film, performance, photography and art in America. From the late 1950s until his death from A.I.D.S. related disease in 1989, Smith was chiefly recognized for his work in film and performance. Beginning in the 1970s, Smith’s films—until then screened under typical viewing conditions—were incorporated into his Live Film Performances with film, slides and music from his vinyl LP collection. He re-edited footage on the spot while the reels of film were being projected. He intercut camera original with workprint material, using an ingenious method of masking tape splices. This continual changing, shifting, and repositioning of his celluloid film, slides, LP records with live action meant that the work remained in a continual state of flux – always different with every viewing.
It begs the question whether or not they could ever be ‘finished.’ Because of this, the work resists ending. Watching a Jack Smith film is like being at the end of a party in the presence of the last guest who refuses to go home." (Jerry Tartaglia)
Films
Milkbath scene from Normal love (USA 1964-69)
Boiled Lobster of Lucky Landlady Lagoon (USA 1969-72)
In the Grip of the Lobster (USA 1969-72)
plus
Exotic Landlordism (USA 1964-69)
Overstimulated (USA 1959-63)
with musical accompaniment by John Zorn, who will play records from Smith’s personal collection
All images, films and video, courtesy of The Jack Smith Archive and Gladstone Gallery, NY and Brussels.
Jack Smith: Beyond the Rented World is a follow up to LIVE FILM! JACK SMITH! Five Flaming Days in a Rented World, curated by Susanne Sachsse, Stefanie Schulte Strathaus and Marc Siegel in 2009.
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