Ryan Trecartin, A Family Finds Entertainment

Join us at Bar Laika on Thursday, October 31 at 9pm for a screening of Ryan Trecartin’s A Family Finds Entertainment.

Ryan Trecartin, A Family Finds Entertainment, 41:12, 2004 
Ryan Trecartin’s film A Family Finds Entertainment is a camp extravaganza of epic proportions. Starring Trecartin’s family and friends, and the artist himself in a plethora of outrageous roles, A Family Finds Entertainment chronicles the story of mixed up teenager Skippy and his adventures in ‘coming out’. In this over the top celebration of queerness, Trecartin’s film mines the bizarre and endearing in an unabashed pastiche of ‘bad tv’ tropes. Cheesy video special effects, dress-up chess costumes, desperate scripts, and ‘after school special’ melodrama combine in the fluency of youth-culture lingo, reflecting a generation both damaged and affirmed by media consumption.

Ryan Trecartin is one of the most innovative young artists working with video today. He was termed “the most consequential artist to have emerged since the 1980s” by The New Yorker. Trecartin’s fantastical video narratives seem to be conjured from a fever dream. Collaborating with an ensemble cast of family and friends, Trecartin merges sophisticated digital manipulations with footage from the Internet and pop culture, animations, and wildly stylized sets and performances. Trecartin crafts startling visions that are thoroughly unique.

For more information, contact laika@e-flux.com.