From morphing bodies engaged in rapturous copulation (Desire Pie) to disembodied parts (The Club, Seed Reel), artists respond to the waning sexual revolution and the women’s movement, expressing agency and stimulation while at the same time depicting complex forms of desire. With the remove from photorealism affording artists the freedom to craft shocking imagery, films like Flesh Flows and Asparagus depict impossible anatomy and unusual couplings, opening the possibilities of sex as allegorical representation of creation, regeneration and the transferal of energy.
Please note that this programme contains content of a sexual nature.
The screening is followed by a discussion with Suzan Pitt.
Maureen Selwood Odalisque 1980, film still. Courtesy the artist
Programme
Suzan Pitt, Whitney Commercial, USA 1973, 16mm, colour, sound, 3 min
Print preserved by the Academy Film Archive, courtesy the artist
Don Duga, Bust Bag, USA 1964, 16mm, colour, sound, 6 min
Print courtesy the Film-Makers’ Cooperative, New York
Mary Beams, Tub Film, USA 1972, 16mm, colour, sound, 2 min
Print courtesy the Circulating Film & Video Library, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Mary Beams, Seed Reel, USA 1975, 16mm, colour, sound, 4 min
Print courtesy the Circulating Film & Video Library, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
George Griffin, The Club, USA 1975, digital file, colour, sound, 4 min
Provided by the artist
Mary Beams, Rain Seeds, USA 1975, 16mm, colour, sound, 2 min
Print courtesy the Circulating Film & Video Library, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Mary Beams, Solo, USA 1975, 16mm, colour, sound, 4 min
Print courtesy the Circulating Film & Video Library, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Maureen Selwood, Odalisque, USA 1980, digital file, colour, sound, 12 min
Provided by the artist
Lisa Crafts, Desire Pie, USA 1976, 16mm, colour, sound, 5 min
Print courtesy the artist
Suzan Pitt, Crocus, USA 1971, 16mm, colour, sound, 7 min
Print preserved by the Academy Film Archive, courtesy the artist
Adam Beckett, Flesh Flows, USA 1974, 16mm, colour, sound, 6 min
Print courtesy Canyon Cinema
Suzan Pitt, Asparagus, USA 1979, 35mm, colour, sound, 20 min
Print preserved by the Academy Film Archive, courtesy the artist