Mike,
What a great source! Thanks so much!
Aldona
> The following link has lists of books, plays and films that
feature
> art conservators or art conservation as a main theme in the
work.
>
>
http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byauth/rushfield/conservation-fiction/
>
>
> The source of the site is the "Conservation On Line"
website.
>
> http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/
>
> Mike
>
> >I'm teaching an "Introduction to Museum Studies"
course next year. I plan
> to
> >examine popular images of museums by having students read
novels and/or
> watch
> >films that are about, or set in,
museums. Any suggested titles?
>
Aldonna,
If you want to reach a little further and expose your students to
contemporary art/film in the process, you could present Isaac Julien's
THE ATTENDANT. Yes it takes place in a museum but its NOTHING like the
films on the other lists. Definitely screen it before bringing it to
class!
Mike
The Film Art of Isaac Julien
Isaac Julien is Britain's preeminent black filmmaker, an
internationally recognized artist, writer, teacher, and scholar. His
films include "Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask" (1995);
the Cannes Film Festival prizewinner, "Young Soul Rebels"
(1991); and the critically acclaimed documentary on Langston Hughes,
"Looking for Langston" (1989).
Julien's preoccupation is with the representation of race and
masculinity in film. While his work is certainly considered
"avant garde," Julien employs conventional filmic strategies
such as narrative and beauty to explore and subvert stereotypical
portrayals of gay and black subjects. More poetic than didactic, his
films are characterized by their dream-like imagery and
sensuality.
In the film installation The
Attendant, a black uniformed, male guard (the attendant) and a
black female conservator are the protagonists. The attendant and the
conservator are locked in silence, and no interaction takes place
between them and a white visitor. This silence is shattered by the
amorous sounds of the attendant and the visitor making love in the
museum. Julien thus presents desire and pleasure as possible avenues
for resistance to racial and class distinctions. Although she remains
silent, the conservator is an ally, enabling the encounter between the
lovers.
The recently completed Three (The
Conservator's Dream), is projected as three looped sequences side
by side. An exploration of desire through dance, Three
juxtaposes symbolic images with their religious, cultural, and social
references. Through its collaborative nature and with its
interdisciplinary references (to photography, film, dance, painting),
it breaks down the barriers between those disciplines and beautifully
unites them.
--
*****************************************************************
Michael McHugh, AIA
LEED Accredited Professional
E. Verner Johnson and
Associates
Museum Architects and Planners
222 Berkeley Street, Suite 1350
Boston, MA 02116
tel: 617-437-6262
fax: 617-437-1272
http://www.vernerjohnson.com