The RISD Museum’s semiannual Projections series screens feature-length and short-form films and videos by established and emerging contemporary artists working between the gallery space and the cinema. These works develop meaningful narratives, make pointed political statements, and document and investigate the fabric of the changing world in which we live.
The spring 2016 Projections series includes works by artists Emily Wardill, Agnieszka Polska, and the Russian artist collective Chto Delat. Curatorial assistant of contemporary art A. Will Brown introduces each program; opportunities for discussion follow the screenings.
Emily Wardill
When You Fall into a Trance
March 10, 6:30pm
When You Fall into a Trance (2013, 72 minutes) traces a series of complex and at times disorienting psychological and metaphysical relationships between a neuroscientist, her patient, an aid worker, and a synchronized swimmer. The film’s narrative focuses on the neuroscientist, Dominique; as she becomes fascinated with a patient’s condition and resulting behavior, her work and personal life come together in confounding ways. Wardill (British, b. 1977) works in film, video, performance, installation, sculpture, and print, blending imagery with reflections on psychoanalysis, philosophy, language, and media.
Chto Delat
Border Musical
April 28, 6:30pm
Russian collective Chto Delat (translation: “What is to be done?”) makes deftly critical and humorous projects that merge political theory, art, and activism. Their film Border Musical (2013, 49 minutes) tells the story of a Russian woman who abandons everything to live with her son and her new husband in Norway. A recurring cast of dramatic, comical, and performative characters helps the couple negotiate their cultural differences to live an acceptable Norwegian life. Chto Delat is a group of artists, critics, philosophers, and writers from St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Nizhny Novgorod, working across various formats and styles.
Agnieszka Polska
Future Days
May 12, 6:30pm
Agnieszka Polska’s film Future Days (2013, 29 minutes) follows a group of dead artists, former members of the 20th century neo-avant-garde, as they ceaselessly roam the afterlife. Seemingly incapable of creativity, the group spins a series of aimless philosophical objectives and ideas as they traverse stark, lushly beautiful landscapes punctuated with remnants of neo-avant-garde masterpieces. Working in film, video, collage, and animation, Polska (Polish, b. 1985) engages ideas about the shifting nature of memory, mythology, and the making of art history and fiction, examining lost or under-recognized moments from the 20th century.
Co-sponsored by the RISD Museum, the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Film, Animation + Video Department, and Brown University’s Department of Modern Culture and Media. Support for Projections is provided in part by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the Rhode Island General Assembly and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
About the RISD Museum
The RISD Museum—southeastern New England’s only comprehensive art museum—was established in Providence in 1877, alongside the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). The Museum’s collection of about 100,00 objects includes paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, costume, furniture, and other works of art and design from all over the world, from ancient times to the latest in contemporary art. Information: T 401 454 6500 or risdmuseum.org.
