Once again, the Hirshhorn Museum’s second floor has been turned into a cluster of movie theaters for “The Cinema Effect,” the two-part exhibition devoted to films and videos created by visual artists.
The first installment of this show, which debuted in February, was called “Dreams” to signal its fantastic and somnolent visions. The second presentation, called “Realisms” and opening Friday, crashes down to earth with moving images focused on social and political themes rather than on mesmerizing visual effects.
With its obvious references to TV shows and Hollywood movies, the current segment probably will appeal to more visitors than the artier films in the first showing. These narrative works by 19 artists crisscross the boundaries between reality and fiction to challenge conventional ideas about storytelling, representation and control.
In “The Third Memory,” one of the more dramatic offerings, Pierre Huyghe follows up Sidney Lumet’s 1975 film “Dog Day Afternoon” by filming the real bank robber, John Wojtowicz, re-enacting his attempt to steal money for his lover’s sex-change procedure. Mr. Huyghe’s work reveals that Mr. Wojtowicz’s recounting of his acts has become intertwined with the movie.
Newspaper reports of the crime and an interview with the robber’s former lover, who had the operation, provide a documentary introduction, but unfortunately, they are displayed in a gallery separate from the film.
Segments of more popular movies, including “Mommy Dearest,” “Ordinary People” and “Kramer vs. Kramer,” appear in a work by artist Candice Breitz, who uses them to examine the burdens of parenting. In one gallery, clips of silhouetted actresses on six screens interweave platitudes on motherhood, while in the next room, male actors’ dialogue is similarly manipulated to focus on fatherhood. The rhythmic interaction between these familiar screen characters, the result of skillful editing, creates its own enjoyable drama.
Television is dissected in several works, including Phil Collins’ “The Return of the Real.” This overly long, multipart collection of interviews features people who appeared in a Turkish reality TV program and complain of everyday problems away from the camera.
Kota Ezawa turns the televised verdict of the O.J. Simpson trial into a forgettable cartoon, while Corinna Schnitt simulates an infomercial about achieving the good life. In her film, the actors’ deadpan delivery of speeches based on teenagers’ materialistic ideas about living well provide some of the more humorous moments in the exhibit.
Funnier still is Francesco Vezzoli’s spoof on the “E! True Hollywood Story.” Following the format of the TV show, it traces the Italian-born artist’s career and his obsession with fame. A re-enactment with Marlene Dietrich and Bauhaus artist Anni Albers will leave viewers in stitches.
Acting clearly fascinates these artists, and its artifice is explored in several installations. The exhibit opens with Christian Jankowski’s “This I Played Tomorrow,” a quirky movie based on videotaped interviews with Italian actors about their fantasy roles. “I’d like to be the one who introduces dialogue into prehistoric society,” says one man, who gets his wish as a shouting caveman in the film.
In “Double,” five actors assume the role of the artist Kerry Tribe, recounting her biography with varying degrees of accuracy. Miss Tribe wonders out loud if they’d do a better job dealing with her life than she does.
Some of the most striking imagery in “Realisms” is presented on several screens to envelop the viewer in cinematic environments. In taking advantage of the museum galleries, these spatial montages inject a three-dimensional dynamism missing from the more straightforward presentations of “Dreams.”
Isaac Julien’s “Fantome Creole” juxtaposes barren scenery from African and Scandinavian landscapes on four huge screens. Mungo Thomson alternates shots of gritty streets and movie sets on four walls to compare authentic and imagined images of New York City. Matthew Buckingham projects the Edgar Allan Poe-inspired “A Man of the Crowd” onto a two-way mirror to double the image and emphasize the voyeurism of the film’s urban stalker.
A more fragmented piece, Runa Islam’s “Tuin,” requires the viewer to watch a hanging two-sided screen and two wall projections. In this installation, the artist deconstructs a scene from Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 1974 film “Martha.” In the movie clip shown at the center of the gallery, the unseen camera moves around a man and a woman as they meet in a park. Flanking videos expose the setting and mechanics of this shot, including the circular track used to film the dizzying scene.
If there is one film that summarizes the entire exhibition, it is Julian Rosefeldt’s “Lonely Planet.” This disjointed story of a backpacking Westerner in India leads through beautiful scenery, a movie within a movie, a street bazaar and a Bollywood stage set, complete with a playful musical performance. The traveler in the film might be an everyman stand-in for the exhibit visitor, who must journey through strange cinematic terrain, both real and artificial, to appreciate these artworks.
WHAT: “Realisms,” part two of “The Cinema Effect: Illusion, Reality, and the Moving Image”
WHERE: Hirshhorn Museum, Independence Avenue and Seventh Street Southwest
WHEN: Through Sept. 7; 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
ADMISSION: Free
PHONE: 202/633-1000
WEB SITE: www.hirshhorn.si.edu
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