SFMOMA | Exhibitions + Events | Calendar | California Highs, California Lows

May 27 - June 24, 2010
California Highs, California Lows Phyllis Wattis Theater Our latest look at pop culture on film features the Golden State, long a wellspring of cinematic inspiration both in terms of location and subject matter. Directors in this series mine hippie subcultures, social atmospheres, and the landscape for a loose yet provocative portrait of the state. The series is a nod to the photography exhibition currently on view, The View From Here, which examines how photography has been essential in shaping the popular image of California. Films are preceded by episodes of Bucky, a series shot in the Bay Area by Paul Clipson and Adam Heavenrich. The series of improvised, absurd shorts follows Bucky (Heavenrich) through various adventures: standing on a street corner, catching a train, riding on a bus. Neither strictly documentary nor fiction, these comic vignettes study interactions and observations in everyday public spaces.

Past

Buy tickets California Highs, California Lows Program 1 Bucky (episodes 1 and 2), Paul Clipson and Adam Heavenrich, 1996-98, 2 min. each, 8mm Model Shop, Jacques Demy, 1969, 97 min., 35mm

Director Demy's only American film, Model Shop tracks a day in the life of Los Angeles native George Matthews (Gary Lockwood). Unemployed and unhappy in love, George's bleak future…

Hardcore Hardcore, Walter De Maria, 1969, 28 min.

Hardcore was made in the spirit of cinematographic experimentation. Director De Maria, who also composed the film's soundtrack, explores video as a medium for aesthetic observation…

Buy tickets California Highs, California Lows Program 2 Bucky (episodes 1 through 6), Paul Clipson and Adam Heavenrich, 1996 - 98, 2 min. each, 8mm East Coast, West Coast, Nancy Holt and Robert Smithson, 1969, 22 min., digital video Man With a Gun, Railroad, and Food for Working, Reece Camp Carter, 2010, 12 min., video Gas Station, Robert Morris, 1969, 33 min., 16mm

In East Coast, West Coast, earthwork artists and real-life couple Holt and Smithson play-act as cliché East and West Coast artists. Holt argues for pragmatic, systematic…

Buy tickets California Highs, California Lows Program 3 Bucky (episodes 3 and 4), Paul Clipson and Adam Heavenrich, 1996-98, 2 min. each, 8mm Play Misty for Me, Clint Eastwood, 1971, 102 min., 35mm

Against the backdrop of California's beautiful Carmel-by-the-Sea, radio disc jockey Dave Garver (Clint Eastwood) faces the unforeseen repercussions of a one-night stand with a…

Buy tickets California Highs, California Lows Program 4 Bucky (episodes 5 and 6), Paul Clipson and Adam Heavenrich, 1996-98, 2 min. each, 8mm The Cool School, Morgan Neville, 2008, 86 min., digital video

The Cool School traces the emergence of Los Angeles' artistic avant-garde during the mid-20th century. Artists such as Ed Ruscha, John Baldessari, and Frank Gehry were inspired by…

Film Series

Past

Related

Exhibitions