Film Love and The Michael C. Carlos Museum present:
The Velvet Underground
A
Cinematographic Tribute
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Saturday, November 3, 2018
8:00 pm at the Michael C.
Carlos Museum, Emory University
Free
Exhibition viewing of
Chimera: Andy Warhol through the 1980s from 7:00 to 8:00 pm |
Films at 8:00 pm in Ackerman Hall, 3rd floor of the Carlos Museum
Powered equally by Lou Reed’s visionary songs, John Cale’s training in hardcore
minimalism, the onrushing rhythm guitars of Reed and Sterling Morrison, and the
pounding momentum of Maureen Tucker’s drumming, the Velvet Underground provided
the unlikely template for thousands of bands to follow. In the process, they
made the lines between pop and the avant-garde virtually irrelevant – much like
their advocate and mentor, Andy Warhol. Their fateful alliance with Warhol
changed the course of American music and of rock and roll worldwide. On November
3, 2018 at Emory University’s Michael C. Carlos Museum, Film Love presents an
immersive, multi-projection tribute to the Velvets and Warhol through the band’s
16mm films from this era. The screening is in conjunction with the Carlos
Museum’s exhibit Chimera: Andy Warhol through the 1980s, which will be open for
viewing before the event.
Film was an integral (if now overlooked) part
of this crucial phase of the Velvet Underground. Not only did all their early
performances feature film projections, but the band themselves feature
prominently in several of Warhol’s films from this era. Still rarely screened,
these films were most likely made not as traditional theatrical releases but to
be projected over the band as they played live in the Exploding Plastic
Inevitable, Warhol's multimedia spectacle. Alongside the filmic and musical
presence of the Velvet Underground, the EPI also featured strobe lighting
effects and S&M-derived dancing, resulting in a chaotic barrage that updated the
“happening” and looked forward to post-1968 environments that merged the
artistic with the social. In the spirit of the EPI, Film Love will present
several of Warhol's original Velvet Underground films in an immersive,
multiple-projection environment unique to this screening.
The
centerpiece will be The Velvet Underground and Nico, a 1966 rehearsal film
featuring the band's classic lineup. With intense concentration and discipline,
the band jams on a single chord for many minutes at a time, maintaining energy
and focus while providing an aural link to their avant-garde “roots.” The sense
of experimentalism extends to Warhol’s wild camerawork, as well as to the
overarching feel of the film itself. Is this a rehearsal or a performance? Does
the film make it into something different altogether? A surprise event in the
second reel brings the music to a halt; characteristically, Warhol keeps the
camera running and as so often in the Factory films, we find the lines between
performance, documentary, and real life blurred. The Velvet Underground and Nico
will be accompanied by 1960s Screen Tests of the band members and other rare VU
films made by Warhol in this period.
Advisory: this event makes use
of stroboscopic light.
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND is presented in
conjunction with Emory’s
Michael C. Carlos Museum.
Films include
The Velvet Underground and Nico (Andy Warhol, 1966)
Velvet Underground screen tests (Andy Warhol, 1966)
The Velvet Underground (Andy Warhol, 1966)
Michael C.
Carlos Museum
Ackerman Hall, 3rd floor
571 South Kilgo Circle,
Atlanta, GA 30322
404-727-4282 |
carlos.emory.edu
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND is a
Film Love
event. The Film Love series provides access to great but rarely seen films,
especially important works unavailable on consumer video. Programs are curated
and introduced by Andy Ditzler, and feature lively discussion. Through public
screenings and events, Film Love preserves the communal viewing experience,
provides space for the discussion of film as art, and explores diverse forms of
moving image projection and viewing.
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