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The College of Physicians of Philadelphia is pleased to announce that in autumn 2011 it will host the world premiere of a film by the Quay Brothers shot throughout the College and involving the Mütter Museum and the Historical Medical Library. Accompanying the premiere of this unique short film, the Mütter Museum will hold an exhibition about the making of the film.
The project
With a generous grant from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative, the College is producing a film by the renowned and critically acclaimed Quay Brothers, to debut at three symposia, accompanied by an exhibit on the making of the film. This is a rare occasion to engage the Quays’ extraordinary cinematic vision to focus on the collections of the Mütter Museum, Historical Medical Library, and the century-old College Beaux Arts building itself. The film, symposia, and exhibit will be landmark achievements for the College in opening a dialog with the Philadelphia arts community by demonstrating how a scientific medical collection can be used to achieve a highly personal and esthetic artistic vision.
The film
The film, the centerpiece of the project, will be the Quays’ first to be made in the United States and promises to enhance the College’s legacy of marrying medicine and the visual arts by reaching an international art world and documentary film audience. The film’s goal is to summon the essence of the College’s building and collections, the museum’s ambience, its light and shadow, and its artifacts and specimens. The film will constitute a work of art in which the museum and its collections are the subject and the setting, a unique synthesis of science and the arts. Following the symposia, the film will be available on DVD packaged with an accompanying booklet including documentation of the exhibition and symposia.
The exhibit and symposia
The exhibit on the making of the film opens in September 2011. The exhibit will make a Philadelphia impact by projecting a scientific historical collection through the Quay’s artistic vision. Barbara London, Associate Curator, Department of Media and Performance Art, Museum of Modern Art, will be guest curator. The three symposia will include a screening of the film and a moderated conversation with the artists and the public about the use of historical medical collections in the visual arts. One symposium will be held at the College, one at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the third will be hosted by the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles. After the symposia, the film will be available for purchase on DVD with an accompanying booklet including documentation of the symposia.
Production
Key people involved with the production in Philadelphia include:
Robert Hicks, Director, Mütter Museum/Historical Medical Library, project director
Edward Waisnis, PROBONO Films, producer
David B. Spolum, professor and film scholar and critic, production advisor
Tim Nelson, composer
In the news
Check out recent news coverage of the Quay film in the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/movies/17quay.html?_r=1&ref=movies
And an interview by Peter Crimmin, WHYY:
To see an interview with the Quay Brothers about the project:
The Quay Brothers
The Quay Brothers—identical twins Stephen and Timothy—were born near Philadelphia, and educated at the University of the Arts (Philadelphia College of Art at the time they attended). Internationally recognized and honored filmmakers, the Quays are known for their use of stop-motion animation and exquisitely constructed décors (sets) in their lyrical films informed by Eastern European graphic, literary, and musical influences. They are major figures in the world of cinema, with numerous shorts and two feature films to their credit.
Quay Brothers Make a Film at the Mütter
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