FILM LOVE presents

ANDY WARHOL #8: KISS

Friday, December 9, 2011
8:00 pm at Atlanta Contemporary Art Center
$5     ($3 with ACAC membership)
 

At the height of his notoriety as an artist, Andy Warhol virtually abandoned painting to become a filmmaker, and his 1960s films are among his most significant achievements. Yet for the most part Warhol’s films are not easily seen today. On December 9 at Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Film Love continues its ongoing exploration of Warhol’s cinema with a screening of Kiss.

Kiss consists of a series of three-minute shots of couples kissing, strung together to make a larger film. The individual reels that make up Kiss were the first Warhol films ever shown in public, and they began a revolution in international independent cinema.

Like all of Warhol’s early films, Kiss looked back to the cinema of the 1890s (silent, single shots of a particular activity or person) and suggested radical directions for the future (minimalist and "structural" film, and content reflecting new sexual values). Most of all, Kiss is a powerful visual experience. The radically different kissing styles on display, Warhol’s careful framing and lighting, and slow-motion projection all combine to make a meditative yet celebratory study of human desire.

Kiss (Andy Warhol, 1963-64), 16mm, black & white, silent, 48 min
The John C. Rice – May Irwin Kiss (William Heise, 1896), 35mm shown on video, black & white, silent, 20 sec
The Kiss (unknown, 1900), 35mm shown on video, black & white, silent, 40 sec


Atlanta Contemporary Art Center
535 Means Street NW
Atlanta, GA, 30318
404.688.1970
http://www.thecontemporary.org/