Narcisa Hirsch: In Relation
A pioneer of Argentinian experimental or “underground” cinema, Narcisa Hirsch has referred to herself as una famosa cineasta desconocida (a famous unknown filmmaker). Although she can be said to have been triply marginalized–as a Latin American, as a woman, and as an experimental artist who always moved outside of the traditional global and local art circuits–her low-budget projects allowed her radical freedom to experiment with the medium of film, always in dialogue with other artists and art forms ranging from filmmaker Michael Snow to composer Steve Reich, fiction writer Jorge Luis Borges to musician Nina Simone. Indeed, before becoming a filmmaker, Hirsch herself experimented with diverse forms and media–painting, graffiti, and happenings on the streets of Buenos Aires, New York, and London–and subsequently published several books. The exhibition’s main gallery will highlight five of Hirsch’s films that engage directly and indirectly, intentionally and unintentionally, with artists such as Michael Snow, Michelangelo Antonioni, Nina Simone, Steve Reich, Glenn Ligon, Julio Cortázar, Julie Dash, and Jorge Luis Borges.
This exhibition is curated by Professor Erin Graff Zivin.
