“Thom Andersen’s essay films look at cinema as a technology of political imagination and a secret repository of cultural memory." —Whitney Museum of American Art

Portugal/USA, 65 mins, video

With Reconversão (Reconversion), Thom Andersen opens another fascinating chapter of his ongoing investigation of architectural landscapes, their filmic representation, and their relation to history, by focusing on 17 buildings and projects by the often-controversial Portuguese architect Eduardo Souto de Moura—winner of the 2011 Pritzker Prize. Echoing Dziga Vertov’s concepts and Eadweard Muybridge’s techniques (shooting only one or two frames per second), Andersen masterfully brings forward what makes Souto de Moura an original: the incorporation of the passing of time into architectural designs, positing them within a history fraught with class struggle and societal changes, in a continuum with ruins—from which they may originate, and to which they will return—and with nature—which they frame, and by which they are framed.

In person: Thom Andersen

Curated by Steve Anker and Bérénice Reynaud.

Funded in part with generous support from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

G - General Audience

M - REDCAT Members

ST - Students

CA - CalArts Students/Faculty/Staff

Follow the link above to purchase tickets online or call the REDCAT box office at 213-237-2800.