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Current and Upcoming Projects and Events
Paloma and Raul in San Serriffe
A new film installation by J. Makary
A Philagrafika 2010 Independent Project
March 12-April 4, 2010
Opening reception March 12, 5-9pm
Special opening performance 6pm
Powel House Museum
244 S. 3rd Street
Philadelphia, PA
Thurs-Sat 12-5, Sun 1-5
Pay-what-you-wish admission
The Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks is excited to present the most recent artist commission in its acclaimed exhibitions program. Paloma and Raul in San Serriffe is a new site-specific film installation by artist/choreographer J. Makary, created with collaborating composer Michael McDermott (Mikronesia) and Brooklyn-based contemporary trio janus . Curated by Robert Wuilfe, the exhibition will be presented from March 12 to April 4, 2010, at the historic Powel House Museum, the home of eighteenth-century Philadelphia mayor Samuel Powel. A free public opening reception on March 12 from 5pm-9pm will feature a live performance by Mikronesia at 6pm. Paloma and Raul in San Serriffe is an Independent Project of Philagrafika 2010, Philadelphia's international festival celebrating print in contemporary art.
A stylish and slyly humorous piece shot largely on 16mm film and accompanied by strategic sculptural interventions throughout the historic museum space, Paloma and Raul in San Serriffe is a meditation on history, intrigue, experimental narrative and the biggest typography-based hoax in history. The project is influenced by both the aesthetics of 1960s/1970s filmmaking and an expanded definition of the artistic model of dance-for-camera. The result of a year-long residency at Landmarks, Makary's work was filmed on-site in the 1765 Georgian-style Powel House Museum. 
What makes one history or artwork more"authentic" than another? Paloma and Raul in San Serriffe self-consciously plays with the basic tools of narrative filmmaking---editing, sound, sets, and dialogue---to reflect upon the production of history and its grand narratives. As Walter Benjamin once wrote: "History is the object of a construction whose place is formed not in homogenous and empty time, but in that which is fulfilled by the here-and-now." Against the backdrop of the Powel House's restored colonial interior, Makary's project uses a mysterious story of domestic intrigue to reveal how the present colors the past in this way. Makary turns historic space into contemporary domestic space, and maps the imaginary onto the physical.
Paloma and Raul in San Serriffe takes its title from an April Fool's Day hoax in 1977 perpetrated by the Guardian newspaper in Britain. One of the most popular and enduring public hoaxes in recent decades, it began with the publication in the paper of a deadpan travel supplement featuring the fictional islands of San Serriffe, located in the Indian Ocean. It described centuries of their history, politics and economics through a vast array of fake names based upon printing and typography terms. Visitors to Philagrafika 2010 will be especially interested in the resuscitation of this infamous prank.
Makary utilizes the San Serriffe tale as a discursive and metaphorical site through which the current Powel House space is recast as a stand-in for countless possible eighteenth and nineteenth century British colonial structures around the world. By restricting her film editing to scenes that do not show the context of Philadelphia, the house might exist in any number of countries. San Serriffe provides a playful but important route to a critical conception of imagination and history.
About Philagrafika 2010
This exhibition was organized as part of the Philagrafika 2010: Independent Projects. For information on Philagrafika 2010, and the more than 75 other independently curated projects taking place throughout the city, please visit the web site www.philagrafika2010.org. Philagrafika, the organizing body of Philagrafika 2010, is a nonprofit arts organization in Philadelphia that provides leadership for large-scale, collaborative initiatives with broad public exposure. [Please note: The title of this project, Paloma and Raul in San Serriffe should be written with an accent over the "u" in "Raul." Unfortunately, this website cannot support accented characters.]
Nadia Hironaka and Matt Suib
April 9-May 9, 2010
Opening reception April 9, 5-9pm
Powel House Museum
244 S. 3rd Street
Philadelphia, PA
Thurs-Sat 12-5, Sun 1-5
Pay-what-you-wish admission
Nadia Hironaka and Matt Suib will present a new, site-specific video installation at the Powel House Museum from April 9-May 9, with an opening reception on April 9. Based on a long-term contemplation of the Powel House as a site of restoration and preservation, the project engages with the transitory nature of architecture and our evolving conceptions of the role of museums.
Hironaka and Suib will exhibit a collection of single-channel video works picturing alternative histories, possible futures and imagined scenarios and conversations with uninvited guests. Presented as a quasi-futuristic meta-museum, the exhibition repositions its home (The Powel House) as a site of multiple possibilities, eschewing its present-day status as a house-museum for both plausible and implausible visions.
Each video is physically situated as if it were a mirror---one that offers a skewed view of its surroundings, while retaining a formal and empirical authority. It is this distorted view that challenges the foundation of the historical museum, calling into question the subjectivities of historical preservation and representation.
Nadia Hironaka's films and video installations have been exhibited internationally at venues such as Rencontres Internationals, Paris; The Center for Contemporary Arts, Kitakyushu, Japan; Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia; The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Morris Gallery, Philadelphia; Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe. Solo projects by Matthew Suib have been exhibited at Philadelphia Museum of Art; Kunstwerke Berlin; Mercer Union, Toronto; The Corcoran Gallery of Art, D.C.; PS1 Contemporary Art Center, New York; Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; and the 2007 Moscow Biennale. Hironaka and Suib have worked collaboratively since 2007.
This project has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through a Pew Fellowships in the Arts Professional Development Grant
bowerbird@LANDMARKS
Through a
curatorial partnership with bowerbird,
we bring experimental and improvisational music, film, dance and other
creative, genre-defying performing arts to historic sites in the region. Events
co-presented with Bowerbird will continue on an ongoing basis, generally once
or twice a month.
For details
of upcoming bowerbird@LANDMARKS events, click here.
Please note:
- bowerbird@LANDMARKS events generally sell-out.
We HIGHLY recommend you purchase advance tickets by clicking on the
links by each event listing below. Available seats are occasionally
supplemented by standing-room
space.
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protect collections, museum staff may require that bags be checked.
Please avoid bringing large bags or expensive items. Landmarks is not
responsible for loss or damage of items during concerts.
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contact:
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