Sights and Sounds: Global Film and Video

The Jewish Museum’s exhibition series Sights and Sounds: Global Film and Video concludes with a five-month presentation of highlighted works, featuring one film from each of the 25 participating countries—on view from February 5 to June 30, 2016. 

A number of works in the exhibition address today’s constant tension between the traditional and the new, as in Studio Revolt + Khmer Arts’ Neang Neak (Serpent Goddess), which juxtaposes contemporary and ancient storytelling techniques. The theme of community is also investigated, as in Regina Parra’s 7,536 Steps (For a Geography of Proximity), an exploration of the immigrant neighborhood on the outskirts of São Paulo in Brazil. Environmental concerns are also addressed in several works, including Ranbir Kaleka’s Forest, which uses the forest as a metaphor for self-knowledge.

Politics and history are additional themes that appear throughout. Eliana Otta’s Refundación (Refounding) imagines the destruction of Peru’s colonial past and its tumultuous political history. Chen Shaoxiong’s Ink Media is a selective documentary based on photographs of recent protests staged around the world.

Since November 2013, Sights and Sounds has presented 100 new works selected by 25 international curators. Each curator selected new film and video works from his or her regions for one-month screenings in the Museum’s newly refurbished media center. 

Sights and Sounds curators and highlighted works (in alphabetical order by country):

Angola (June 2014), curated by Suzana Sousa
Highlight: Iris Buchholz Chocolate, Os sonhos do embondeiro (Baobab’s Dreams), 2012

Argentina (October 2015), curated by Inés Katzenstein
Highlight: Leticia Obeid, Dobles (Doubles), 2013

Australia (December 2014), curated by Wayne Tunnicliffe
Highlight: Angelica Mesiti, Some Dance to Remember, Some Dance to Forget, 2012

Brazil (February 2014), curated by Luiza Proença
Highlight: Regina Parra, 7,536 Steps (For a Geography of Proximity), 2012

Cambodia (November 2013–January 2014), curated by Erin Gleeson
Highlight: Studio Revolt + Khmer Arts, Neang Neak (Serpent Goddess), 2012

Canada (May 2014), curated by Melanie O’Brian
Highlight: Robert Arndt, A Line Meant in Passing, 2010

China (July 2014), curated by Carol Yinghua Lu
Highlight: Chen Shaoxiong, Ink Media, 2011–13

Colombia (December 2015), curated by Juan A. Gaitán
Highlight: Oscar Muñoz, Distopía (Dystopia), 2014

Cuba (July 2015), curated by Mailyn Machado
Highlight: Vanessa Portieles and Yanelvis González, Afuera (The Other Side), 2012

Hungary (April 2015), curated by Tijana Stepanović
Highlight: Katarina Šević and Tehnica Schweiz, Gasium et Circenses (Gas and Circuses), 2013

India (June 2015), curated by Nancy Adajania
Highlight: Ranbir Kaleka, Forest, 2012

Israel (August 2014), curated by Chen Tamir
Highlight: Mika Rottenberg, Sneeze, 2012

Japan (January 2016), curated by Yukie Kamiya
Highlight: Ishu Han, Return, 2011

Mexico (March 2015), curated by María Inés Rodríguez
Highlight: Edgardo Aragón, Exterminio (Annihilation), 2014

New Zealand (August 2015), curated by Natasha Conland
Highlight: Shannon Te Ao, Two Shoots That Stretch Far Out, 2013–14

Nigeria (May 2015), curated by Jude Anogwih
Highlight: Uche Okpa-Iroha, The Plantation Boy, 2012

Peru (April 2014), curated by Miguel A. López
Highlight: Eliana Otta, Refundación (Refounding), 2011

Philippines (September 2015), curated by Joselina Cruz
Highlight: Martha Atienza, Anito, 2012

Poland (November 2014), curated by Joanna Warsza
Highlight: Karolina Breguła, Offence, 2013

Portugal (September 2014), curated by Miguel Amado
Highlight: Salomé Lamas, A Comunidade (The Community), 2012

Romania (March 2014), curated by Daria Ghiu
Highlight: Anca Benera and Arnold Estefan, Pacta Sunt Servanda (Agreements Must Be Kept), 2012

Singapore (October 2014), curated by Patrick D. Flores
Highlight: Ho Tzu Nyen, Newton, 2009

South Africa (November 2015), curated by Josh Ginsburg
Highlight: Dineo Seshee Bopape, is i am sky, 2013

Turkey (January 2015), curated by Emre Baykal
Highlight: Nevin Aladağ, Hochparterre (Mezzanine), 2009

Vietnam (February 2015), curated by Zoe Butt
Highlight: UuDam Tran Nguyen, Waltz of the Machine Equestrians—The Machine Equestrians, 2012

Sights and Sounds: Global Film and Video is organized by Jens Hoffmann, Deputy Director, Exhibitions and Public Programs, and Rebecca Shaykin, Leon Levy Assistant Curator.