The Drawing Lesson, Security and Light. Fifth season of Artists' Film International
The fifth season of Artists' Film International, a program that showcases international artists working in film and animation. This year Ballroom Marfa's Associate Curator, Erin Kimmel, has selected the work of New York-based Alix Pearlstein, whose videos The Drawing Lesson, Security and Light will be featured in the north and south galleries and courtyard. Additionally, each of the 11 participating institutions has selected one artist from their region whose works will be screened as part of the international AFI program. Ballroom Marfa's center gallery has been transformed into an interactive screening room for the viewing of the entire selection of works for the duration of the exhibition. Alix Pearlstein's films feature groups of actors in minimalist settings moving according to sets of directions carefully constructed by the artist. In The Drawing Lesson, shifting roles between observer and observed are enacted as the camera repeatedly draws circles around changing configurations of seated actors. In Security, actors respond to off-screen cues to step forward, back, or to the side, moving in conjunction or opposition to a noisily tracking camera. Projected nightly in the courtyard and visible from Highway 90, Light presents a group of actors gathered in the darkness, interacting with a mysterious source of illumination. Throughout each film the perceptual movement of the camera opens psychological spaces that reveal power structures both illusory and real.