Film/Video Screening, Panel Discussion, T-shirt Benefit

This event is cash only

Some Serious Business and Howl! Happening are pleased to present a tribute to the work of Arleen Schloss, an influential figure in the downtown New York art, video, performance art and music scenes. FORGET ABOUT THAT SWEET FUCK BABY is an evening of film screenings and discussion with director/producer Roberta Friedman, educator and independent filmmaker Stuart Ginsberg, Whitney Museum curator Christiane Paul, and archivist Sur Rodney (Sur).

Schloss gained attention in the 70s as a critically acclaimed performance artist and has gone on to create groundbreaking work in a variety of mediums including film, video, sound poetry, new music, composing, books, and mail art. She co-founded A’s—an interdisciplinary loft space that was a hub for music, exhibitions, performance art, films and videos. A hotbed of experimentation, A’s featured works from Eric Bogosian, Glenn Branca, Jean-Michel Basquiat, John Zorn, Elliott Sharp, Richard Hambleton, Liquid Liquid, Carolee Schneemann, The Coachmen, Kim Gordon, Phoebe Legere, Mania D, Thurston Moore, Shirin Neshat, Lee Ranaldo, Sur Rodney (Sur), Alan Vega and Ai Weiwei.

Shifting from one genre to another, she has created a finely interwoven body of work. Always on the cutting edge, Schloss fused new forms of creative expression and technology into her film, video, cyber art and performance work.

Schloss’s performances possess a spirit described by Linda Burnham as “a contagious sense of wonder.” These presentations, which could involve Schloss’s cyclical recitation of the alphabet, live painting, closed-circuit video, and music all at once, combine the anti-art whimsy of Fluxus, scientific exploration, Cageian indeterminacy, and a site-specific empathy that makes every act unique.
—New Museum, Schloss film screening, in conjunction with Come Closer: Art Around the Bowery, 1969–1989

In her honor, SSB will reproduce a limited number of FORGET ABOUT THAT SWEET FUCK t-shirts from How She Sees It by Her (1981) as seen in Toyo Tsuchiya’s photo of Arleen. Tees for men and women will be available at the gallery, or bring your own shirt and we’ll silkscreen it for you then and there for $25 a pop. All proceeds the evening of the event go to benefit Arleen. The evening is co-curated by Stuart Ginsberg, and SSB directors Susan Martin and Quintan Ana Wikswo.

Film/Video Screening
How She Sees It by Her, 1981 (18 minutes)
The title of this film is derived from the story HOW SHE SEES IT BY HER, a 58-page written journal of personal observations scanning life and survival in New York City in the early 80s. Originating as a piece of sound poetry and later a public performance, Arleen mixed her voice and personal observations with footage from the time period.

Glenn Branca Symphony #4 (Physics), 1984 (11 minutes)
A docu-collage in sound and music capturing the godfather of classical noise throughout a multi-city European tour in 1983. Featuring Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Barbara Ess, Arleen Schloss, Margaret De Wys, Stephan Wischerth, Amanda Linn, and others, Branca explains his harmonics over vintage shots of his high-energy conducting style.

 Performance on the subway to combat crime in New York City, 1979 (12 minutes)
In response to the spike in subway violence in 1979, Arleen Schloss executed a performance art workshop/social experiment to combat crime. Beginning at the Grand Street subway stop in New York, Schloss and her collaborators sang, danced, and performed along the F train to make the subway safe, encountering baffled commuters, unsympathetic police, and bemused spectators.

Sun Daze Away, 1989 (9 minutes)
Using one of the first 8mm video cameras produced, Schloss shoots a musical and collage-filled travelogue throughout America’s Southwest. Intercutting interviews from local townspeople, landscapes and news footage, Sun Daze Away has an experimental quality with bursts of color and sound.

About the Panelists
Stuart Ginsberg, Moderator
Roberta Friedman
Christiane Paul
Sur Rodney (Sur)

About Arleen Schloss
New Museum interview
New Museum Super 8 and Hi8 Film screenings

About Some Serious Business

Image: Toyo Tsuchiya, from No Se No series.