Boston's Arts at Your FingertipsSunday May 27, 2012  or LOG IN / SIGN UP

    VISUAL ARTS

    Susan Hiller: The Last Silent Movie

    Susan Hiller: The Last Silent Movie

    Presented by Smith College Museum of Art at Smith College Museum of Art

    April 29-August 14, 2011

    Add Review/Comment
    Comment on Facebook

    Susan Hiller, class of 1961, is one of Smith College's most distinguished artist-alumnae. Since Hiller turned from her academic training as an anthropologist to become an artist in the 1970s, she has been based in Europe where she has established an international career working across a wide variety of media. Her work is currently the subject of a major retrospective at Tate Britain. "The Last Silent Movie" (2008), a film installation with a suite of 24 etchings, is based on recordings of native speakers of extinct or dying languages discovered by the artist in archives around the world. It draws on Hiller's long concerns with absence and loss, a theme movingly addressed in this work and in her earlier "J Street Project," a film/installation that commemorates German Jewish communities eradicated by the Nazis during the Second World War. The title of "The Last Silent Movie" references silent movies of the early twentieth century, in which speakers are pictured but not heard; their words are conveyed through subtitles. In Hiller's film, the speakers are invisible to us. We hear voices and languages that no longer exist but that are not silent because, as the artist has said, "Someone is listening." "The Last Silent Movie" was recently acquired by the Museum and is placed on view in honor of the artist's 50th reunion.

    Image Credit: Susan Hiller. Born in the U.S., 1940. Lives and works in London. The Last Silent Movie, 2007. Portfolio of 24 etchings on 270 gsm Moulin de Gué (Rives de Lin) paper with 1 Blu-Ray disc. Edition 3 + 1 AP. Purchased with the Janet Wright Ketcham, class of 1953, Fund. Running time: 20 minutes


    • At-a-
      Glance

      • Venue Info

        Smith College Museum of Art

        Elm Street at Bedford Terrace
        Northampton, MA 01063

        Full map and directions

      • Admission Info

        Tickets:

        $5 Adults
        $4 Seniors (65+)
        $3 Students (13+ with ID)
        $2 Youth (6–12)

        FREE: Members of the Museum; Smith College students, faculty, and staff; Five College faculty; any college student with ID; and children five and under. Immediate families of Smith faculty and staff are also admitted free. Free passes may be checked out at Forbes Library (20 West Street, next to Smith campus), at Lilly Library (19 Meadow Street, Florence, MA), or at a library with reciprocal borrowing privileges. Free to all on the second Friday of the month, 4–8 PM.

        Info Phone: 413.585.2760

      • Dates & Times

        Dates:
        April 29-August 14, 2011

        Times:

        Tuesday-Saturday 10 AM–4 PM
        Sundays 12–4 PM
        Second Fridays 10 AM–8 PM

        Closed Mondays and major holidays

      • Accessibility Info
      • Member Reviews

        Add review/comment

        There are currently no reviews/comments for this event. Be the first to add a review/comment, and let folks know what you think!

    • Member
      Reviews

    • Media
      Reviews

      • Media Reviews

        There are currently no media reviews for this event.