[Speaking in Foreign Language] – Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Art Center

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[Speaking in Foreign Language]

October 17, 2023February 25, 2024

A still from Identity Karma by Olivia Ong Evans. A bright blue and turquoise video still. There are multilayered legal documents and forms that are abstracted and blurry, with only some words visible. The legible text includes “Declares her wish to change her name,” “Name,” and “Surname.”

[Speaking in Foreign Language] brings together several of Squeaky Wheel’s Fall/Winter 2023 activities–screenings, presentations, and a solo exhibition–within a curatorial framework on how voice and language function across borders and power. 

The series was developed through an engagement with, and brings together, the work of several former Squeaky Wheel Workspace residents–including Emily Watlington, Jordan Lord, Johann Diedrick, Olivia Ong Evans, and Saif Alsaegh–within a larger media arts context, including feature films by Sharlene Bamboat and Trinh T. Minh-ha, and short films by Alex Dolores Salerno, Astria Suparak, champoy, JJJJJerome Ellis, Nadia Shihab, and Sky Hopinka. Additional events TBA.


A still from Impediment is Information by JJJJJerome Ellis. A video still shows conifers in a snowy Wyoming landscape. A saxophone rests in a stand in the snow. The words "they try to fell black being" appear in white text overlaid on the video. The sky is blue.

Screening | Tuesday, October 17, 7 pm ET, in-person and online

Echolocations: Films in Translation and Transcription

Group screening with work by Alex Dolores Salerno, Astria Suparak, champoy, JJJJJerome Ellis, Johann Diedrick, Nadia Shihab, Olivia Ong Evans, Saif Alsaegh, and Sky Hopinka


A still from the film Voice of Democracy shows a dim living room, in which a tv hangs on the wall. The tv displays two older white people, the filmmaker's parents, sitting with a gold lamp in between them. The filmmaker's father looks angry and their mother looks concerned. The tv image is paused on a Youtube window, which reads: "Mom and Dad interview selects," below which a series of other videos are recommended including "The Biggest Snubs of the Olivier Awards," "Top 25 Roller Coasters," and "Food & Wine Festival." Reflected in a mirror below the television are the filmmaker's parents sitting in the same set-up as their image on the television, with the same gold lamp between them. They are looking across the room at the filmmaker, a 30-something white person with a buzzcut and a beard, who looks back at them with their arms folded and legs crossed, with a serious and sympathetic look. Their father is pointing at the television, saying something. In the center of the image, between the mirror and the television, is a caption that reads, "Why?"

 

Exhibition opening | Friday, November 10, 5–8 pm

Jordan Lord’s The Voice of Democracy

On view through February 10. Featuring a newly commissioned essay by Emerson Goo.


A still from Trinh T. Minh-ha's Surname Viet Given Name Nam. A mostly dark image, with a barely lit woman with black hair looking to the left of the image.

Screening | Tuesday, December 5, 7 pm ET @ Journey’s End Refugee Services and online

Trinh T. Minh-ha’s Surname Viet Given Name Nam


Screening | Wednesday, December 6, 7 pm @ Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center and online

Sharlene Bamboat’s If From Every Tongue it Drips

Presented by Humanities Institute/Distinguished Visiting Scholars Program Film Series at the University at Buffalo


Liza Sylvestre, Captioned-Channel Surfing (still), 2016. Courtesy of the artist. A movie still, close-up of a white man and woman wearing summer clothes in a rural setting looking excited in a phone booth. A caption reads “They are so young and excited and happy.”

Presentation | Friday, December 8, 7 pm ET, in-person @ Squeaky Wheel and online

Emily Watlington presents The Radical Accessibility of Video Art (for Hearing People)


Image descriptions from top to bottom:
A still from Identity Karma by Olivia Ong Evans. A bright blue and turquoise video still. There are multilayered legal documents and forms that are abstracted and blurry, with only some words visible. The legible text includes “Declares her wish to change her name,” “Name,” and “Surname.”
A still from Impediment is Information by JJJJJerome Ellis. A video still shows conifers in a snowy Wyoming landscape. A saxophone rests in a stand in the snow. The words “they try to fell black being” appear in white text overlaid on the video. The sky is blue.
A still from the film The Voice of Democracy shows a dim living room, in which a tv hangs on the wall. The tv displays two older white people, the filmmaker’s parents, sitting with a gold lamp in between them. The filmmaker’s father looks angry and their mother looks concerned. The tv image is paused on a Youtube window, which reads: “Mom and Dad interview selects,” below which a series of other videos are recommended including “The Biggest Snubs of the Olivier Awards,” “Top 25 Roller Coasters,” and “Food & Wine Festival.” Reflected in a mirror below the television are the filmmaker’s parents sitting in the same set-up as their image on the television, with the same gold lamp between them. They are looking across the room at the filmmaker, a 30-something white person with a buzzcut and a beard, who looks back at them with their arms folded and legs crossed, with a serious and sympathetic look. Their father is pointing at the television, saying something. In the center of the image, between the mirror and the television, is a caption that reads, “Why?”
A still from Trinh T. Minh-ha’s Surname Viet Given Name Nam. A mostly dark image, with a barely lit woman with black hair looking to the left of the image.
A still from If From Every Tongue It Drips by Sharlene Bamboat. A person sits on a wooden rocking chair in a bright orange room sunshine spilling in. The person in the chair is half out of frame arms holding a piece of paper. Yellow caption on screen reads: “hence, matter is an infolding, an in-volution. hmmmmmmmmmmm”. Image and description courtesy of the artist.
Liza Sylvestre, Captioned-Channel Surfing (still), 2016. Courtesy of the artist. A movie still, close-up of a white man and woman wearing summer clothes in a rural setting looking excited in a phone booth. A caption reads “They are so young and excited and happy.”

Details

Start:
October 17, 2023
End:
February 25
Event Category:

Organizer

Squeaky Wheel
Phone
7168847172
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Venue

Squeaky Wheel
2495 Main Street, Suite 310
Buffalo, NY 14214 United States
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Phone
7168847172
View Venue Website