Platforms: Collection and Commissions
Tickets & Info
Established and emerging artists, historical and contemporary themes: Platforms juxtaposes moving image works from the Walker’s collection with new commissions by 12 international artists. The films and videos on view cover a wide range of political and cultural issues—from atomic bomb testing on Bikini Atoll to telepathic improvisation—all while staying at the forefront of the avant-garde. The new works bridge generations: the contemporary artists each create a piece inspired by the work of a specific predecessor. The dynamic initiative weaves together production, scholarship, distribution, and archival research.
Explore the Web
Originally developed for viewing on the Walker’s website, these commissions were created for a truly international audience. Visit the Moving Image Commissions page to watch the videos, read critical essays, and learn more about the artists.
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Experience in the Gallery
These forward-thinking filmmakers reimagined how their art can be shared. During Platforms, you can see the commissions differently: installed in the gallery, side by side with the works that inspired them, for the first time. See schedule below.
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View in the Mediatheque
Now part of the Walker’s collection, these videos are available daily in the Bentson Mediatheque, located in the Main Lobby. Make your own playlist with works from the exhibition in the museum’s unique self- select cinema.
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Re-Imagining Life
For the most recent Walker commissions, renowned filmmakers Kevin Jerome Everson and Deborah Stratman reach into the past—through the work of William Klein, Barbara Hammer, and Maya Deren—to explore contemporary life, art, and creativity.
Kevin Jerome Everson, music from the edge of the allegheny plateau, 2018
Rappers and gospel singers, on the streets and in their homes—music from the edge of the allegheny plateau presents different generations from the African American communities of Mansfield, Ohio, sharing their passions and their talents. Everson was inspired to portray their messages of faith, ambition, and renewal created through music and gesture by William Klein’s The Little Richard Story (1980).
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Deborah Stratman, Vever, 2018
For this commission, Stratman drew on several sources: Barbara Hammer’s unused footage shot during a motorcycle trip to Guatemala in 1975, evocative sounds from Maya Deren’s Meshes of the Afternoon (1943), and text and illustrations from Deren’s 1953 book Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti. Vever brings together three generations of women who separately, and now together, confront moments of vulnerability and disruption.
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Gallery Schedule
Platforms: Collection and Commissions is divided into six seven-week-long rotations, each presenting a single landmark film from the collection alongside the commissions it inspired. Viewers are encouraged to visit the exhibition multiple times to experience yet another new perspective.
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1.
Exchanging Histories
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Leslie Thornton, They Were Just People, 2016
James Richards and Leslie Thornton, Crossing, 2016
Bruce Conner, CROSSROADS, 1976
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2.
Shared Cultures
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Yto Barrada, Ether Reverie (Suite for Thérèse Rivière no.2), 2017
Renée Green, ED/HF, 2017
Harun Farocki, Interface (Schnittstelle), 1995
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3.
Inhabited Figures
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Shahryar Nashat, Present Sore, 2016
Uri Aran, Two Things About Suffering, 2016
Marcel Broodthaers, Figures of Wax (Jeremy Bentham), 1974
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4.
Sonic Landscapes
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Moyra Davey, Notes on Blue, 2015
James Richards, Radio at Night, 2015
Derek Jarman, Blue, 1993
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5.
Political Presence
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Pauline Boudry/Renate Lorenz, Telepathic Improvisation, 2017
Marwa Arsanios, Who is afraid of ideology? Part 1, 2017
Harun Farocki, Inextinguishable Fire, 1969
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6.
Re-imagining Life
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Kevin Jerome Everson, music from the edge of the allegheny plateau, 2018
William Klein, The Little Richard Story, 1980
Deborah Stratman, Vever, 2018
Maya Deren, Meshes of the Afternoon, 1943
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Curators: Sheryl Mousley, senior curator, Moving Image; and Ruth Hodgins, Bentson
archivist/assistant curator, Moving Image
The Walker Moving Image Commissions are generously supported by the Bentson Foundation.