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by Cliff Froehlich, Executive Director of Cinema St. Louis

In partnership with Cinema St. Louis, The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts invited local filmmakers to realize their dreams–that is, to make oneiric works in conjunction with the Pulitzer’s exhibition Dreamscapes–and the results will soon shimmer into view, in an appropriately surreal manner, on the building’s walls.

Thirty-three films were submitted, diving deep into their makers’ unconscious. From the sunken treasure hauled up from the darkness, Cinema St. Louis has selected twenty-two videos to display on Friday, June 24. As night falls, the films will be projected onto three of the Pulitzer’s façades, inviting viewers to share in the creators’ entrancing dreams and disquieting nightmares.

The free event, Dream Sequences: Film Night at the Pulitzer with Cinema St. Louis, begins at 8pm, with the locally produced works serving as palate-whetting appetizer for the main course: a double bill by surrealist master Luis Buñuel. Buñuel’s films, the short Un Chien Andalou (An Andalusian Dog) and the feature The Phantom of Liberty, will be projected across the Pulitzer’s shared courtyard onto the wall of Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis; chairs will be supplied.

Leading off the Buñuel program will be a pair of exceptional films from the St. Louis film competition: Zlatko Cosic’s Brainstorm, which received honorable mention, and Brendan Leahy’s The Tower, which was awarded a $500 prize. The Buñuels and the spotlighted local works will be played with sound; the films projected on the Pulitzer’s walls will be silent.

The other Dreamscapes competition works chosen to screen are the following:

Artifacts, directed by Michael McCubbins
Blackbirds, directed by Alex Lopez
Calling the Loop, directed by Amy Mack
Dog’s Dream, directed by William Morris
The Divide, directed by Trent Fred
The Inheritance, directed by Sandra Olmsted and Vanessa Roman
A Lens Apart, directed by William Flynn
Love, Guns and Amy, directed by Marttise Roosevelt Hill
Lucy’s Dream, directed by Clara Smith
Prelom, directed by Zlatko Cosic
Rapunzel, directed by Marie Bannerot McInerney
Rare Gold, directed by Peter McLeod Seay
Sleep Film, directed by Jonathan Eberle
Swing, directed by William Morris
Terranocturne, directed by R D Zurick
This Monstrous Traveler in Hashish, directed by Chris King and Poetry Scores
Transmorph Dreams, directed by Erin Taylor
Untie, Unfasten, Undo, directed by Amanda Pfister and Manda Remmen
When …, directed by Bruce Van Reed
Who Is This Place, directed by Jacob Lanum Read the rest of this entry »

Still wondering what a dream matrix is? Watch art therapist Shelly Goebl-Parker’s interview on KPLR today. Join Shelly at the Pulitzer this Saturday to actually experience one.

Ronald Gore Jr (middle) reads from The Merchant of Venice with another alumni from Prison Performing Arts last Wednesday.

I was anxiously awaiting the start of our first SHAKE-38 reading: scenes from The Merchant of Venice. As it turned out, we started what seemed to be a great atmosphere in front of the Watercourt, where the audience was all sitting around in front of us on the stairs and in chairs. Once we started reading, a tornado warning went off, and I had to take my Shakespeare hat off and get in gallery assistant mode to lead everyone to our emergency spot in the building, the hallway in the lower level. Once everyone was safe, we decided to finish the reading. It was going great at first, until you could hear the hail hit the building, and I didn’t know whether to read or run! But I let my knowledge of this building not only calm me but the guests as well (there are few safer places to be during a storm than the Pulitzer building with its sturdy, concrete construction). We finished the reading and everyone forgot about the storm and loved the reading.--Ronald Gore Jr, Gallery Assistant and actor in Prisoner Performing Arts Alumni Theatre Company

The actors and audience continue in the hallway of the lower level post-tornado sirens.

