Tate Film presents a major survey of the work of Barbara Hammer (b. 1939) on view 3–26 February 2012. This month-long series of Hammer’s work will include screenings of early, rarely seen Super-8 films, an evening of free expanded cinema performances in the Turbine Hall, and special events featuring artists and speakers from across Europe and North America. The season will be launched with a premiere of her new short film, Maya Deren’s Sink (2011), a tribute to Deren’s longstanding influence on the artist.
Barbara Hammer, “Sync Touch,” 1981. (c) Barbara Hammer
A pivotal figure in American experimental film and an acclaimed pioneer of queer cinema, Hammer’s prolific output includes the earliest avant-garde films that openly address lesbian life and sexuality. Her work remains of fundamental importance for a new generation of artists exploring new voices and new modes of experimenting with the moving image.
Hammer said that ‘as an experimental filmmaker and lesbian feminist, I have advocated that radical content deserves radical form.’ She has fearlessly pursued innovation from her earliest experiments with sexuality and feminist identity in the 1960s and ‘70s to her stunning perceptual and optical printing experiments during the 1980s and the documentaries she continues to make that unearth secret histories and give voice to those traditionally without one. Her films have transformed the screen into an active and experimental field that powerfully brings together images and the bodies they represent.
Barbara Hammer: The Fearless Frame has been curated by Barbara Hammer and Stuart Comer.
Programme One
Maya Deren and Me
Friday 3 February 2012, 19.00
Programme Two
Hammer Super 8
Saturday 4 February 2012, 19.00
Programme Three
For An Active Cinema
Sunday 5 February 2012, 17.00
Programme Four
Hammer Expanded
Sunday 5 February 2012, 19.00
Turbine Hall
Free
Programme Five
Resistance
Thursday 9 February 2012, 18.30
Programme Six
Fragile Light
Friday 10 February 2012, 19.00
Programme Seven
Shattering the Mirror Stage
Saturday 11 February 2012, 19.00
Programme Eight
Seeing with a Horse’s Eye
Sunday 12 February 2012, 17.00
Programme Nine
The Goddess Zeitgeist
Tuesday 14 February 2012, 18.30
Programme Ten
Life in the ’80s: Struggles in Conservative Times
Wednesday 15 February 2012, 18.30
Programme Eleven
Hidden Histories
Friday 17 February 2012, 19.00
Programme Twelve
Barbara Hammer Study Day: Performative Lectures and Dialogues
Saturday 18 February 2012, 12.00-17.00
Programme Thirteen
Land and Water
Saturday 18 February 2012, 19.00
Programme Fourteen
Devotion: A Film About Ogawa Productions
Sunday 19 February 2012, 14.00
Programme Fifteen
The Scopophiliac Audience
Sunday 19 February 2012, 17.00
Programme Sixteen
Breaking the Law: Barbara Hammer and William E. Jones
Friday 24 February 2012, 19.00
Programme Seventeen
Superdyke Meets Madame X Meets Falling in Love With Chris and Greg
Conceived by Emily Roysdon
Saturday 25 February 2011, 19.00
Programme Eighteen
Out in South Africa
Sunday 26 February 2012, 14.00
Programme Nineteen
For Florrie
Sunday 26 February 2012, 17.00
Box Office: 020 7887 8888
Tate Film presents inspiring films, videos, installations and performances made by artists and filmmakers who seek to challenge the conventions of moving image and to examine its changing role. Tate Film has become one of London’s most important forums for artists’ moving image work and provides an opportunity to view exciting films by emerging artists and rare historical material that reflects the fascinating trajectory of experimental cinema. For further screening information please visit www.tate.org.uk/modern/film