Film Screenings / Programs / Series
GLASS! LOVE!! PERPETUAL MOTION!!!: AN HOMAGE TO PAUL SCHEERBART (1863-1915)
November 20 – November 23
An architectural theorist, a fabulist of gender and “non-erotic” love, a dreamer of perpetual motion, and one of the first science fiction writers, Paul Scheerbart has mostly been lost to history, but now we rediscover him as the present quickly becomes the future. A mysterious and visionary figure who was working in Germany at the turn of the 20th century, Scheerbart was not a filmmaker, yet his fantastical writings and theories have directly and obliquely inspired artists and writers of his era and now ours. In a very real way these programs bring together a selection of works that can readily be called “Scheerbartian.”
Our series coincides with the release of the book GLASS! LOVE!! PERPETUAL MOTION!!!: A PAUL SCHEERBART READER (The University of Chicago Press), edited by Josiah McElheny and Christine Burgin. This vital collection brings together scores of strange and marvelous texts that have never before been available in English. To celebrate the publication, we present three nights of programs organized around the metaphoric themes that dominate Scheerbart’s work, and which are referenced in the book’s title. Many of the programs will include introductions or conversations with special guests including Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin, translator extraordinaire Susan Bernofsky, artist Josiah McElheny, and filmmaker Jeff Preiss.
An additional Scheerbart-related program featuring the silent film ALGOL (1920) by Hans Werckmeister and additional shorts selected and introduced by Guy Maddin will screen on Sunday, November 23 at Light Industry. For more information please visit lightindustry.org.
Curated by Josiah McElheny and Andrew Lampert with assistance from Bill Horrigan and Guy Maddin.
Special thanks to Christine Burgin, Guy Maddin, Bill Horrigan, the Toronto International Film Festival, the National Film Board of Canada, Hauser & Wirth, Marie-Pierre Lessard (Cinémathèque Québécoise), Matthew Marks, Roman Signer, University of Chicago Press, and Vizcaya Museum and Gardens.
