The (Moving) Pictures Generation The Cinematic Impulse in Downtown New York Art and Film

Beginning in the late 1970's, a number of visual artists in downtown New York City returned to an exploration of the cinematic. They engaged cinematic movement, time, and the body in their work, and did so across mediums - utilizing not only film, but sculpture, drawing, photography, and performance. The cinematic impulse was evidenced in the high art of Jack Goldstein, Robert Longo, and Cindy Sherman, and in the film practices of "No Wave" filmmakers Amos Poe and Vivienne Dick, and the feature films of Kathryn Bigelow. Vera Dika considers the work within a greater cultural context and probes for a deeper understanding of the practice.

Vera Dika is Assistant Professor of Film Studies at New Jersey City University, USA. She is the author of Recycled Culture in Contemporary Art and Film: The Uses of Nostalgia (2003) and a founding editor of Millennium Film Journal.

Prologue: Downtown New York in the Late 1970s and Beyond
PART I: (MOVING) PICTURES
(Moving) Pictures: Introduction
Stillness/Movement: Joseph Cornell, Edison Company, Andy Warhol, Jack Goldstein
The Female Body and the Film Frame: Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman
Vivienne Dick's Film Portraits
PART II: COMMUNITY
Amos Poe and the New York New Wave
Downtown and Community: Eric Mitchell, James Nares, Nan Goldin
PART III: NARRATIVE EXPECTATIONS
Strategies of Transformation: Jack Goldstein, Robert Longo, Cindy Sherman
Strategies of Opposition: Eric Mitchell, Kathryn Bigelow, Lizzie Borden
PART IV: THE CINEMATIC BODY
Performance and the Cinematic: Paul Swan, Eric Bogosian
The Ephemeral Body/The Female Voice: Louise Lawler, Ericka Beckman
PART V: DOWNTOWN AND THE MAINSTREAM
Incursions into Popular Culture: Robert Longo, Cindy Sherman, Kathryn Bigelow
Conclusion and Continuation