Adventures in Celluloid

Performance artist Matthew Bakkom finds innovative uses for old film. His work is on view at the Mariboe Gallery at the Peddie School through Feb. 14.

By: Susan Van Dongen
   Film. It’s fired the imaginations of the multitudes and fascinated scholars. It’s had the power to inspire political movements and popular trends. In some cases, film has become a part of history — like the Zapruder home movies of the Kennedy assassination.
   Rarely, if ever, has the actual film itself been used as sculptural material, though. In fact, sculptor/ photographer/ filmmaker and performance artist Matthew Bakkom believes he is the first to use film to create sculpture.

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The bell of the large-scale, tongue-in-cheek "Belles into Canons" (above) is constructed entirely of a discarded copy of the third reel from the 1939 classic, Gone With the Wind.


   "Innovations in sculpture come from introducing new materials," says Mr. Bakkom, speaking by phone from his studio in Lower Manhattan. "I couldn’t resist. I come from a background of critical theory, social anthropology and the arts, but I got involved in making and showing films. It was just an evolution from there. I saw the writing on the wall.
   "I thought, ‘Here’s an interesting material but no one has ever used it in the arts context.’ Everyone has had an idea with film, but never an experience with the actual film. It’s a brand-new material. Plus, I believe there’s going to be this massive transformation. As digital technology takes over, 35 mm prints will eventually cease to exist and will become refuse very quickly, which is another reason to preserve them."
   Mr. Bakkom’s sculptural works with film, as well as other creative endeavors, are on view at the Mariboe Gallery at the Peddie School in Hightstown Jan. 24-Feb. 14.
   Several of the works in the show were made around the same time as Mr. Bakkom’s "Belles into Canons," a commissioned work on view at the Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens, N.Y., through late spring 2003. The bell of the large-scale, tongue-in-cheek work is constructed entirely of a discarded copy of the third reel from the 1939 classic, Gone With the Wind, hence the pun between "bells" and "belles."
   "I always thought ‘Gone With the Wind’ would be a poetic film to work this way," Mr. Bakkom says. "There’s a lot of play in the title but it’s also an allusion to the medium."
   In other words, by crafting sculpture from the third reel of the antebellum tear-jerker, which Mr. Bakkom bought from a collector, he actually saved it from being "gone with the wind" — lost to the trash and the elements.
   Explaining part of the "magic" of the movies, Mr. Bakkom remarks, "Cinema is (done so that the audience) is expressively not thinking about the physicality of the film. Few people actually see the films themselves, but they most certainly exist out there in the world."

"The Insider," right, is sculpted from an actual reel of the 1997 Al Pacino/ Russell Crowe movie. ""

   Mr. Bakkom says film is actually quite resilient when shaped into sculpture, which seems contradictory to the fact that it can deteriorate when stored in a can.
   "It’ll last for a long time as a sculptural material," he says.
   Another piece in the show, shaped like an urn, is similar to his sculpture. Mr. Bakkom crafted "The Insider" from an actual reel of the 1997 Al Pacino/Russell Crowe movie of the same name.
   "I worked on that film as a location scout but I never saw it," Mr. Bakkom says. "That’s an unusual work because I used the name of the film. I’ve been working with films so long and I’ve always been fascinated by their titles — I believe they have a life of their own. But with ‘The Insider,’ it’s not so much about the movie. It’s more of an invitation to ask ‘What’s inside the urn?’"
   Born in Minnesota in 1968, Mr. Bakkom lives and works in New York. He has a bachelor’s degree in political and social thought from the University of Virginia in Williamsburg. In 1998, he participated in a studio course through the Whitney Museum’s Independent Study program. In 2000 he also took part in Worldviews, a studio residency program sponsored by the Lower Manhattan Chamber of Commerce and held at 1 World Trade Center.
   It seems like quite a jump from political and social philosophy to applied arts, but Mr. Bakkom believes his undergraduate work gave him the best possible training to do what he does.
   "I fell very much in love with cinema at the University of Virginia," he says. "Cinema is the richest tool you can get your hands on. Although I worked for a while in the film business, I realized the boundaries weren’t wide enough for me. I wanted to work in a field where I could investigate a lot of ideas. The arts were a place where I felt I’d have the widest range, especially in the expanded field of contemporary performance art."
   He grew up in an artistic household, with both parents involved in theater. Both worked in production for the Minnesota Opera Company. His father was a set designer and painter and his mother was in costuming, so "the act of making things was omnipresent," he says.
   Whether it’s making sculpture out of film, launching a bogus historical society in Lower Manhattan or making pictures of an abandoned high-tech company, Mr. Bakkom has the remarkable talent for finding art in his daily life, almost wherever he goes.

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Above, Mr. Bakkom’s innovative "Lock-In," at the Queens Museum of Art, had him staging an all-night sleepover for adults.


   "I’m blessed with that ability," he says. "I keep my eyes, ears and nose open — and hopefully, my mouth shut — and these are things that I stumble upon on a fairly regular basis."
   With forays into photography, filmmaking, sculpture and performance art, Mr. Bakkom has exhibited internationally and presented performances since 1995. Selected group exhibitions include shows in Milan and Berlin and numerous projects in New York. Solo projects include shows at the Artists Space, Rare Gallery and Art in General in New York.
   Mr. Bakkom’s innovative "Lock In" at the Queens Museum of Art in Queens, had him staging an all-night sleepover for adults. Mr. Bakkom is also the mastermind behind "The Cinevator" — part of a fall 2000 group show at the I-20 gallery in New York — where he commandeered an old freight elevator and turned it into a movie theater, showing Night of the Living Dead.
   Like many of his works, "The Cinevator" gave Mr. Bakkom the chance to interact personally with his viewers. Many visual artists shy away from their audience, but Mr. Bakkom seems to delight in getting up close to his.
   "Sure, I love people," he says. "I’m interested in the big issues that constitute our understanding of the world. But how does one address these ideas? By whatever means are available and persuasive. You use the resources at your disposal. With ‘The Cinevator,’ I had to think, ‘What’s the best way that I can be the most effective, what are means at my disposal to bring people into the piece?’ I converted these elevators into small cinemas, and I just delighted in the way the environments could shift so quickly."
   With "The Cinevator" project, Mr. Bakkom also got to be the pilot, controlling the physical environment for the viewers and also playing a bit of the emcee.
   "I like to be a facilitator, but not the star," he says. "I know that’s an anti-romantic idea, but it’s very important to me. Stars are performing for the audience, but I’m not interested in that. I want the performer and audience to be on equal grounds."
Matthew Bakkom’s sculpture is on view at the Mariboe Gallery at the Peddie School, South Main Street, Hightstown, Jan. 24-Feb. 14. Closing reception, Feb. 14, 6:30-8 p.m. Gallery hours: Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.-3 p.m. For information, call (609) 490-7550. On the Web: www.peddie.org