Monte Clark

November 21, 2015 to January 30, 2016

The Cinematheque, in collaboration with Monte Clark Gallery, presents Traces That Resemble Us, a screening series and art exhibition that explores the intersections between visual art in Vancouver and cinema. Motivated by Jeff Wall’s history as a former film programmer at The Cinematheque, Traces That Resemble Us invites twelve prominent Vancouver-based artists to each program a film that has been influential to his or her practice, and to exhibit artwork for a corresponding group exhibition at Monte Clark Gallery.*

Program notes by participating artists are available to read on The Cinematheque’s website:

Vikky Alexander
Roy Arden
Robert Arndt
Karin Bubaš
Dana Claxton
Stan Douglas
Greg Girard
Rodney Graham
Owen Kydd
Myfanwy MacLeod
Ian Wallace
Jeff Wall

“Traces That Resemble Us takes its title from a phrase of Jean-Luc Godard. In one of a series of lectures given at Concordia University in 1978, the auteur claimed that, in cinema, the traces of former images are found in each that follow it. Every image is a history of all other cinematic images. He holds that we — its viewers and makers — are also traces in those images, as our human history is also threaded into that most significant cultural and social phenomenon of the last century: cinema. And the artists in Traces, with their selected films and artworks, evince how these practices also are projected onto it.”
— Aaron Peck, excerpted from his essay, “Traces That Resemble Us” (2015), available to read in full in the exhibition booklet

Screenings will occur on Thursday evenings from November 12 to December 17 at The Cinematheque, with each film preceded by a special introduction. Established in 1972, The Cinematheque is a charitable, non-profit film institute dedicated to advancing the understanding and appreciation of film as art. It is located at 1131 Howe Street, Vancouver.

The exhibition will run from November 21 to January 30 at Monte Clark Gallery, with an Opening Reception on November 21 from 2pm to 4pm.

*Works by Roy Arden, Robert Arndt, and Stan Douglas will be screened at The Cinematheque; please see schedule below for details:

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 12:

Ian Wallace
Contempt, 1963. Dir: Jean-Luc Godard
Introduced by the artist
6:30pm at The Cinematheque

Dana Claxton
Dog Day Afternoon, 1975. Dir: Sidney Lumet
Introduced by the artist
8:30pm at The Cinematheque

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 19:

Roy Arden
Speedy, 1928. Dir: Ted Wilde
Introduced by Aaron Peck
6:30pm at The Cinematheque

Preceded by:
Roy Arden
Jalopy, 2011
2 min. endless loop. Video for projection with stereo sound

Vikky Alexander
Playtime, 1967. Dir: Jacques Tati
Introduced by the artist
8:30pm at The Cinematheque

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 26:

Karin Bubas
The Night of the Hunter, 1955. Dir: Charles Laughton
Introduced by Monte Clark
6:30pm at The Cinematheque

Stan Douglas
Film By Samuel Beckett, 1965. Dir: Alan Schneider
Introduced by the artist
8:30pm at The Cinematheque

Followed by:
Stan Douglas
Vidéo, 2007
18:14 min. DCP
Courtesy of the artist, David Zwirner New York/London, and Victoria Miro, London

THURSDAY DECEMBER 3:

Jeff Wall
Straight Time, 1978. Dir: Ulu Grosbard
Introduced by the artist
6:30pm at The Cinematheque

Greg Girard
The Yakuza, 1974. Dir: Sydney Pollack
Introduced by the artist
8:30pm at The Cinematheque

THURSDAY DECEMBER 10:

Myfanwy MacLeod
Star 80, 1983. Dir: Bob Fosse
Introduced by Dr. Aoife Mac Namara
6:30pm at The Cinematheque

Owen Kydd
Gummo, 1997. Dir: Harmony Korine
Introduced by Nigel Prince
8:30pm at The Cinematheque

THURSDAY DECEMBER 17:

Robert Arndt
Pickpocket, 1959. Dir: Robert Bresson
Introduced by the artist
6:30pm at The Cinematheque

Preceded by:
Robert Arndt
Pursuit, Plunder & Fleece, 2011-15
12:30 min. Single channel video projection
Courtesy of the artist and Macaulay & Co. Fine Art, Vancouver

Rodney Graham
Dillinger is Dead, 1969. Dir: Marco Ferreri
Introduced by Helga Pakasaar
8:30pm at The Cinematheque

Roy Arden, Karin Bubaš, Greg Girard, Owen Kydd