Ana Mendieta

EAI presented a screening and discussion around the newly discovered and restored films and videos of Ana Mendieta. Presented in collaboration with Galerie Lelong, New York, the event featured a conversation with Ana Janevski, Associate Curator, Department of Media and Performance Art at The Museum of Modern Art, and Raquel Cecilia Mendieta, Film Archivist for the Estate of Ana Mendieta, moderated by Lori Zippay, Executive Director of EAI.

A number of unknown media works by Mendieta—including Super 8 and 16mm films, ½ inch reel-to-reel videos and a sound piece—recently came to light when the Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, in collaboration with Galerie Lelong, catalogued, transferred, and preserved the entirety of the artist's moving image works. Revealing aspects of Mendieta's practice that are not as widely known as her ritualistic investigations of body and nature, these newly restored works illuminate Mendieta's technical experimentation and the importance of the moving image to her art.

Among the experimental viewed and discussed were Sweating Blood (1973), Moffitt Building Piece (1973), Butterfly (1975), and Energy Charge (1975).

The exhibition Ana Mendieta: Experimental and Interactive Films will be on view at Galerie Lelong through March 26th.

During the PERFORMA07 performance biennial, EFA Gallery was transformed into a video lounge to host Electronic Arts Intermix's Viewing Room, a program that provides free public access to one of the foremost collections of video art in the world. Visitors to EFA Gallery were able to choose from a curated selection of major performance-based video works by over 30 artists from the EAI Collection. Viewers were able to watch these seminal performances and contemporary classics at their own pace in a comfortable viewing environment. During the opening reception on Friday, November 2nd, programs featuring selected works were installed throughout the gallery.