LADA Screens #5: Robin Deacon – Launch Event

Robin Deacon
Spectacle: A Portrait of Stuart Sherman (2013)
Online 2 to 16 November 2015
Launch event with Robin Deacon – Monday November 2 at 7pm 

For LADA Screens 5 we are screening the film ‘Spectacle: A Portrait of Stuart Sherman (2013)’ by artist Robin Deacon. 

The late American artist Stuart Sherman (1945 – 2001) was a strange and underexposed figure in the history of performance art and experimental film. Using interviews with friends and colleagues, and original and re-enacted footage of Sherman's performances, this film explores the life, death, disappearance and rediscovery of this unique artist. Described by one writer as 'the Buster Keaton of linguistics', Sherman's art defied neat categories and simple explanation.  ‘Spectacle: A Portrait of Stuart Sherman’ is Deacon’s first full-length feature film and represents a major departure from his established practice. The film includes Deacon’s re-enactments of Sherman’s work, as well as exclusive interviews with Sherman’s colleagues, collaborators and friends.

The screening will be followed by a talk about the film by Robin Deacon who is in London to perform 'White Balance: A History of Video' from 4 – 6 November 2015 at the Barbican in London. Part of the SPILL Festival of Performance.

Following the event a feature length version of the film will be available to view for free on the LADA Screens channel for two weeks, between 2 and 16 November 2015.

About LADA Screens

LADA Screens is a series of free, online screenings of seminal performance documentation, works to camera, short films/video and archival footage. It is part of Live Online, LADA’s dedicated space where you can watch short videos and films drawn from LADA’s Study Room or generated through our programmes and initiatives.

Each screening will be available to view for a limited time only, and will be launched with a live event at the White Building in Hackney Wick, London. Online art magazine, thisistomorrow will also feature the films on their website for the duration of the screenings.

Biography

Robin Deacon is a British artist, writer, filmmaker, and educator based in the USA. Working since the early 1990s, much of his work is characterised by a live, spoken word element, with a series of performance lectures exploring journalistic and documentary approaches to arts practice. His work has been presented in Europe, the US, and Asia, most recently at the Tate Britain, London (2014) and as part of the Performa Biennial in association with the Whitney Museum, New York (2013). Past awards include the Arts Council England International Fellowship Award, The Live Art Development Agency Bursary (2002 – 2003) and the Franklin Furnace Inc. Fund (2012 – 2013). His latest performance ‘White Balance: A History of Video’ will be shown at the Barbican Centre in London as part of the Spill festival of performance (2015). He is Associate Professor and Chair of Performance at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Other LADA Screens events and screenings

LADA Screens #4 – Tehching Hsieh
One Year Performance 1981–1982 (Outdoor Piece)
Online from 12 – 26 October 2015
Launch event, with a performance by Tim Etchells – Monday October 12, 7pm at the White Building

LADA Screens #6 – Ron Athey
Sebastiane (2015)
Online 14 – 28 December 2015
Launch event Monday December 14, 7pm at the White Building