This past Saturday, Nicky Rainey (StudioSTL Workshop Coordinator) and I took young authors and their parents around Dreamscapes, as the group wrote stories inspired by artworks and the Pulitzer building. This is what Kyle imagined while looking at Do Ho Suh’s Staircase–Pulitzer Version. View more photos from this session of Dreamtime Storytime on the Pulitzer’s Flickr page.

The Pulitzer’s web catalogue for Dreamscapes launched last week, and we’re really excited about it. The catalogue serves not only to give a glimpse at the works in their temporary habitat, but it offers a  background to the exhibition, artists quotes, and documentation of our events and programs. Here’s an overview of dreamscapes.pulitzerarts.org:

Introduction: Read introductions from Emily Rauh Pulitzer and senior curator Francesca Herndon-Consagra about the exhibition. Download a checklist of all the works featured in Dreamscapes.

Exhibition: Explore the works in Dreamscapes, beginning with a beautiful mosaic of installation shots. Click on works to see additional images and artist quotes. Click on “The Space” for a map of the galleries, and see how the works are placed within the Ando building.

Events & Programs: Stay up to date on what’s happening at the Pulitzer and see what has already happened in conjunction with this exhibition.

Community Projects: Learn about the social work programs related to Dreamscapes. The Pulitzer is partnering with Beyond Housing, an organization that offers an array of services to the St. Louis community.

Exhibition Blog: Click on categories to see blog posts related to what you want to know about, whether that’s programming, particular artists, or social work projects.

In connection with Frame of Reference, Sarah Westphal-Wihl, Associate Professor of German at Washington University in St. Louis, discusses Albrecht Dürer’s print The Temptation of the Idler:

I will begin by identifying the figures in this image and surveying the remarkable setting in which they are placed. A female nude, probably a representation of the goddess Venus and thus a personification of desire, sexuality, beauty, and fertility, dominates the image and commands the viewer’s attention. Her mythological identity is supported by the presence in the lower left corner of a winged putto, the boy-god Cupid, who was a son of the goddess. His “modesty” drapery echoes that of the female figure and seems to relate him to her. Cupid is absorbed with trying out a set of stilts that are the just right size for a small child’s toy. A slightly corpulent man wearing a sleeping cap, a roomy housecoat or robe, and slippers, sleeps on a high bench in the background. A dragon-like demon (or a demonic dragon) hovers near the upper right margin of the image, holding a bellows aimed at the ear of the sleeper. With bat wings, clawed hands, and the stubby features of a devil, it is reminiscent of a grotesque from the margins of a medieval manuscript. READ THE REST OF WESTPHAL-WIHL’S PAPER HERE.

You’ll be able to see an image of The Temptation of the Idler on our Dreamscapes web catalogue, which launches soon, and the next time you tour the exhibition.

This Saturday at 1pm, art therapist Shelly Goebl-Parker will lead the second in a series of dream matrices at the Pulitzer. We hope you can make it, since it’s an experience that doesn’t come around regularly (we have one more in June). 

Dream matrices are a little hard to explain, so Megan Johnson, one of our Social Work practicum students, wrote a report on what happened last month to give you an idea of what to expect:

What better way to spend a hot Saturday afternoon than relaxing with your eyes closed, talking about dreams. Last month, as part of the Dreamscapes community programming, visitors were invited to join in just that, a social dream matrix.

The mezzanine was set up with a concentric circle (also known as a spiral to the casual geometric connoisseur) of chairs. Attendees were invited to walk into the spiral and take a seat. Everyone sat quietly with his or her eyes closed. Hap, one of the social dream matrix guides, announced that the matrix was open, at which point people began sharing their dreams. 

The most amazing thing occurred while the dreams were being shared: no one was ever interrupted. It was as if the participants had really entered into a matrix where normal human interactions were now governed by unspoken, unseen cues.  People told all sorts of dreams from the fantastical to obscure to downright silly, no dream was left unsaid. Movement was a common theme amongst viewers, be it walking through aqueducts or through a forest. Links began to emerge from different dreams and themes repeated from dream to dream creating almost one continuous dream shared by the participants.

