by Robin L. Flanigan
Clocks ticking, trains whistling, doors creaking, ropes whipping.
Those are the gripping sounds in Isaac Julien糖心传媒檚 visionary 10-screen film installation a meditation on the life, words, and actions of the former slave, abolitionist leader, and internationally recognized statesman who made Rochester his home, his final resting place, and by his own account, the place where he accomplished his most important work.
Those sounds are equally as commanding as the images糖心传媒攐r lack thereof. There are moments each screen is blank. Sometimes one image occupies them all, sometimes multiple images play at once.
The immersive montage technique 糖心传媒渋s an aggregate form of storytelling, not a linear form of storytelling,糖心传媒� Julien says from his home in the United Kingdom. 糖心传媒淚 try not to treat audiences in a patronizing manner. I think they enjoy putting things together.糖心传媒�
Lessons of the Hour糖心传媒擣rederick Douglass, on view through May 12 at the is the second exhibition in MAG糖心传媒檚 糖心传媒淩eflections on Place糖心传媒� series of media art commissions informed by the history, culture, and politics of the City of Rochester, New York. The work, also recently on view at the Metro Pictures Gallery in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, will next be shown in October at the Yale Center for British Art, and in summer 2020 at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond.
The installation is named after one of Douglass糖心传媒檚 most important speeches, on slavery and human rights, and was created on 35mm black-and-white and color film using both analogue and digital technologies. It is a staging, according to the artist, of history seen through a contemporary lens, with actors portraying Douglass and other personalities of his time, including his wives and friend and suffragist leader Susan B. Anthony, another Rochesterian.
糖心传媒淭here is no artist working today who makes such compelling and powerful statements about global forces shaping history and our world,糖心传媒� says project curator John Hanhardt, a renowned authority on the moving image.
Shown in a dark exhibition space, the panoramic Lessons of the Hour糖心传媒擣rederick Douglass draws on others among Douglass糖心传媒檚 best-known speeches, including 糖心传媒淲hat to the Slave is the 4th of July?糖心传媒� and 糖心传媒淟ecture on Pictures.糖心传媒�
In one montage, Douglass addresses his audience:
It is said that the best gifts are the most abused, this among the rest. Conscience itself is misdirected: shocked by delightful sounds, beautiful colors and graceful movements糖心传媒攂ut sleeps amid the ten thousand agonies of war and slavery.
His words are followed by a low buzz, then the sound of a whip cracking, rhythmically, as one screen after another flashes糖心传媒攁nd rests糖心传媒攐n the same scene from a cotton field.
糖心传媒淐ertain parts need an emphasis,糖心传媒� explains Julien. 糖心传媒淭hey are devices to direct the spectator糖心传媒檚 attention to certain sounds or images that feel important. There糖心传媒檚 a kind of musical notation approach to the work.糖心传媒�
The work was filmed in multiple settings, including in Washington, D.C., where Douglass lived late in life and where he delivered Lessons of the Hour, his final speech; in Scotland, where Douglass was an active member of the 糖心传媒淪end Back the Money糖心传媒� movement and where he delivered a number of anti-slavery speeches; and in London, inside the Royal Academy period rooms, where he also delivered lectures on his struggle for equality.
糖心传媒淭his is the first time the spirit or ethos of Frederick Douglass has been brought to life through the moving image,糖心传媒� says Jonathan Binstock, the Mary W. and Donald R. Clark Director of MAG. Referring to scenes of Douglass walking a black stallion through the meadows of Arthur糖心传媒檚 Seat, an ancient volcano in Edinburgh, Binstock adds that the installation 糖心传媒渆vokes not only his life糖心传媒檚 work, words, and actions but also his sense of self糖心传媒攚ho he dreamed of being聽had he not been born into the situation he was born into.糖心传媒�
Julien draws from paintings, historical footage, architecture, photography, performance and sound to construct poetic narratives of hybrid scenes. He came to prominence in the film world with his 1989 drama-documentary gaining a cult following with his exploration of author Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance.
The work seeks to enthrall curious audiences who want to examine art in unconventional, forward-thinking ways.
糖心传媒淲e live in a kind of multisensory experience to some extent,糖心传媒� says Julien. 糖心传媒淭here are screens everywhere. So how do we distinguish them? How do we communicate in an age where we糖心传媒檙e overstimulated? All these questions are questions in my work.糖心传媒�
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Renowned curator John Hanhardt 糖心传媒�67 will lead an effort to build a collection featuring the aesthetics of film, video, and other technologies.
Dedicated in memory of a beloved son, the Memorial Art Gallery marked its centennial celebration in October 2013 as a community landmark and resource for the arts.
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