Filmed at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Cut Piece documents one of Yoko Ono’s most powerful conceptual pieces. Performed by the artist herself, Ono sits motionless on the stage after inviting the audience to come up and cut away her clothing in a denouement of the reciprocity between victim and assailant.
Known for his vibrant reinterpretations of classical portraits featuring African-American men, New York-based painter Kehinde Wiley has turned the practice of portraiture on its head and in the process has taken the art world by storm.
To celebrate its 250th anniversary, this documentary tells the story of one of the world’s greatest museums, from its foundation by Catherine the Great, though to its status today as a breathtakingly beautiful complex which includes the Winter Palace. Showcasing a vast collection of the world’s greatest artworks together with contemporary art galleries and exhibitions, it holds over 3 million treasures and world class masterpieces in stunning architectural settings. This is its journey from Imperial Palace to State Museum, encompassing a sometimes troubled past, surviving both the Revolution in 1916 and the siege of Leningrad by the Nazis in 1941-44.
On October 1, 2013, the elusive street artist Banksy launched a month-long residency in New York, an art show he called Better Out Than In. As one new work of art was presented each day in a secret location, a group of fans, called “Banksy Hunters,” took to the streets and blew up social media.
A short rhythmic short by Mikhail Tsekhanovsky.
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A short documentary about Dave Kloc's weekly poster-making process for The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail. Filmed during the week of June 24th, 2015.
The Naked Summer is a film that documents young artists' effort and growth while training and preparing for a performance of Butou that is praised internationally as a unique art form. Butou was born about 40 years ago as a form of modern dance that pursues the untraditional movement of the body and defies the convention of the human body. As a result, it is known for the dancer's strange facial expressions, naked body covered in white powder, and strong visuals. The film contains the summer training process of the dance group Dairakudakan led by a veteran artist of Butou, Akaji Maro
After Awesome Tapes From Africa's Brian Shimkovitz found the energetic, ecstatic music of Ghanaian musician Ata Kak, the tunes became beloved around the world. It was all unbeknownst to the artist himself -- his music was even unknown to those living in his hometown in Ghana. Years of tireless searching ensued, and eventually the Los Angeles-based label owner found a lead. Ata Kak - Time Bomb follows the search that Shimkovitz undertook as well as the visit to Ghana that took place once he found him. It is a celebration of great tunes and how, when it hits the right audience at the right time, music can touch people in a way that you never imagined.
A feature-length film about the life, work, influence and impact of California-based choreographer/Arts Activist Bella Lewitzky. Described as "...one of the greatest American dancers of our age," (Walter Terry) Bella Lewitzky was a talented, strong, out-spoken artist, who dedicated her creative life to protect the rights of every American citizen.
An exploration of the link between science and beauty through the work of scientists at CERN, in Geneva.
Performance conceived by Erich Wonder & Heiner Müller for the 300th anniversary of the Akademie der bildenden Künste in Vienna. The band, Einstürzende Neubauten, is located on a glass palace/stage on wheels (accompanied by the slavish trotting of huskies) which is slowly moving on the nightly ring road of Vienna.
To be in Venice and see the architecture of New York, to perceive in a painting by Tintoretto the birth of animated images, to look at the burlesque Cretinetti as the ancestor of montage - so many shifts, displacements, and striking telescopings that Philippe-Alain Michaud proposes in this film dedicated to him. To follow this art historian, curator of the cinema collections at the Centre Pompidou, is to go from the oriental carpet to the film, or from the first fireworks to the cinema. And everywhere the animation of the images - projections of Antony McCall, or of Paul Sharits, Column without end of Brancusi, Pasolini's Accatone - everything moves! Under the tutelage of Aby Warburg, the great art historian of the early twentieth century, precursor of iconology and image comparison, to whom Philippe-Alain Michaud was the first in France to devote an important essay, eleven images are placed on the table to describe the singular journey of this art historian.
The life of internationally renowned artist and activist Nan Goldin is told through her slideshows, intimate interviews, ground-breaking photography, and rare footage of her personal fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the overdose crisis.
The celebrated British artist discusses his life and work with Melvyn Bragg in his Normandy studio, revealing his influences, inspirations and plans to keep on painting.
Filmed in his London studio, David Hockney sits down with Melvyn Bragg to discuss his remarkable life and career, illustrated by a wide range of his vibrant and joyous artworks.
Gauguin’s vivid artworks sell for millions. He was an inspired and committed multi-media artist who worked with the Impressionists and had a tempestuous relationship with Vincent van Gogh. But he was also a competitive and rapacious man who left his wife to bring up five children and used his colonial privilege to travel to Polynesia, where in his 40s he took ‘wives’ between 13 and 15 years old, creating images of them and their world that promoted a fantasy paradise of an unspoilt Eden in the Pacific. Later, he challenged the colonial authorities and the Catholic Church in defence of the indigenous people, dying in the Marquesas Islands in 1903, sick, impoverished and alone.
Using a specially designed transparent 'canvas' to provide an unobstructed view, Picasso creates as the camera rolls. He begins with simple works that take shape after only a single brush stroke. He then progresses to more complex paintings, in which he repeatedly adds and removes elements, transforming the entire scene at will, until at last the work is complete.
This fascinating exploration of the creative process follows one of Australia's leading contemporary artists Ben Quilty, as he completes one of his most challenging art works.
Olivier Assayas’ Eldorado is a riveting documentary chronicling the efforts of Ballet Preljocaj to choreograph an otherworldly icon of 21st century music: Karlheinz Stockhausen’s ethereal Sonntags-Abschied.