The CJM Blog

T he screening series CLEAT (Cinematic Lo-fi Experiments in Art and Technology) is intended as both a cheeky riff on The CJM's NEAT:   New Experiments in Art and Technology exhibition and an expansion on some of its themes. Like NEAT , CLEAT features work by artists from three different eras, all bringing an active, creative approach to extant special effects technologies to bear on the stories they tell. Stills from The Bat Whispers. Screening on October 29 for CLEAT. Coming at us from 1930, Roland West's fantastic mystery The Bat Whispers (October 29) throws its handmade aspect right into our faces. Its very first shot pans down from a miniaturized clocktower to the busy street below, smash cutting from a tabletop set representing street-level to an actual street, populated with actors and moving vehicles. Even a 1930, post-Melies audience likely saw through the illusion, but it registers as a powerful statement of intent, and we can't help but sign on f

Installation view of  You Know I'm No Good . Photo by Johnna Arnold. Artist Jennie Ottinger recently gave a short gallery chat on her installation  Mouth to Mouth: Pieces from an Animation about Cultural Appropriation —f eatured in The Contemporary Jewish Museum's current exhibition  You Know I'm No Good.  Responding to Amy Winehouse's legacy and music, Ottinger's multi-faceted installation addresses the icon's cultural appropriation of the legacy of female musicians, specifically African American singers.  _________________________________________________________________________________ Jennie Ottinger (JO): As I got the topic, I really didn’t know much about Amy Winehouse—I had been aware of the hits and her personal story, but I didn’t really listen to her music. So I just started Googling, and I came across an article by  Daphne A. Brooks — an African American Studies professor at Yale — about Amy Winehouse and cultural appropriation. It was in The N