Discussion Questions

2014 - Film & Video (Film & Video)

Jonn Herschend


Jonn Herschend’s short film Discussion Questions subverts the familiar motifs of contemporary media-based pedagogy through a playful intervention that invites more engaged and active viewership. Commissioned for the 2014 Whitney Biennial, the film is a text-based PowerPoint presentation that becomes a cathartic dance party. Originally screened as part of an extended program with other video works at the Biennial, Discussion Questions is initially presented as a set of questions designed to inspire audience conversation around these films. The rudimentary black and white text breaks down familiar narrative devices such as plot and setting, providing all-too-banal “instruction” on the rudiments of film analysis. The presentation, however, begins to drift off topic, morphing into its own film as the unreliable “narrator” of the presentation works through his delusional romantic issues with a co-worker at the university where he works. Suddenly, a disco beat soundtrack by Silas Hite begins to play, the screen flashing as if it were a strobe light. Hypnotized by the beat and turning of each new sentence, the viewer finds themselves in a dance party, as this sonnet spirals out of the narrator’s control. In reimaging the space of the museum/screening room/lecture hall as a makeshift dance party, Herschend not only satirizes the dry lecture style of academia: he also stakes out a place for a mode of artistic production that actively engages viewers by encouraging them to get out of their seats and onto their feet.


Jonn Herschend is an interdisciplinary artist, filmmaker and experimental publisher whose work explores fiction, reality and the narrative structures that we employ as a way to explain the chaos and clutter of our everyday lives. His videos, performances, installations, and photos all incorporate sterile and formally recognizable structures such as PowerPoint presentations, academic lectures, photographic evidence, infomercials, gallery exhibitions, or educational videos. He uses these structures as a means to investigate the issues of truth and confusion, and allows the messiness of reality to eventually collapse the whole piece. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including the Whitney Museum of American Art; the Telluride Film Festival; SITE Santa Fe; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He is also the co-founder and co-editor, along with Will Rogan, of the experimental publication THE THING Quarterly.


Colors:



Related works sharing similar palette

ALICEGAVINSERVICES™
© » SLASH PARIS

ALICEGAVINSERVICES™ — La MABA — Exposition — Slash Paris Connexion Newsletter Twitter Facebook ALICEGAVINSERVICES™ — La MABA — Exposition — Slash Paris Français English Accueil Événements Artistes Lieux Magazine Vidéos Retour ALICEGAVINSERVICES™ Exposition Design, graphisme, techniques mixtes Derniers Jours Alice Gavin, ALICEGAVINSERVICES™, sans titre Crédit photo : Léonard Méchineau ALICEGAVINSERVICES™ Encore 6 jours : 14 septembre → 17 décembre 2023 Cet automne, dans le cadre de sa saison dédiée au design graphique, la MABA présente, du 14 septembre au 17 décembre, une exposition consacrée à ALICEGAVINSERVICES™...

Origin of Afro-Esotericism
© » KADIST

Awol Erizku

2018

Awol Erizku’s image Origin of Afro-Esotericism has compositional force and a rhythmic use of full-blast color...

Foolishness and Enlightenment in “Lear is Dead”
© » ARTS EQUATOR

Foolishness and Enlightenment in “Lear is Dead” | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles November 5, 2018 By Casidhe Ng (1,200 words, six-minute read) “You are a madman, and we are but fools,” the ensemble resounds...

Rules & Repetition: Conceptual Art at the Wadsworth Atheneum
© » HYPERALLERGIC

Rules & Repetition: Conceptual Art at the Wadsworth Atheneum Skip to content “The Maze and Snares of Minimalism” (1993) by Carl Andre in front of Alfred Jensen’s “The World As It Really Is” (1977), on view in Rules & Repetition: Conceptual Art at the Wadsworth Atheneum The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art presents works by groundbreaking conceptual artists of the 1960s and ‘70s alongside more recent acquisitions in Rules & Repetition: Conceptual Art at the Wadsworth Atheneum ...

Alka domo
© » KADIST

Seba Calfuqueo

2017

Alka domo by Seba Calfuqueo is a performative video work that recontextualizes a story about Caupolicán, the Mapuche toki (meaning symbol of strength and perseverance in the face of adversity)...

