I went to see the Unfinished Film series at the Met Breuer. The films included two unfinished films by Maya Deren, Witch’s Cradle and Haiti Footage. In the case of Witch’s cradle, it was an unfinished collaboration between Deren and Marcel Duchamp. Haiti Footage was not completed because of Deren’s death. It was interesting for me to learn about the circumstances of incompletion. Before the screening, visiting the unfinished paintings exhibition, I found that I was drawn to and compelled by the reason why the artworks were unfinished. The film was silent, so I couldn’t really discern a strong tempo in the cutting. Many of the shots had strings in them to show the magic elements like  a shoe lace traveling on it’s own or blocks floating. I would assume that in the final edit, they would have darkened or burned that part of the film stock that had the “strings”. Later on in the film, the magic progresses as the witch “appears and disappears” from the screen, lifts objects. At the end the whitch appeared to be in a tent, looking at a mirror and scared of her reflection. I thought the film was interesting, I definitely would have loved to see it finished, but it had an even eerier essence to it because it was unfinished and we have little information about it’s intention and what the final product would have been. It was shot in the early 1940’s yet it seemed to have a modernness to it. I can’t exactly put my finger on it, I think it could be that the witch didn’t physically appear to be of the 1940’s “look”. The film overall was clean in aesthetic so I guess that established a more modern feel.

The second film, Haiti footage was about the Voodoo rituals of Haitians that Deren shot from 1947-1954. This was part of her ethnographic work. The film has a more documentary approach with a voice of god narration. The film stylization is very light, highly exposed which is a different portrayal of voodoo rituals than I would expect. When I think of voodoo rituals, I imagine a dark setting in the back of an apothecary or something. It also was interesting that most of the people wore white to the ceremonies. All in all it was an interesting film although I felt it was less experimental than the first.

Steve McQueen’s video exhibit at the Whitney takes over the 5th floor, entirely, with floor to ceiling screens on either side of the floor. Immediately, I’m immersed in the work. Through video (scrolling declassified FBI documents) and spoken word (recitation of these documents by a man and a woman), McQueen presents us with the realities of McCarthy era politics. While watching the video, I was attempting to read and take in all the information coming at me, but I felt that it was McQueen’s intention to represent these FBI documents in a way that is harder to grasp, just as McCarthy Xenophobia and communist “takedown” is mind boggling both to understand that it’s a reality of American history, and that people actually believed in the paranoia created by McCarthy.

This is definitely a unique way to approach the Red Scare, by investigating (and presenting) the documents that the FBI collected on Paul Robeson, a person who was accused of being a communist in Hollywood. Upon further reading of the piece, I discovered that it is made for a museum setting, it’s not meant to be watched through to completion in a theater like setting. I think the way the floor was set up spoke to that, as the immediate immersion in an FBI “investigation” could be quite unsettling, however, you’re placed in that moment and setting, and you stay until you’ve pieced together what McQueen is trying to convey.

All together, I think that most people going in wouldn’t know much about what they’re about to see when they enter the space and I think that was the intention. First off, the voice overs didn’t seem to me like they were exact readings of what was scrolling on the screen, the info coming at you is juxtaposed with the emptiness of the space. I think it was meant to confuse, I mean I’m generally confused how the Red Scare went from being McCarthy’s made up paranoia, to a large scale career ending, fear instiling, federal investigation of many innocent people who, mostly couldn’t be convicted of actual crimes. All in all, I did enjoy the exhibit, I thought it was a very sensory experience and an interesting representation of a time in US history.