Afterimages 4: Vivienne Dick

Synopsis

AFTERIMAGES is a continually-expanding collection of important works by film and video artists, newly remastered and made available on DVD for the first time. The aim is to make important historical works by artists available to students, teachers and researchers interested in film and the visual arts. Each DVD focuses on a particular artist and features several key works.

The fourth in the series is devoted to the work of Vivienne Dick. She was born in Donegal, Ireland and moved to New York in 1975. There she became part of a group of filmmakers affiliated to the music and aesthetics known as ‘No Wave’. Shot mainly on Super-8, Dick’s films from this period feature many people and musicians from the No Wave movement in New York, such as Lydia Lunch, Pat Place, James Chance and Ikue Mori. Invoking the spirit of ‘60s underground filmmakers, her work betrays an interest in individual transgression, urban street life, kitsch and pop culture. Multilayered and open-ended, the work is framed from a female perspective, with an overriding concern for social conditioning and sexual politics. This compilation includes her films GUERILLERE TALKS, SHE HAD HER GUN ALREADY, and STATEN ISLAND.

Language

English

Country

United States

Year of release

2007

Year of production

1978

Notes

The AFTERIMAGES series is presently only available for purchase by colleges and universities for classroom use, and not by individuals.

Documentation

The LUX Online website (http://www.lux.org.uk/index.html) provides critical writing about the artist’s work, as well as stills, streaming video clips and other contextual resources.

Subjects

Film studies

Keywords

experimental film & video; Dick, Vivienne

Credits

Director

Vivienne Dick

Distribution Formats

Type

DVD

Format

Region 1

Price

£100.00

Availability

Sale

Duration/Size

56 minutes

Year

2008

Sections

Title

Guerillére Talks

Synopsis

'Dick’s first film, consists of eight unedited rolls of super-8 sound footage. A chorus of red and white Kodak leader separates the individual rolls, each of which is a sort of screen test for Dick’s female subjects (most of whom are or were associated with the punk music scene)...GUERIULLERE TALKS can be seen as the extension of Warholian pragmatism to super-8 talkies. However, by juxtaposing various examples of female self-definition against the backdrop of a decaying social order, the film is also the rehearsal and paradigm for Dick’s subsequent work.'
Jim Hoberman. 1978, 24 min

Duration

24 mins

Title

She had her Gun already

Synopsis

With Lydia Lunch and Pat Place, and set in the Lower East Side, NYC, this is a film about unequal power between two people (of any gender), or the repressive side of a person in conflict with the sexual powerful side. Karyn Kay calls it ..'The contemporary unspeakable: women’s anger and hatred of women at the crucial moment of overpowering identification and obsessional thralldom.' Rod Stoneman. 1978, 28 min

Duration

28 mins

Title

Staten Island

Synopsis

Pat Place plays a creature who lives in an old abandoned barge on a rubbish strewn beach. The mood is post-apocalyptic and the music of Telstar mixed with domestic kitchen clatter. V.D. 1978, 4 min

Duration

4 mins

Distributor

Name

Lux

Email

info@lux.org.uk

Web

https://lux.org.uk/ External site opens in new window

Phone

020 31412960

Address

Waterlow Park Centre
Dartmouth Park Hill
London
N19 5JF

Notes

The premier UK source for arts-based moving image materials including experimental film, video art, installation art, performance art, personal documentary, essay films and animation. Incorporates collections previously held by the London Film-makers’ Co-op and London Video Arts. The 4000+ works are available for non-theatric exhibition, some may be purchased on DVD through the online shop, and a selection are streamed for free online viewing.