3 minute read
Into Cinema
from magazine deframe
by oykunaz
IN TO CINEMA
Our Strange New Land: Photographs by Alex Harris is the latest chapter in the ongoing Picturing the South project.
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In 2017, when I began to work on my Picturing the South commission from the High Museum, I had been teaching in Duke’s new MFA program for five years, working closely with serious filmmakers focused on the process of telling stories with moving image. So having been immersed in the process of filmmaking, thinking about and sometimes even dreaming about my students’ films, I was fascinated by and somewhat familiar with the world of filmmaking, even though I’d only been on a film set once before.
I was also inspired by my then decade-old memory of my first and only time on a movie set, for Steven Soderbergh’s CHE. The producer, Laura Bickford, invited me to photograph in Mexico where Soderbergh was filming the last battle of the Cuban revolution, a battle in which Che Guevara played the key role. Before I arrived in Mexico, I imagined that photographing on Soderbergh’s movie set would be a kind of exercise in make-believe, fundamentally different from my experience photographing in Cuba itself for my earlier book The Idea of Cuba. But when Benecio Del Toro walked on set, the actors and extras responded as if Che were there amongst us. When I arrived on the set of CHE, a set photographer was already hired to make pictures for publicity. The producer was interested in how I would respond as a photographer to being on set, to whatever unfolded on set or behind the scenes. I found myself drawn not so much to the stars of the film, but to the extras, the ordinary Mexican townspeople playing Cubans at war. With another take, from different distance or angle. That is a photographer’s dream!
Alex Harris (American, born 1949), Greener Grass in Gay, Georgia, 2018,
MoMA: Digital Presence The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, has the largest digital audience of any museum, reaching more than 30 million people worldwide.
During its closure, Aesthetica selects five online strands to explore from home. New exhibitions, archive material and informative documentaries delve into the history of art. MoMA has a wide range of audio clips available on the website. Each insight delves into the collection and special exhibitions – offering perspectives from leading names in contemporary art. In one podcast, artists and writers reflect on Donald Judd’s works in light of a recent retrospective. In another, MoMA’s department of security shares personal stories about works on view. Light and space artist James Turrell speaks about creating all-encompassing works, whilst activists look at art’s potential to spark change. New exhibitions, archive material and informative documentaries delve into the history of art. MoMA has a wide range of audio clips available on the website. Each insight delves into the collection and special exhibitions – offering perspectives from leading names in contemporary art. In one podcast, artists and writers reflect on Donald Judd’s works in light of a recent retrospective. In another, MoMA’s department of security shares personal stories about works on view. Activists look at art’s potential to spark change.
