Inspired by Zapruder, John Waters, 2008/2.214

The invitation to contribute a film for UMMA's DialogTable presented an interesting challenge. Namely, how could one complicate the essentially pedagogical task of making a film about a work in the UMMA collection for the audience-friendly DialogTable? Could one make a bold, challenging, difficult work in a context that is supposed to ease those very qualities?

My film takes the form of an amateur art docent's illegitimate video tour of John Waters' Zapruder work. Were he here to say so, this docent would certainly exclaim, "Dear art patrons! Study if you must, but do not let mere concepts temper your personal obsessions. Works of art can be socialized; obsessions cannot. Above all, be perverse!"