Original Art Or Digital Copy? Can Your Brain Tell The Difference?
© » ARTNOME

Original Art Or Digital Copy? Can Your Brain Tell The Difference? — Artnome Menu Blog Exploring art through data using the Artnome database...

Two Tech Executives Are Opening an NFT Museum in Seattle to Give Decentralized Art a Centralized Home - via artnet news
© » LARRY'S LIST

Digital collectibles on loan from leading NFT artists will be displayed on a series of custom-designed screens....

Marina Abramović spreads the love in one-off performance at the Royal Academy
© » THEARTNEWSPER

Marina Abramović spreads the love in one-off performance at the Royal Academy Art market Museums & heritage Exhibitions Books Podcasts Columns Technology Adventures with Van Gogh Search Search Diary blog Marina Abramović spreads the love in one-off performance at the Royal Academy Against backdrop of turbulent real-world events, crowds gathered and hugged for Unconditional Love recital The Art Newspaper 11 December 2023 Share Marina Abramović performs An Invitation to Love Unconditionally in the Annenberg Courtyard at the Royal Academy of Arts, London...

Dialect
© » KADIST

Felipe Romero Beltrán

2022

Dialect by Felipe Romero Beltrán is a photographic series that follows a group of immigrants who have recently crossed the strait (the maritime border between Morocco and Spain) to avoid border controls...

Gwangju, South Korea: The Kyoto School & Far East Network
© » KADIST

Co-hosted with the Gwangju Biennale, The Kyoto School and Far East Network mark the launch of Frequency of Tradition , a three-year series of programs in Asia curated by Hyunjin Kim and initiated by KADIST...

Ammo Bunker
© » KADIST

Mario Ybarra Jr.

2009

Ammo Bunker (2009) is a multipart installation that includes large-scale wall prints and an architectural model...

15 Minutes With Studio Leigh Director Tayah Leigh Barrs
© » ARTREPORT

15 Minutes With Studio Leigh Director Tayah Leigh Barrs – Art Report News ARTISTS Artist Highlights Artist Interviews Studio Visit VIDEOS ART+ Community Listicles No Result View All Result News ARTISTS Artist Highlights Artist Interviews Studio Visit VIDEOS ART+ Community Listicles No Result View All Result No Result View All Result 15 Minutes With Studio Leigh Director Tayah Leigh Barrs by December Projects Jan 27, 2016 in Featured 0 Portrait of Director, Tayah Leigh Barrs...

The Photography and Sculptures of Mari Katayama
© » HIGH FRUCTOSE

Mari Katayama's photography uses her own body as one of her materials...

This place you see has no size at all…
© » KADIST

This place you see has no size at all… December 4, 2009 – February 7, 2010 A project curated by Jennifer Teets after her residency at Kadist Art Foundation, including new and existing works by: David Adamo, Mark Aerial Waller, Mariana Castillo Deball, Asli Cavusoglu, Alex Cecchetti, Kate Costello, France Fiction, Darius Miksys, Michael Portnoy, Tania Perez Cordova, Pietro Roccasalva, Alexander Waterman, Roger Worms Writings by Mark von Schlegell Sir/Madam, Everything I am about to tell you began with a sighting of a heron in a tree...

The Working Processes of Artists: Wesley Leon Aroozoo
© » ARTS EQUATOR

The Working Processes of Artists: Wesley Leon Aroozoo | ArtsEquator Skip to content Wesley Leon Aroozoo is a filmmaker, author and educator who released his latest novel 'The Punkhawala and the Prostitute' in 2021...

Alain Séchas
© » KADIST

Alain Séchas parle de sa pratique artistique et des oeuvres qui font partie de la collection Kadist...

Edgar Orlaineta Part 1
© » KADIST

Introducing his exhibition ‘La Historia, Ella Misma y Yo’ (History, Itself and I) at El Chopo Museum, Mexico City, Edgar Orlaineta discusses history of industrial design, primitivism, ecology, and the role of symbols in popular culture...

Chosen Boys
© » KADIST

Harit Srikhao

Young men are often found together in uniform, already influenced by ideology and bodily and style stereotypes...