Mary Ellen Carroll
Federal
The 24-hour movie by Mary Ellen Carroll
July 28th, 9 am July 29th, 9 am
Cinema Village
22 East 12th Street
Between University and 5th Avenue
Exhibition:
29 June - 6 August 2005
Storefront for Art and Architecture
97 Kenmare Street, New York, NY 10012
Storefront for Art and Architecture and Storefront Films present the New York premiere of Federal, the 24-hour movie by Mary Ellen Carroll on July 28th at Cinema Village.
The title for the project is derived from The Federal Building, located at 11000 Wilshire in Los Angeles, designed by the architect Charles Luckman in 1969. Luckman returned to architecture following his successful business career as the CEO of Lever Brothers, where he was inspired by commissioning Skidmore, Owings, and Merril (SOM) to design the Lever House building. The Federal Building has been referred to in architectural guidebooks as the embodiment of bureaucracy. Mary Ellen Carrolls project acknowledges both Andy Warhols Empire and Toni Negris popular book Empire, but it is not a film about the building as celebrated icon, nor is it an interpretation of an au courant political theory. Instead, Federal is the articulation of an image of what is presently legally, socially and politically non-representable.
The movie will be shown the same day the footage was shot in Los Angeles in 2003, opening at 9 am on July 28th and ending at 9 am on July 29th. Screening simultaneously in two theatres over 24 consecutive hours, Federal evokes minimalisms reductive qualities, stripping away the affect of bureaucratic authority through the insistence of repetition, and exposing the process of its realization through the accompanying unedited ambient soundtrack. On one screen, the north facade is viewed from the LA National Cemetery and on the other, the south façade is viewed from the buildings parking lot. Given a chance to watch the movie from either the front or the back gives the appearance of a freedom of choice, yet in the end mirrors the same set of restrictions that go unnoticed in the public domain.
The screening is free and open to the public, with a $10 suggested donation to benefit the Storefront. To make a reservation please send an email to rsvp@storefrontnews.org and indicate the hours during which you would like to attend the screening.
Mary Ellen Carroll lives and works in New York City.
Storefronts presentation of Federal is generously by the Strypemonde Foundation. Additional support for the project was provided by Panasonic and Outpost Digital.
Storefront’s exhibition program is made possible with support from The Lily Auchincloss Foundation; the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency; as well as Storefront’s Exhibition Committee, Board of Directors, and members.
