Spectacle: A Portrait of Stuart Sherman

DIRECTOR: Robin Deacon

VENUE: Kino Kilta, Nunnakatu 4

DATE & TIME: Film screening on Fri 5.9. 16–18. 

DURATION: The screening lasts 2 hours. The same screening also features Simple Gestures: Janusz Baldyga. Advance registration required. Registration for the screening opens in August.

LANGUAGE: English

The late American artist Stuart Sherman (1945 – 2001) was a strange and underexposed figure in the history of performance art and experimental film. Using interviews with his friends and colleagues conducted over four years, as well as original and re-enacted footage of Sherman’s performances, Robin Deacon’s 90 minute documentary Spectacle: A Portrait of Stuart Sherman explores the life, work and methodology of this unique artist. 

Overall, this film investigates the notion of artists seemingly disappearing from performance art history. Why is it that Sherman’s work is not more widely known and disseminated? Has the differing understanding and reception of Sherman’s work outside of the USA (it appears his work was always more accepted in Europe) affected his presence within the documentation and discourses surrounding performance art since his untimely death in