Gregory J. Markopoulos
GREGORY J. MARKOPOULOS
London Tate Modern
7 & 8 March 2008
Gregory J. Markopoulos (1928–1992) was a key figure in the evolution of the New American Cinema of the 1960s, an archetypal personal filmmaker who counted Jack Smith, Kenneth Anger, Stan Brakhage and Maya Deren amongst his contemporaries. His ravishing films are a complex combination of masterful camerawork and editing with a strong vision rooted in myth and poetry.
After relocating from New York to Europe in 1967, he planned the construction of an archive and projection space in Greece – The Temenos – a setting that would be in harmony with his extraordinary films. This pair of Tate Modern screenings anticipates the Temenos 2008 open air premieres of Markopoulos’ ENIAIOS III-V to be held in Lyssaraia on 27-29 June 2008, presented by the filmmaker Robert Beavers.
Gregory J. Markopoulos directs Jack SmithFriday 7 March 2008, at 7pm
MARKOPOULOS: PORTRAITS OF ARTISTS
Markopoulos made many extraordinary film portraits, which often incorporate an activity or object that has personal significance to the subject. This programme presents a selection of poetic and sensuous portraits of cultural and art world luminaries such as Gilbert & George, Alberto Moravia, Giorgio de Chirico and Rudolph Nureyev.
“The films preserve the myriad flights of isolated, spectrally splintered and itinerant spirit, lost in yearning, in search of intuitive wholeness while negotiating mazes of desire, seeking sanctuary in the reflection of countless identities. The works hold a shimmering mirror up to the contradictory compulsions of an era, set to register, for a few instants, shocks of recognition.” (Kirk Winslow, Millennium Film Journal)
Gregory Markopoulos, Through a Lens Brightly: Mark Turbyfill, 1967, 12 min (Mark Turbyfill)
Gregory Markopoulos, ENIAIOS (Order III, Reel 1) (Gibraltar), undated, 15 min
(Gilbert & George)
Gregory Markopoulos, ENIAIOS (Order IV, Reel 6) (The Olympian), 1969, 23 min (Alberto Moravia)
Gregory Markopoulos, Political Portraits, 1969, 15 min excerpt
(Ulrich Herzog, Marcia Haydee, Rudolph Nureyev, Giorgio di Chirico, Hulda Zumsteg)
Gregory Markopoulos, ENIAIOS (Order II, Reel 2), undated, 23 min
(Hans-Jakob Siber, Franco Quadri, Giorgio Frapoli, Klaus Schönherr and family)
The Illiac Passion (Gregory J. Markopoulos, 1967)Saturday 8 March 2008, at 7pm
MARKOPOULOS: THE ILLIAC PASSION
Throughout his life, Markopoulos remained closely connected to his heritage and ultimately saw the Greek landscape as the ideal setting for viewing his films. The Illiac Passion, one of his most highly acclaimed films, is a visionary interpretation of ‘Prometheus Bound’ starring mythical beings from the 1960s underground. The soundtrack of this contemporary re-imagining of the classical realm features a reading of Thoreau’s translation of the Aeschylus text and excerpts from Bartok.
Gregory Markopoulos, The Illiac Passion, 1967, 92 min
“The Illiac Passion, which features chiaroscuro passages reminiscent of Anger's Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome of 1954, and incorporates 25 characters, is loosely based on Aeschylus' ‘Prometheus Bound’. For a viewer seeing this extravagant ode to creation some thirty years after its making, the film's most plangent moments involve Markopoulos' affectionate casting of friends as mythical figures – Andy Warhol's Poseidon pumping on an Exercycle above a sea of plastic, Taylor Mead's Demon leaping, grimacing, and streaming vermilion fringes, and Jack Smith's bohemian Orpheus, spending a quiet afternoon at home with Eurydice.” (Kristin M. Jones, Artforum)
at
Starr Auditorium
Tate Modern, Bankside, London, SE1 9TG
Nearest Tube: Southwark / London Bridge / Blackfriars
MAP OF AREA
Tickets: £5 / £4 concessions, booking recommended
Box Office: 020 7887 8888
www.tate.org.uk
London Tate Modern
7 & 8 March 2008
Gregory J. Markopoulos (1928–1992) was a key figure in the evolution of the New American Cinema of the 1960s, an archetypal personal filmmaker who counted Jack Smith, Kenneth Anger, Stan Brakhage and Maya Deren amongst his contemporaries. His ravishing films are a complex combination of masterful camerawork and editing with a strong vision rooted in myth and poetry.
