First Tuesday SMTX Film Series will present the documentary, “Through the Repellent Fence,” A Land Art Film, on Tuesday, April 7 at the Price Center in San Marcos.
Hailed as “More relevant than ever,” by Indiewire, the documentary follows the Native American art collective, Postcommodity, as they construct “Repellent Fence,” a two-mile long outdoor artwork, straddling the U.S.-Mexico border as they place land art in a tribal context.
In 2015, artists worked with communities on both sides of the border to install a series of 28 huge inflatable spheres emblazoned with an insignia known as the “open eye,” a component of Indigenous cultures from South America to Canada for thousands of years. Artists and intellectuals include Chris Taylor of Texas Tech University’s LandArts of the American West program, writer Lucy Lippard and Matt Coolidge of the Center for Land Use Interpretation.
According to imdb.com, “the artwork crossed the border a mile in each direction and symbolized a suture stitching back together cultures that have inhabited the land long before borders were drawn. Scenes with other artists and intellectuals working in the land art realm provide context and insight as well. These include scenes with Chris Taylor of Texas Tech University’s LandArts of the American West program, writer Lucy Lippard and Matt Coolidge of the Center for Land Use Interpretation.”
Directed by Sam Wainwright Douglas and produced by David Hartstein, the documentary premiered at the Museum of Modern Art’s Documentary Fortnight, SXSW and the Smithsonian Institute.
The New York Times wrote, “One of the best documentaries about the contested area.”
The 75 minute film is presented in partnership with The Center for the Study of the Southwest. A question and answer period with both the director and producer will follow.
Doors open 6:15 p.m. Complimentary refreshments from Pie Society and Middleton Brewing are from 6:30 p.m. and the film starts at 7. Tickets are $9 and available at firsttuesdaysmtx.com. The Price Center is located at 222 W. San Antonio, San Marcos.
