MoMA Announces 'Modern Mondays' Feb. Film Discussion Series

MoMA announced Modern Mondays, a February 2012 film discussion series at The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 2.

Modern Mondays include:

An Evening with Tom Kalin and Doveman
February 6, 7:00 p.m.
For this evening, musician Thomas Bartlett (Doveman) (American, b. 1981) and filmmaker Tom Kalin (American, b. 1962) will discuss their collaboration, which began with a series of short films inspired by Doveman's 2009 album The Conformist and continues with an ongoing project that explores the intersection of recorded and live music, digital composition, and projected film. The pair draw inspiration from themes of broken romance, the truth of small gestures, and transcendentalism in addressing such contemporary issues as displacement and urban isolation. Kalin, a prominent figure in the New Queer Cinema movement, is well known as both a feature filmmaker (Swoon [1992] and Savage Grace [2007]) and as an experimental filmmaker (Third Known Nest, 1991–99). He was a founding member of the AIDS activist collective Gran Fury, known for its provocative public art projects. Doveman is a band founded by the 30-year-old Bartlett, who studied piano with Maria Curcio in London before moving to New York City to attend Columbia University. His ongoing live performances, known as The Burgundy Stain Sessions, occur monthly at Manhattan's Le Poisson Rouge. Organized by Barbara London, Associate Curator, Department of Media and Performance Art.

An Evening with Allan Sekula
February 13, 7:00 p.m.
Allan Sekula (American, b. 1951) presents his most recent essay film, The Forgotten Space (2010, codirected by Noël Burch), a critique of the global supply chain, its disastrous impact on the environment and workers' rights, and the standardization of a capitalist world economy. The documentary follows container cargo aboard barges, trains, and trucks, as well as the individuals involved in—and marginalized by—the global transport system. Inspired by Sekula's book Fish Story (1995), The Forgotten Space seeks to understand contemporary maritime culture in relation to symbolic notions of the sea. A pioneer in the use of documentary photography as both an art form and a historical record, Sekula, a self described "critical realist," is regarded as one of the foremost photography theorists of our time. From the onset of his career, he has expanded his practice by introducing photographic works into spatial installations and slide projections. By appearing in several of his own works, Sekula subtly combines the contradictory fields of photojournalism and performance. Organized by Sabine Breitwieser, Chief Curator, Department of Media and Performance Art, and Joshua Siegel, Associate Curator, Department of Film.