Platform 2016: Charles Atlas: Son of Sam and Delilah (Howl! Happening) – Danspace Project
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Platform 2016: Charles Atlas: Son of Sam and Delilah (Howl! Happening)

Charles Atlas. "Son of Sam and Delilah," 1991. Courtesy Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York.

Son of Sam and Delilah (Dir. Charles Atlas, 1991, 26:59 min, video, color, sound)

Created by pioneering multimedia artist Charles AtlasSon of Sam and Delilah is “a dark vision of an America where life is cheap and even the moments of tenderness have a life threatening edge.” An amalgam of cross-cut scenes, Son of Sam and Delilah features New York performance luminaries John Kelly (as Delilah), Hapi PhaceAlmon GrimstedBrian ButterickAnna Levine-ThompsonCasey MacDonaldLucy Sexton & Anne Iobst (DANCENOISE), and Sunny in the late 1980s through 1991. Atlas explained in 2012: “[Son of Sam and Delilah] was unusual because I had people to help, and I didn’t know where it was going at first. I only realized after I made it what it was about – all my friends who were dying of AIDS.”

This evening will conclude with a post-screening discussion with Atlas and Stuart Comer, Chief Curator, Department of Media and Performance Art, Museum of Modern Art.

Part of PLATFORM 2016: Lost and Found
#platform2016 #lostandfound

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