Moving Images: Avant-Garde Dance on Film

The silhouetted figures in some of Silke Otto-Knapp’s paintings appear as bodies in motion, involved in a fluid choreography. For this screening—presented on the occasion of her exhibition at the Renaissance Society—Otto-Knapp has chosen a selection of short films and videos from the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, all by innovative choreographers and their artistic collaborators, including Yvonne Rainer’s Three Seascapes (1962, performed by Patricia Hoffbauer at Dia: Beacon in 2012) and Trio A (1978), Charles Atlas and Merce Cunningham’s Channels/Inserts (1982), and Babette Mangolte’s Water Motor (1978) featuring Trisha Brown. Following the screening, Renaissance Society Associate Curator Karsten Lund and UChicago Department of Cinema and Media Studies PhD candidate Tien-Tien Jong will discuss the films in relation to Otto-Knapp's practice.

Presented in conjunction with the Renaissance Society’s exhibition In the Waiting Room, on display January 11-March 29, 2020.

Yvonne Rainer, Three Seascapes (1962/2012, 12-15 min.) and Trio A (1978, 11 min.)
Charles Atlas and Merce Cunningham, Channels/Inserts (1982, 32 min.)
Babette Mangolte, Water Motor (1978, 8 min.)

Silke Otto-Knapp is a German-born, Los Angeles-based artist. Selected recent solo exhibitions include Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis (2018), the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (2015), Camden Arts Centre, London (2014), Museo Marino Marini, Florence (2014), Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2014), and Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen (2013). She has also presented solo exhibitions at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley (2011), Kunstverein München, Munich (2010), Modern Art Oxford, Oxford (2009), and Tate Britain, London (2005).