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Williams College Museum of Art Presents
Michel Auder: Chronicles and Other Scenes
February 14 –May 23, 2004
Williamstown, MA—Williams College Museum of
Art (WCMA) is pleased to present Michel Auder: Chronicles
and Other Scenes on view in the Media Field gallery
from February 14–May 23, 2004. The exhibition
includes a selection from the artist’s vast archive
of film and video works from 1969 to 2003.
One of the true pioneers of the video medium, Michel
Auder and his camera have been witness to a slice
of life many of us can only imagine, the New York
art scenes, both underground and mainstream, of the
late 1960’s through present. Often overlooked
in the histories of video art, Auder’s work offers
a challenging, yet incredibly rewarding experience.
Viewers are allowed to get to know his subjects, as
Auder himself has done in documenting them.
The artist’s relationship to his subjects is
one of intimacy and trust, not of intrusion or exposure.
His presence is felt, but is not overbearing. Chronicles
and Other Scenes highlights a range of Auder’s
video work over the last three decades. It includes
personal diaries of his life, family and friends,
known as “chronicles;” travelogues of far
flung locales including Morocco, Rome, and California;
artist portraits including those of Taylor Mead, Alice
Neel, Annie Sprinkle, and Cindy Sherman, to whom Auder
was married during the 1980s; and video collages of
images collected directly from commercial television.
In addition to works made from recently shot tapes,
such as the compilation Mondo Cane 5, 2003, Chronicles
and Other Scenes includes videos developed from footage
that was shot in previous decades and then recently
re-edited into completely new works, such as The Cockettes,
and Van’s Last Performance, both shot in 1971
and released 2002. Accompanying the exhibition will
be a brochure with an essay by C. Ondine Chavoya,
Assistant Professor of Art, one of the first scholarly
investigations of the work of this important and underrepresented
artist.
About the Artist
Michel Auder was born in 1944 in Soissons, France.
Starting out as a fashion photographer, he began making
films at the age of 18. He worked with the Zanzibar
Group, a collective of young French filmmakers whose
work was influenced by the tumultuous political climate
of 1968. Auder also looked to the early films of Jean-Luc
Godard and Andy Warhol as inspiration for his own
film practice. In 1969 he met, and eventually married
Viva, one of the principle stars of many of Warhol’s
films. The two settled in New York City, living for
some time at the Chelsea Hotel alongside other artists,
writers, musicians, and filmmakers of the day. Auder
purchased one of the first commercially available
video cameras in 1969 and made the switch from film
to video, allowing for a more immediate approach to
image making. Since that time, he has accumulated
thousands of hours of footage from which he culls
to create individual videos.
The exhibition was organized by Lisa Dorin, Assistant
Curator and C. Ondine Chavoya, Assistant Professor
of Art.
Related Programming
Lecture by Michel Auder
Wednesday, April 21 at 4:00 p.m. at the Williams College
Museum of Art.
Michel Auder will show excerpts of his videos and
talk about his art making process over the last 30
years. This program is free and open to the public.
Publicity Images Available
Publicity images for Michel Auder: Chronicles and
Other Scenes and other current exhibitions are available
for use. Images include video stills from Keeping
Busy, 1969 and Chelsea Girls with Andy Warhol, 1971-1976,
released 1994. They can be found at www.wcma.org/press.Contact:
Suzanne Augugliaro, Public Relations Coordinator
413.597.3178.
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