32-Rbit
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art’s Rooftop Cinema series is back this summer with its Friday night art house films, hosted in the beautiful sculpture garden overlooking State Street. This year’s lineup includes everything from narrative documentary to wild, avant-garde shorts.
First up on June 7 are three films by filmmaker Sky Hopinka of the Ho-Chunk Nation, who received a master’s degree in film from UW-Milwaukee. One short, I’ll Remember You as You Were, not as What You’ll Become, is an homage to Native American poet Diane Burns, who grew up in Wisconsin before becoming an integral part of the poetry scene on the Lower East Side of New York City in the 1980s. Dislocation Blues provides a glimpse of the Standing Rock protests, intersecting with stories of gender identity; and Fainting Spells creates its own mythology around the Indian pipe plant, a fast-growing parasitic plant also known as the “ghost plant.”
Three Films by Sky Hopinka
The Grand Bizarre, on June 14, focuses on rapid, stop-motion movement of thousands of carpets in different bland locations: airports, shipping containers and buses. Telling a story completely through objects and ambient sounds, Jodie Mack’s film forces you to think about the untold collections of objects humans have created and continue to create.
Madison film fans might remember a guest of the 2000 Wisconsin Film Festival, the late Tony Conrad. He is the subject of Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present, which screens on June 21. The documentary winds through the divergent career of the experimental artist and musician. We catch glimpses of the early days of the Velvet Underground, Conrad’s work with minimalist composers such as La Monte Young, and his classic experimental film, The Flicker, which uses only black and white frames to hallucinatory effect.
The Grand Bizarre
Director Tyler Hubby examines the contentious relationship between Young and Conrad. The two clashed over the release of minimalist musical collaborations with John Cale, Marian Zazeela and Angus MacLise.
Conrad, who died shortly before the film was finished, is seen teaching students, leading a tour around the Lower East Side of New York City, and setting up new artworks.
“I didn’t want to eulogize Tony,” says Hubby, “but celebrate his life force and give others a chance to experience his infectious energy and passion for ideas.”
The finale on June 28 will be a series of shorts prepared by the Ann Arbor Film Festival, which has a reputation for showcasing top-notch experimental art films. All films begin at sundown.