After about thirty minutes, Hap informed the group that the matrix had closed. Everyone slowly opened their eyes and look about, almost puzzled as to what had just happened. Slowly, the group walked over to the Contemporary Art Museum (CAM) where they were invited to explore the social dream matrix through art. Each participant was given the opportunity to make whatever they wanted, using any of the supplied materials.  All sorts of interesting dreamlike art were created. As the social dream matrices continue on throughout the exhibition, there will be chances to explore and discuss what art was made at each experience. –Megan Johnson, MSW Practicum Student

For another review of last month’s matrix, read Byron Kermon’s article on St. Louis Magazine’s  Look/Listen.

DJs Brett Underwood and Josh Weinstein

At Sunday’s Dream Sounds, quite a few people asked gallery assistants and our visitor services manager, “What song is this?” DJs Josh Weinstein and Brett Underwood share their playlists and why they chose the songs they did here:

Josh Weinstein, host of KDHX’s ALL SOUL, NO BORDERS:

I dreamed about this show the night before.  I floated through the Pulitzer space, past the paintings (including some that weren’t there in the morning) and in, around, and through the music bubbling up from the floor.  In the basement hallway, I heard Kronos Quartet with Aki Takahashi performing Morton Feldman’s Piano and String Quartet.  I loved how it coaxed the trees in the photograph at the end of the hallway to sway a bit.  Upstairs, Aki Takase (not to be confused with Aki Takahashi, the other Japanese pianist playing Morton Feldman in the basement) interpreted Ornette Coleman’s The Sphinx.  The Blue Series Continuum played the music of Matthew Shipp.  We also heard Mr. Shipp with his New Orbit quartet.  This included the legendary Wadada Leo Smith, master William Parker, and Gerald Cleaver.  Smith recently visited St. Louis with his Golden Quartet.  Shipp will be in St. Louis later this year as part of the New Music Circle’s 2011-2012 season!

I also heard duets from Mal Waldron and Jeanne Lee in a wordless version of Waldron’s classic Fire Waltz, Kahil El’Zabar and David Murray meditating for the celestial warriors Fred Hopkins and Steve McCall, François Rabbath and his drummer, and the crowd-pleasing theremin playing of Clara Rockmore accompanied by her sister Nadia Reisenberg performing Tchaikovsky’s Berceuse and Valse Sentimentale.  Sun Ra Arkestra alum Philip Cohran’s Legacy played in a groovy African mode, the German experimental composer Conrad Schnitzler got techno-y-ish in his 1973 piece Slow Motion, and Ninni Morgia’s Control Unit featuring the instantly recognizable and original playing of multi-windman Daniel Carter created an even more psychedelic environment.  Fay Victor sang John Gilman Wants Tobacco a cappella to bring me back to earth.  TriFactor, featuring the recently deceased violin hero Billy Bang, gently lulled me back to R.E.M.  Rest in peace Mr. Walker, and thank you.

Brett Underwood, former host of KDHX’s THE NO SHOW and St. Louis poet:

The first track I imagined for the event was “Spirit Ditch” from Sparklehorse’s debut album Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot.  The gentle guitar tones melt together with the dreamy lyrics:

The moon it will rise with such
Horse laughter
It’s dragging pianos to the ocean
If I had a home
You’d know it’d be
In a slide trombone

Read the rest of this entry »

Cinema St. Louis and The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts invite St. Louis-area filmmakers to project their imaginations on the Pulitzer’s world-renowned building by creating short silent films that employ dreamlike imagery.

In conjunction with the current exhibition Dreamscapes, on view until August 13, the Pulitzer will host an event that showcases dream-related films by local filmmakers. These shorts will be projected on several exterior surfaces at the Pulitzer on Friday, June 24, at 8:00 p.m.

One of the works–chosen by the Pulitzer and Cinema St. Louis–will be highlighted at the event, and the filmmaker will receive a prize of $500.

Cinema St. Louis will also choose several of the films to screen as part of the
St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase, held in early August.

READ MORE AT CINEMASTLOUIS.ORG.