Films by Mario Garcia Torres

July 28 - Films by Mario García Torres

Mario García Torres, a conceptual artist known for work that addresses the ways in which art and information are constructed over time, was featured this spring in the Modern's FOCUS: Mario García Torres. The exhibition included the video The Schlieren Plot, a signature work in that, as explained by the exhibition's curator Alison Hearst, it uses unrealized Texas-based projects by the late artist Robert Smithson as a springboard for broader topics.

For Tuesday Evenings at the Modern: Films, García Torres has graciously made available three films with the common theme of museums and their implications of politics. As Martijn van Nieuwenhuyzen points out in a 2007 Flash Art article, "García Torres, who has been active as a museum curator and who sees his work against the backdrop of historical conceptualism, has reflected consistently on museum politics and on 'ways to rethink the museum.'"

With attention to the artist's reflection on concepts of the "museum," the Modern is happy to screen Open Letter to Dr. Atl, a six-minute take on the planned installment of a branch of the Guggenheim Museum near Guadalajara; A Brief History of Jimmie Johnson's Legacy, which quotes from art and cinema, in particular borrowing a famous scene in the Louvre from Jean-Luc Godard's Band of Outsiders; and the 60-minute 2013 film Tea, which collapses time and geography as it documents the mental and physical journey of García Torres to a Kabul hotel opened in 1971 by the Italian conceptual artist Alighiero Boetti.

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Tuesday Evenings at the Modern: Films is a new summer program. As an extension of the very popular lecture series Tuesday Evenings at the Modern, which is offered 10 weeks in the spring and fall of each year, this film-based weekly program runs through the summer months and strives to continue the consideration of ideas and issues pertaining to the art and architecture of the Modern and to contemporary art in general.

Selections for screenings are related to or recommended by artists and speakers who have participated in the lecture series or are otherwise affiliated with the museum. There is nothing particularly prescriptive about the line-up, but as with the lecture series, themes can be found and connections made. To create a full experience, these presentations include a brief introduction and opportunity for discussion following the films.

Seating is available in the Modern’s auditorium at 6:30 pm, and the program runs from 7 pm to no later than 9 pm. The museum’s galleries and Café Modern are open until 7 pm on Tuesdays during the run of Tuesday Evenings at the Modern: Films.

This program is free and open to the public. Up to two free tickets can be obtained at the admission desk beginning at 5 pm the day of the screening.