Warhol Film Screening—Minimalism and Seriality: Part I

Floor 3, Theater

If Warhol attempted to regiment and mechanize artistic output by adopting the silkscreen as a means of art making, he likewise embraced the mechanization inherent in the filmmaking process. Though his early silkscreens such as 192 One Dollar Bills (1962) and Green Coca-Cola Bottles (1962) are serial arrangements of images of objects, Warhol applied the silkscreens so that the evidence of the artist’s hand remained apparent. In turning to the film medium, Warhol sought to “animate” the silkscreen frames by adding duration to his serial imagery, as seen in two of his most legendary films, Sleep and Empire. Through his early experiments, Warhol discovered that mass-produced film stock was not always a standard length and exploited this variation, once again introducing the human element to the repeatable formula. The resulting filmic output is subject to accident, much like the blurred registers of a silkscreened image. Warhol embraced this “mistake” phenomenon in his filmmaking, eschewing editing and allowing the inherent qualities and basic filmic constraints to dictate the aesthetic and dimensions (running time) of his film work.

Film
Sleep, 1963
16mm, black-and-white, silent; 5 hrs. 20 min. at 16 fps, 4 hrs. 44:30 min. at 18 fps

Total running time: 5 hours, 20 minutes

Saturday, December 29, 2018
3 pm

Sunday, March 31, 2019
7 pm

Tickets are required ($12 adults; $10 members, seniors, students, and visitors with disabilities).  See all screening programs for just $99 with the Warhol Film Package ($89 members, seniors, students, and visitors with disabilities). 

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Part II

Part III

View all Warhol Film Screenings and Programs.