Associate Professor Shelley Silver Screening 'Girls / Museum' on Friday 4/8

By
Catherine Fisher
April 07, 2022
Poster for Girls | Museum

Associate Professor Shelley Silver is screening her film, Girls / Museum, this Friday, April 8 at the Goethe-Institut in New York. After the film, Silver will be in conversation with Brooklyn Museum curator Lisa Small. 

The screening will feature Girls / Museum, a 2020 documentary. Taking as its subject the way we are always interpellated into visual media we do not control, the film follows girls ages 7 - 19 as they voyage through the historical art collection of the MdbK/Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig. The thought provoking piece brings to the forefront questions of curation and the male gaze.

According to the film's press release, "Museums are institutions that are entrusted to preserve—they are a repository of highly selective views of history and civilization. The artwork presented under the guise of education and expertise, has, in fact, been historically made, collected, curated and contextualized, by men. There is no lack of depictions of women on display, mothers, wives, prostitutes, artist’s models and muses—contemporary, classical and religious figures are all seen through the eyes of male artists. Taking into account this imbalance, through what lens should this work be viewed today?"

Silver's work in film, video, and photography spans an eclectic range of subject matter and genres, exploring the personal and societal relations that identify and restrict us; the indirect routes of pleasure and desire; the stories that we dream or fabricate about others, and the stories that we construct about ourselves. Silver's art has been exhibited and broadcast widely throughout the US, Europe, and Asia. Screenings and installations have been mounted by venues such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the International Center of Photography in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Yokohama Museum, the Pompidou Center, the Kyoto Museum, the London Institute of Contemporary Arts, the Museo Reina Sofia, and the London, Singapore, New York, Moscow, and Berlin film festivals.

Still from Girls | Museum, Shelly Silver 2020.