Assembled Visions: Peggy Ahwesh, Joseph Cornell, and Carolee Schneemann
Upcoming Screening: April 29, 2025 | 7:30 PM
With the support of the Carolee Schneemann Foundation and Electronic Arts Intermix, Anthology presents newly restored 16mm prints of Carolee Schneemann’s PLUMB LINE and VIET-FLAKES, alongside the rarely screened RED NEWS. The program pairs Schneemann’s films with Joseph Cornell’s ROSE HOBART and Peggy Ahwesh’s THE FALLING SKY to examine how found footage can be used for dynamic investigations of memory, politics, and cinematic poetics.
Carolee Schneemann’s PLUMB LINE (1968-71) offers a fragmented portrait of a collapsing relationship, merging intimate imagery with experimental techniques. VIET-FLAKES (1962-67), a searing anti-war collage, recontextualizes found photographs of Vietnam War atrocities, while RED NEWS (1962-67) considers the interplay between media, entertainment, and violence. Cornell’s ROSE HOBART (1936), a cornerstone of found-footage cinema, transforms a forgotten Hollywood film into a surreal, dreamlike meditation on longing and nostalgia. Peggy Ahwesh’s THE FALLING SKY (2017) extends this tradition by repurposing animated news to interrogate our collective interests, fears, and obsessions. Together these works trace a lineage of experimental filmmaking that activates archival material to reveal new layers of meaning.
A conversation with Peggy Ahwesh, Rachel Churner, John Klacsmann, Karl McCool, and Kenneth White follows the screening.
Guest-programmed by Kenneth White, Assistant Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History and Visual Studies, The New School, and Rachel Churner, director of the Carolee Schneemann Foundation. Schneemann’s films have been preserved through the National Film Preservation Foundation’s Avant-Garde Masters Grant program and The Film Foundation. Funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.
Carolee Schneemann PLUMB LINE 1968-71, 14.5 min, 16mm
Carolee Schneemann VIET-FLAKES 1962-67, 8.5 min, 16mm
Carolee Schneemann RED NEWS 1962-67, 2.5 min, 16mm
Joseph Cornell ROSE HOBART ca. 1936/68, 20 min, 16mm. Preserved by Anthology Film Archives.
Peggy Ahwesh THE FALLING SKY 2017, 9.5 min, digital
Total running time: ca. 60 min.