Pittsburgh Biennial's final 2 parts to offer its creativity this weekend
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A still from "Bethlehem," a video collage of footage from films by Peggy Ahwesh. -
Pittsburgh Biennial curator Dan Byers (left), with artist Jamie Gruzska -
Pittsburgh-born artist Peggy Ahwesh with her films.
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The opening rounds of the 2011 Pittsburgh Biennial stirred quite a buzz this summer. It's an enormous undertaking that demonstrates the region's artists can hold their own in talent, knowledge and connectivity with others across the country. For the first time, the Biennial is at five venues, each with its own character, and visitors have to act fast to see the excellent Carnegie Museum of Art component, which ends Sunday.
The final two parts hold opening receptions this weekend at the Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University (6-8 p.m. Friday preceded by a 5 p.m curator and artist tour) and The Andy Warhol Museum (3-5 p.m Saturday).
A good day to visit the Carnegie would be Thursday, when a film by exhibiting artist Stephanie Beroes will be screened at 6 p.m. during one of the museum's regularly scheduled Culture Club nights.
Ms. Beroes' "Debt Begins at Twenty" was made in 1980 -- with a title that has new meaning today -- and the filmmaker will participate in a discussion afterward. A chronicle of the punk movement in late 1970s Pittsburgh, the 40-minute, black-and-white 16mm film has gained cult status at festivals and on campuses. It includes concert footage and interviews with members of The Cardboards, The Snakes, The Dykes and Hans Brinker, and has a casual rawness appropriate to its subject matter. The Pittsburgh native, who lives in Sag Harbor, N.Y., made the film with equipment loaned by Pittsburgh Filmmakers and a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grant.
"Debt" is shown continually in the galleries. It may also be viewed at http://lux.org.uk/collection/works/debt-begins-20.
Another filmic treat bookends the exhibition, Peggy Ahwesh's captivating five-channel video "The Ape of Nature." Mysterious and visually eloquent, the work was inspired by the Werner Herzog film "Heart of Glass." People who have been brought back to the Middle Ages through hypnosis move and speak in a trance-like pace. Images of the Kopp glass factory in Pittsburgh are projected onto additional screens, inspiring contemplations of what it is to be human in our time and place.
Footage from other of Ms. Ahwesh's beautiful yet harrowing films include reference to another old steel town, "Bethlehem." Born in Pittsburgh, the artist lives in Catskill, N.Y.
First Published September 14, 2011 12:00 am
