Rock & Religion: The Medium of Worship
- Work Stills:
About This Screening
Through methods that are astute, striking, and sensitive the film and video work of Peter Adair and Dan Graham offer two very different portraits of American religious and cultural ecstasy. Peter Adair's Holy Ghost People allows the viewer a chance to gather with and observe the ecstatic worship practices of a small Pentecostal community in Scrabble Creek, West Virginia. Shot and presented on 16mm, this ethnographic documentary vividly captures the faithful as they handle snakes, speak in tongues, and demonstrate their deeply committed spirituality. In Rock My Religion, Dan Graham uses a gritty collage of text and found footage to argue that American evangelicalism and rock-and-roll share an ideologically similar and fundamentally experiential co-history. A sharply brooding soundtrack composed of early Sonic Youth recordings collides with the video's dulled color palette to create an unexpected meditative space in which to contemplate Graham's argument.
Program Details
Apri 17
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Holy Ghost People
1967, 16mm, b&w, sound, 53 min.
by Peter Adair -
Rock my Religion
1982-84, video, color, sound/b&w, 55 min.
by Dan Graham
April 18
-
Holy Ghost People
1967, 16mm, b&w, color, 53 min.
by Peter Adair -
Rock My Religion
1982-84, video, color, color/b&w, 55 min.
by Dan Graham
Screenings This Season
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Feb. 21
In the Absence of Light, Darkness Prevails Feb. 28 + 29
Is It My Body: Conversions, Transgressions, and Representations Mar. 12 + 13
Inner Space & Outer Space: 16mm Experimental Films from Los Angeles Apr. 17 + 18
Rock & Religion: The Medium of Worship May. 15 + 16
Show and Tell: The Work of Dani Leventhal May. 24
The Animals and Their Limitations Jun. 8
Thirteen Summers