Room H.264

INSTALLATION
Room H.264

January 5–15, 2018
William Fox Amphitheater

2018. Jeff Reichert (b. 1978, Northfield, New Jersey. Resides in Brooklyn), Damon Smith (b. 1968 in Houston, Texas, Eric Hynes (b. 1974, Staten Island, New York. Resides in Brooklyn). Video installation.

In his 1982 documentary Room 666, German director Wim Wenders asked the question "Is cinema a dead language, an art which is already in the process of decline?" to directors including Steven Spielberg, Michelangelo Antonioni, Jean-Luc Godard, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and others.

Nearly 35 years later, the makers of Room H.264 interviewed filmmakers in a hotel room to answer the same question.

Combining their unedited responses with material from the original film, this installation explores how we make, view, and critically engage with movies. The interplay between monitors highlights issues that have arisen in the transition to a world of ubiquitous screens and interfaces, where choices about how to experience moving images are now integral to daily life. The piece creates a running dialogue between past and present notions of screen culture, and the state of the cinematic arts today.

Presented in conjunction with First Look 2018

Participating filmmakers:
Firas Fayyad
Charlie Lyne
Jennifer Brea
Lana Wilson
Hendrick Dussolier
Iva Radivojevic
Daniel Cockburn
David Osit
Dan Sallitt
Ken and Azazel Jacobs
Ashley Connor
Jordan Inman
Adam Dietrich
Jean-Pierre Rehm
Michael Koresky
Kellan Hayley Marvin
Nanfu Wang
Alexander Koberidze
Marie Viognier
Varun Bajaj
Blake Williams
Mo Scarpelli
Miao Wang
Marc Nemcik
Alexandra Watkins
Garrett Bradley
Andrew Ahn
Farihah Zaman
Andrew Neel
Kyle Smith
Damon Smith
Caitlin Mae Burke
Luke Meyer
Tim Sutton
Daniel Patrick Carbone
John Wilson
Elisabeth Subrin
Sierra Pettengill
Zach Clark
Robert Greene
Pacho Velez
Kirsten Johnson
Eric Hynes
Sean Price Williams
Jeff Reichert

The furniture for this installation was generously provided by The Paper Factory Hotel.