Filmmaker Roger Beebe will bring a 16mm multi-projector performance to the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts on Saturday, Jan. 11.
Since 2006, Beebe’s work has consisted primarily of multiple-projector performances and essayistic videos that explore the world of found images and the “found” landscapes of late capitalism. The upcoming program celebrates the 25th anniversary of his first touring program.
Beebe is a professor in the Department of Art and the Department of Theatre, Film, and Media Arts at Ohio State University. He has screened his film around the world, including at the Sundance Film Festival and the Museum of Modern Art as well as other venues such as the CBS Jumbotron in Times Square in New York City, the McMurdo Station in Antarctica, the Anthology Film Archives, The Laboratorio Arte Alameda in Mexico City, the the Los Angeles Filmforum among others. He also ran Flicker, a festival of small-gauge film in Chapel Hill, N.C., from 1997-2000 and was the founder and artistic director of FLEX, the Florida Experimental Film Festival from 2004-2014.
The current touring program includes newer films as well as some of his best-known projector performances, including the seven-projector film “Last Light of a Dying Star.” Beebe will also include a sampling of recent essayistic videos presented as live-narrated documentaries.
The program will be held in the Creativity and Innovation Complex on ASMSA’s campus at 200 Whittington Ave. in Hot Springs. The performance is is sponsored by the ASMSA Art Department. It is free and open to the public. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. with the performance set for 6 p.m.
“We are thrilled to welcome Roger Beebe and his incredibly unique ‘live cinema’ event to campus,” said Dan Anderson, ASMSA’s digital arts instructor. “Roger makes movies on classic 16mm film and creates performances with multiple film projectors in the same way a band would play musical instruments. He is one of the most well-known and active experimental filmmakers of the 21st century, but his shows must be seen in person to fully appreciate.”
More information about Beebe and his filmmaking may be found at rogerbeebe.com.