After relocating from New York to Europe in 1967, he planned the construction of an archive and projection space in Greece – The Temenos – a setting that would be in harmony with his extraordinary films. This pair of Tate Modern screenings anticipates the Temenos 2008 open air premieres of Markopoulos’ ENIAIOS III-V to be held in Lyssaraia on 27-29 June 2008, presented by the filmmaker Robert Beavers.
Gregory J. Markopoulos directs Jack SmithMARKOPOULOS: PORTRAITS OF ARTISTS
Markopoulos made many extraordinary film portraits, which often incorporate an activity or object that has personal significance to the subject. This programme presents a selection of poetic and sensuous portraits of cultural and art world luminaries such as Gilbert & George, Alberto Moravia, Giorgio de Chirico and Rudolph Nureyev.
“The films preserve the myriad flights of isolated, spectrally splintered and itinerant spirit, lost in yearning, in search of intuitive wholeness while negotiating mazes of desire, seeking sanctuary in the reflection of countless identities. The works hold a shimmering mirror up to the contradictory compulsions of an era, set to register, for a few instants, shocks of recognition.” (Kirk Winslow, Millennium Film Journal)
Gregory Markopoulos, Through a Lens Brightly: Mark Turbyfill, 1967, 12 min (Mark Turbyfill)
Gregory Markopoulos, ENIAIOS (Order III, Reel 1) (Gibraltar), undated, 15 min
(Gilbert & George)
Gregory Markopoulos, ENIAIOS (Order IV, Reel 6) (The Olympian), 1969, 23 min (Alberto Moravia)
Gregory Markopoulos, Political Portraits, 1969, 15 min excerpt
(Ulrich Herzog, Marcia Haydee, Rudolph Nureyev, Giorgio di Chirico, Hulda Zumsteg)
Gregory Markopoulos, ENIAIOS (Order II, Reel 2), undated, 23 min
(Hans-Jakob Siber, Franco Quadri, Giorgio Frapoli, Klaus Schönherr and family)
The Illiac Passion (Gregory J. Markopoulos, 1967)MARKOPOULOS: THE ILLIAC PASSION
Throughout his life, Markopoulos remained closely connected to his heritage and ultimately saw the Greek landscape as the ideal setting for viewing his films. The Illiac Passion, one of his most highly acclaimed films, is a visionary interpretation of ‘Prometheus Bound’ starring mythical beings from the 1960s underground. The soundtrack of this contemporary re-imagining of the classical realm features a reading of Thoreau’s translation of the Aeschylus text and excerpts from Bartok.
Gregory Markopoulos, The Illiac Passion, 1967, 92 min
“The Illiac Passion, which features chiaroscuro passages reminiscent of Anger's Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome of 1954, and incorporates 25 characters, is loosely based on Aeschylus' ‘Prometheus Bound’. For a viewer seeing this extravagant ode to creation some thirty years after its making, the film's most plangent moments involve Markopoulos' affectionate casting of friends as mythical figures – Andy Warhol's Poseidon pumping on an Exercycle above a sea of plastic, Taylor Mead's Demon leaping, grimacing, and streaming vermilion fringes, and Jack Smith's bohemian Orpheus, spending a quiet afternoon at home with Eurydice.” (Kristin M. Jones, Artforum)
at
Starr Auditorium
Tate Modern, Bankside, London, SE1 9TG
Nearest Tube: Southwark / London Bridge / Blackfriars
MAP OF AREA
Tickets: £5 / £4 concessions, booking recommended
Box Office: 020 7887 8888
www.tate.org.uk
Labels: london, markopoulos, tate
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posted by Secret Cinema at 3/07/2008 07:00:00 PM
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