Kerry Tribe: Critical Mass

A restaging of Hollis Frampton’s 1971 experimental film Critical Mass is the basis for a performance and installation by Kerry Tribe.

Curated by James Voorhies

Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
October 3–25, 2015

Made possible with funding and staff of Harvard University’s Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts; realized within my responsibilities as Director and Curator of the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts

Kerry Tribe’s time based works explore memory and representation through film, video, performance and installation. In Hollis Frampton’s classic structural film Critical Mass, he captured a young couple arguing on film then meticulously edits the single take into a series of repetitive, staccato snippets, unhinging the continuity of the dialogue. In Tribe’s project, actors Nick Huff and Emelie O’Hara performed Frampton’s film from memory, shot for shot, retaining all the original repetitions and stutters of the original work.

Performance
featuring Nick Huff and Emelie O’Hara
Saturday, October 3, 5 p.m.

Kerry Tribe: Critical Mass was part of something I called “The Interstitial,” a program that took advantage of the time and physical space between exhibitions. The Interstitial hosted a number of performances, installations, and time-based events that could transpire over the course of an evening or several days dependent on different circumstances.