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Manfred Kirchheimer’s “Stations of the Elevated” opens Winter Season of Schnitzer Cinema

EUGENE, Ore. -- (January 31, 2017) – The 2016-17 Schnitzer Cinema will be devoted to the theme “In the Street,” with films that capture a range of subjects from street photography to Occupy Wall Street. Films are accompanied by guest speakers, in person or via Skype and continue monthly from February through May. Schnitzer Cinema is programmed by Richard Herskowitz, JSMA curator of media arts. Programs start at 7pm and include free refreshments, when held in the museum.  

 

The winter season begins on Wednesday, February 8 with screenings of “Stations of the Elevated” and “Claw: A Fable,” two street films by Manfred Kirchheimer. “Stations of the Elevated” is a 45-minute documentary featuring vivid images of graffiti-covered elevated subway trains crisscrossing the gritty urban landscape of 1970s New York. One of Kirchheimer’s most celebrated films, “Stations of the Elevated” captures images of the legendary graffiti movement by Blade, Daze, Lee and many other prominent graffiti artists. Shot on 16mm color reversal stock, the film challenges our traditional ideas of urban art and the use of public space. The accompanying soundtrack combines jazz and gospel by Charles Mingus and Aretha Franklin with ambient city noise.

 

“Claw: A Fable” is a blend of documentary and experimental film showcasing the destructive effects of urban renewal in the New York City in the 1960s. In the 30-minute, black and white short, a large mechanical claw demolishes the architecture seen in the film. The short premiered in 1968 at MoMA’s landmark exhibition “The Machine as Seen at the End of the Mechanical Age.”

 

Kirchheimer was born in Germany in 1931 and came to the US in 1936 when his family fled the Nazis. He studied film at Hans Richter's Institute of Film Techniques at City College and spent twenty-four years in the New York film industry as an editor, director, and cameraman, editing over 300 films for the documentary departments of American television networks. He was a professor at the School of Visual Arts until 2014.

 

“This season’s Schnitzer Cinema programming features works by great New York City street cinematographers Manfred Kirchheimer, Jem Cohen, and James Nares,” says Herskowitz. “It also looks of one New York City street in particular, Wall Street, through Alicia Jo Rabin’s multimedia performance about Bernie Madoff’s life and crimes and Jem Cohen’s exhilarating newsreels of the Occupy Wall Street protests.”

 

Schnitzer Cinema continues on March 8, with Portland based indie rocker, poet and Torah scholar Alicia Jo Rabin’s live musical theater and media performance “A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff.” The program will be presented in the Redwood Auditorium at the EMU. 

 

“Same Streets, Different Worlds” on April 12 will feature cinematographer Jem Cohen’s “Gravity Hill Newsreels” on the Occupy Wall Street protests and a Skype Q&A with Cohen. The season concludes on May 10 with guest artist James Nares screening thirteen of his short film motion studies and a discussion of his media installation, “Street,” opening at the JSMA on May 10.

 

The Schnitzer Cinema series is cosponsored by Academic Affairs.

 

About the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art

The University of Oregon's Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is a premier Pacific Northwest museum for exhibitions and collections of historic and contemporary art based in a major university setting. The mission of the museum is to enhance the University of Oregon’s academic mission and to further the appreciation and enjoyment of the visual arts for the general public.  The JSMA features significant collections galleries devoted to art from China, Japan, Korea, America and elsewhere as well as changing special exhibition galleries.  The JSMA is one of seven museums in Oregon accredited by the American Association of Museums.

 

The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is located on the University of Oregon campus at 1430 Johnson Lane. Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesdays, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for senior citizens. Free admission is given to ages 18 and under, JSMA members, college students with ID, and University of Oregon faculty, staff and students. For information, contact the JSMA, 541-346-3027.

 

 

About the University of Oregon

The University of Oregon is among the 108 institutions chosen from 4,633 U.S. universities for top-tier designation of "Very High Research Activity" in the 2010 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The UO also is one of two Pacific Northwest members of the Association of American Universities.

 

Contact: Debbie Williamson Smith, 541-346-0942, debbiews@uoregon.edu

 

Links: Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, http://jsma.uoregon.edu