Image 1 / 3:
Matthew Buckingham.
Everything I Need.
Image 2 / 3:
Matthew Buckingham.
The Spirit and the Letter.
Image 3 / 3:
Matthew Buckingham.
False Future.
In his films, photographs, and slide installations, Matthew Buckingham explores history and its narrative forms. Buckingham turns a critical eye towards the ways past events and characters come to be represented after being subjected to political and social influences, anecdotal conjecture, and the multiple, coincidental timelines of history. This exhibition will present three new film installations, each centered on a specific historical figure: Mary Wollstonecraft, an 18th-century woman of letters; Louis Le Prince, a Frenchman who invented a prototypical motion picture projector in the last decades of the 19th century; and Charlotte Wolff, an early 20th-century feminist activist exiled from Nazi Germany. Instead of darkened cinematic-like projection rooms, Buckingham creates specific installations for each work, aimed at engaging visitors physically as well as optically and intellectually.
Matthew Buckingham: Play the Story is organized for the Henry by Associate Curator Sara Krajewski. The exhibition was curated by Mark Godfrey in collaboration with Camden Arts Centre, London; Dundee Contemporary Arts; FRAC Bourgogne, Dijon; Des Moines Art Center; and Henry Art Gallery, Seattle; with special thanks to Murray Guy, New York. The Spirit and The Letter is co-commissioned by Film and Video Umbrella and Camden Arts Centre in association with FRAC Bourgogne, Dijon; Dundee Contemporary Arts; Des Moines Art Center and Henry Art Gallery, Seattle. Supported by Arts Council England.
Presentation at the Henry is supported by ArtsFund, 4Culture/King County Lodging Tax, the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, PONCHO, and Patrons of the Henry Art Gallery.
Featured artists: Matthew Buckingham
Image 1:
Matthew Buckingham.
Everything I Need.
2007.
video installation
courtesy of the artist
Image 2:
Matthew Buckingham.
The Spirit and the Letter.
2007.
film projection
Matthew Buckingham and Kate Miles rehearsing
Image 3:
Matthew Buckingham.
False Future.
2007.
Film Projection
courtesy of the artist