The Propeller Group: The Living Need Light, The Dead Need Music

Carnegie Museum of Art announces three days of programming devoted to time-based artworks, artists, scholars, and subcultures of the past and present. On the evening of October 22, the opening reception for The Propeller Group: The Living Need Light, the Dead Need Music, featuring a theatrical screening and artist talk with The Propeller Group and special guest Matt Sakakeeny, coincides with a cocktail party welcoming presenters and attendees to the two-day symposium “Misfits 2015: Time-Based Media and the Museum.”

The Living Need Light, The Dead Need Music is a visual and musical journey through the spectacular funerary traditions of South Vietnam. Created by artist collective The Propeller Group, the video follows brass band musicians, spiritual mediums, professional criers, and street performers through the mournful and euphoric public ceremonies of a multi-day wake: a set of colorful rituals that resonate with funeral traditions in New Orleans and other parts of the “global south.”

Shot in ultra-high-definition video, and produced with the technical sophistication of a Hollywood film, it immerses viewers in a lush and captivating dreamlike atmosphere. The exhibition is open in CMOA’s Forum Gallery through February 15, 2016, and is organized by Amanda Donnan, assistant curator of contemporary art.

The Propeller Group was established in 2006 by Phunam Tuc, Matt Lucero, and Tuan Andrew Nguyen. Based in Ho Chi Minh and Los Angeles, the collective creates multimedia work that combines the languages of filmmaking, advertising, politics, and history.

“Misfits 2015: Time-Based Media and the Museum” is a two-day symposium (October 23–24, 2015) that focuses on the ways that “misfit” artworks—film, video, sound, and digital works—entered into collecting institutions, and the ongoing challenges these works present for exhibition and preservation. Drawing on CMOA’s own history as a significant catalyst during the 1970s—as a nexus of avant-garde film practice and presentation, and as pioneering publisher of The Film and Video Makers Travel Sheet—”Misfits 2015” will focus on the contexts in which time-based collections were formed and explore the potential of a coordinated preservation model for time-based works that ensures ongoing access.

Presenters include:
Philip Auslander: Professor, School of Literature, Media, and Communication, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta
Benjamin Balcom: Curator, Microlights, and Associate Lecturer in Film, Video, Animation, and New Genres, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Erika Balsom: Lecturer in Film Studies and Liberal Arts, King’s College, London
Maeve Connolly: Lecturer in Film and Animation, Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design & Technology, Dublin
Matthew Cowan: Archivist, Moving Images and Photography, Oregon Historical Society, Portland
Brad Epley: Chief Conservator, The Menil Collection, Houston
Kathy Geritz: Film Curator, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
Martina Haidvogl and Peter Olesick: Fellow, Contemporary Art Conservation, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and Assistant Media Conservator, Museum of Modern Art, New York, respectively
Mona Jimenez: Associate Professor, Cinema Studies, Tisch School of the Arts, and Associate Director, Moving Image Archiving and Preservation Program, New York University
John Klacsmann: Archivist, Anthology Film Archives, New York
Ross Lipman: independent archivist/Conner Family Trust/Milestone Films
Lindsay Mattock: Assistant Professor, School of Library and Information Science, University of Iowa, Iowa City
Megan McShea: Audiovisual Archivist, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Sheryl Mousley: Senior Curator, Moving Image, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
Stephanie Sapienza: Project Manager, Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities, College Park
Michelle Silva: Conner Family Trust and Estate of George Kuchar
Rani Singh: Principal Project Specialist & Consulting Curator, Modern and Contemporary Collections, Getty Research Institute, and Director of Harry Smith Archives, Los Angeles
Amy Sloper: Film Archivist, Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Linda Tadic: Founder and CEO, Digital Bedrock
Andrew Uroskie: Associate Professor of Modern & Contemporary Art and Director, MA/PhD Program in Art History, Criticism & Theory, Stony Brook University
Haidee Wasson: Associate Professor of Cinema Studies, Concordia University, Montreal
Michael Zryd: Associate Professor in Cinema & Media Studies, York University, Toronto

Register here.

The Propeller Group: The Living Need Light, the Dead Need Music is the 76th installment of the Forum series. “Misfits 2015” is supported by a grant from the A. W. Mellon Foundation and organized by Amanda Donnan and Emily Davis, senior research associate, time-based media collection.