Documentary Bodega Series
The Documentary Bodega Series presents over 100 events annually (screenings, lectures, exhibitions, audio listening rooms, panels and workshops) to the general public. It offers an intimate audience size and an open discussion with the director, artist, or producer, promoting dialogue about significant social questions and expanding critical awareness of the documentary arts. This program is made accessible to the local community while only requesting a low suggested donation for admission.
The UnionDocs Collaborative Studio:
A new program for non-fiction media research and group production.
The UnionDocs Collaborative Studio (CoLAB) is a one-year program for a select group of emerging media artists from the US and abroad. Based in one of NYC’s most exciting neighborhoods, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, CoLAB offers a platform for exploring contemporary approaches to the documentary arts and a process for developing an innovative collaborative project. The program consists of weekly production meetings, seminars, screenings and other public programs, along with regular masterclasses and critiques with visiting artists. Key benefits are:
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- Dynamic interaction among a network of talented peers.
- Direct exchange with visiting artists and industry experts.
- A structured environment for research and experimentation.
- Mentoring on the production of original work and regular group critique.
- Exhibition opportunities for the year’s collaborative project.
In a recent article in The New York Times, film scholar Scott MacDonald, remarked, “UnionDocs has a healthy sense that the older definitions of what constitutes ‘experimental’ cinema and what constitutes ‘documentary’ are up for grabs.” Similarly, the UnDo Collaborative Studio represents a new and alternative fellowship model, offering residency and visa support for six participants coming from abroad and an equal number of spots for local, non-resident participants. It is designed to be affordable and, although participants are asked to make the UDC their primary creative focus, the schedule does accommodate full-time or freelance work. Rather than applying with a project proposal or rough cut, all participants are selected on the basis of previous work and enter the program at square one, open to discovery and fresh connections.
The Commons_Berlin
June 23, 2005 | Volksbühne Berlin
The Commons_Berlin is a performance documentary, which was presented at the Volksbuehne Theater in Berlin for the Rollende Road-Schau festival. The piece consists of short documentary fragments created by the members of UnionDocs . These pieces were presented in a variety of media and were interwoven with a narrative in live performance. More >
Imaginary Berlin
June 21, 2005 | Humboldt University Berlin
Imaginary Berlin is a research and art project aimed at examining Berlin, both at close range and from a distance. This project brings together a group of people with a broad range of experience in Berlin – from self-proclaimed native to total stranger. More >
Fishbird
July 15 – 23 | UnionDocs Brooklyn
The title FishBird comes from the saying “a fish can love a bird but where would they live.” The piece, created by UnionDocs member Katrina Toshiko Grigg-Saito, explores the experience of being multiracial through audio interview pieces edited by Johanna Linsley, projected images by Lindsay Brandon Hunter, and an intimate and experiential installation by Natalia Zubko. More >
Public Pay Telephone
September 14-17, 2006 | Conflux Festival Brooklyn
There is a payphone outside 322 Union Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Like payphones all over, it is a public staging ground for private dramas. Raised voices are not uncommon, and conflicts range from relationship management to business affairs (legitimate and otherwise). For the Conflux 2006, UnionDocs presented two projects which seek to understand the contemporary payphone experience.
Conflux 2007 Film Program
Flag
October 2004 | UnionDocs Brooklyn
In its first event, UnionDocs opened with the US gallery premiere of Flag: An American Story an exhibition by New York-based artist Lauri Lyons.
“Flag: An American Story is a grand journey,” writes Paul Fusco of Magnum Photos, “that opens our eyes and hearts to the inestimable value of each human being and the truths that hold our society together; the foundations and promises of America that live in our constitution and Bill of Rights. Flag is a remarkable achievement.” More >
Resisting Paradise
January 22 – 23, 2005 | UnionDocs & OfficeOps Brooklyn
A screening of Resisting Paradise, the most recent film by prolific avant-garde filmmaker and documentarian Barbara Hammer, was the culminating event in a series of politically-motivated presentations in conjunction with the arts and activism conference And So Forth: A Post-Inaugural Assembly (sponsored by Amnesty International Firefly Project, Theaters Against War, Art Is Permitted Everywhere, and FELT). More >
DisLocation
May – June 2005 | UnionDocs Brooklyn
For three days, UnionDocs welcomed Sudhir Venkatesh, professor of sociology at Columbia University and director of Columbia’s Center for Urban Policy and Research, as he presented his documentary film DisLocation for the first time. The screening included a discussion with several subjects of the film and a photography exhibit which remained installed at UnionDocs through the spring. An interview of Venkatesh was collaged with other UnionDocs audio recordings in a radio broadcast on WKCR FM NY. More >
Janfamily
October – December 2005 | UnionDocs Brooklyn
UnionDocs presented an open studio exhibit of Plans for other days, by the Janfamily, a London-based art collective. Structured as a long list of suggestions for alternative everyday actions, Plans for other days is a kind of whimsical instruction manual. Published in book form in September of 2005 by Booth-Clibborn Editions, it’s full of How-To’s (How to get in touch, How to make an instant shelter), all illustrating practical solutions to too-often overlooked needs. More >
The Commons Radio
2004-2005 | WKCR 89.9 FM
This nine-part series was aired in monthly installments on WKCR 89.9fm. A collaboratively created, layered audio narrative, it weaves together scholarly interviews, dramatic recreations, original music and everyday sounds. All pieces are part of a broad approach to the subject of The Commons (a.k.a. the relationship of the one to the many). More >
OpenDocs
2004-2006 | UnionDocs Brooklyn & Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art
OpenDocs was an ongoing program in which a feature documentary or an individual artist’s work is presented with additional selections made by the evening’s curator. These selections were chosen to augment or provide counterpoint, and include video or audio fragments, live speakers, live performers, food, music and discussion. More >
