Girls | Museum

Shelly Silver

B.F.A. '80

Girls | Museum

Video Pioneer

By Morgan Evans-Weiler, M.F.A. '21

Video artist and filmmaker Shelly Silver (B.F.A. '80), a native of New York City, graduated from Cornell with degrees in intellectual history (B.A. College Scholar/Phi Beta Kappa) and mixed-media arts in 1980. She currently lives in New York City and is a Professor and the Director of Moving Image at Columbia University.

Silver's time at Cornell is illustrative of her unique path and independent spirit. While at Cornell, her broad interests in sociology, history, psychology, and philosophy led her to pursue a dual degree while studying in the art department. Her inclusion in intellectual communities at Cornell would provide a formative environment for discussions and debates around topics such as the Frankfurt School and psychoanalysis that would inform her art in myriad ways. In her art practice at the time, an initial interest in photography and text eventually led her to work with film and video under the encouragement of her professors.

Black-and-white photo of a middle-aged woman wearing glasses.

Shelly Silver. photo / Christoph Terhechte

She remembers professors Norman Daly and Haim Steinbach, who Silver thought of as "a breath of fresh air," as particularly important mentors during her time at Cornell. While conceptual art was still a fringe movement in the department, visiting artists such as Vito Acconci, Joseph Kosuth, and Lynda Benglis helped provide a vibrant dialogue for the development of her own artistic practice. Also, during her time in Ithaca, Silver worked on a very late-night public access television show, which helped provide the resources to develop her knowledge and facility with video — something Cornell lacked at the time.

Subsequent to her studies at Cornell, Silver attended the Whitney Museum of Art Independent Study Program, which offered her entry into a vibrant and engaged art community in New York City. After a series of part-time jobs, Silver started working as a film and video editor, editing everything from commercials to feature films, music videos, documentaries, and artists' films. In part through this experience, Silver's work started to mess with traditional genres, decades before this would be integrated into popular culture. Meet the People (1986,16 min.) was an important early example of blurring the line between documentary and fiction. Filmed during the "Morning in America" Reagan era, where aspiration clashed with material circumstances, people speak directly to the camera, talking and singing about their current lives and dreams. It is not until the credits roll that the viewer realizes that these people are characters portrayed by actors.

Throughout the 1990s, Silver spent a great deal of time traveling and making films internationally, living "everywhere and nowhere." While attending residencies in Japan, Germany, and Paris, she was able to focus full-time on her filmmaking and created feature-length films as well as shorts. While in Japan with the U.S.-Japan Creative Artist Fellowship Program, she created 37 Stories about Leaving Home, an award-winning film about a group of mothers, daughters, and grandmothers living in the Tokyo area, and while living in Berlin with the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program, she made Former East/Former West (1996, 62 min.) about German national identity after the Reunification. While Silver often nurtures a sociological or anthropological approach to filmmaking, her work frequently comes from a personal space. "A camera gives me the opportunity to bridge my personal world, which sometimes can go quite hermit, to the outside world of other places, people, and situations." 

A teenage girl stands in front of a painting of a fully dressed man sitting and a half-naked pregnant woman standing in a residence.

Girls | Museum (2020, 72 min.).

Silver would eventually settle back in New York City in the early 2000s teaching at Cooper Union and School of Visual Art before taking a job at Columbia University, where she's currently a professor and director of the moving image. In her most recent film, Girls | Museum (2020, 72 min.), girls and teenagers speak candidly about artworks on display in the Museum of Fine Art in Leipzig, which, like most historical art museums, are almost entirely made by men.  Bringing up issues such as gender fluidity, power, inequality, precarity, and war, the girl's responses both directly and indirectly raise questions about what and who we as a culture value. The film was awarded the 3Sat Prize for Best German Documentary in 2021.

A lifetime advocate and activist for diversity in the arts and academia, Silver has witnessed the changing conversation regarding more inclusive creative spaces. She explains the importance of inclusion and the long history of "sidelining" important marginalized artists. While at Cornell, Silver remembers only one female professor, and when hired at Columbia, she was also the only full-time female professor in the art program, a situation that has happily completely changed. Though current conversations are encouraging, she acknowledges the importance of examining the leadership in all art institutions. From curators to museum directors, professors to the board of trustees, "change can't only be bottom up or top down, it has to be all over the place."

Website: ShellySilver.com

Projects


Girls | Museum (2020)

Excerpt featuring Adam (1533) and Eve (1533) by Lucas Cranach the Elder, documentary, 71 minutes, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig/MdbK, Leipzig, Germany.

Excerpt: Adam (1533) and Eve (1533), Lucas Cranach the Elder

Excerpt featuring Allegory of Redemption (1557) by Lucas Cranach the Younger, documentary, 71 minutes, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig/MdbK, Leipzig, Germany.

Excerpt: Allegory of Redemption (1557), Lucas Cranach the Younger

Trailer, documentary, 71 min., Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig/MdbK, Leipzig, Germany.

Trailer

A teenage girl dressed in a long-sleeve black shirt looks at a painting of a woman dressing in a large room.

In the Studio (1907) by Richard Müller, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig/MdbK, Leipzig, Germany.

In the Studio (1907), Richard Müller

A smiling teenage girl points toward a painting in an art museum.

Diana with Entourage at a Wood (1635) by Pieter Fransz. de Grebber, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig/MdbK, Leipzig, Germany.

Diana with Entourage at a Wood (1635), Pieter Fransz. de Grebber

A teenage girl looks at a painting of a woman who is surrounded by adults and being approached by two cherubic children.

Diana with Entourage at a Wood (1635) by Pieter Fransz. de Grebber, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig/MdbK, Leipzig, Germany.

Diana with Entourage at a Wood (1635), Pieter Fransz. de Grebber

A teenage girl looks upon a painting of an elderly woman and an adolescent boy.

Portrait of authoress Christiane Benediktine Eugenie Naubert, née Hebenstreit with Her Son (1806) by Daniel Caffé, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig/MdbK, Leipzig, Germany.

Portrait of authoress Christiane Benediktine Eugenie Naubert,
née Hebenstreit with Her Son
(1806), Daniel Caffé

A teen girl stands in front of a painting of a nude woman and nude angel in a bed.

Cupid & Psyche (1644) by Elisabetta Sirani, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig/MdbK, Leipzig, Germany.

Cupid & Psyche (1644), Elisabetta Sirani

A teen girl laughs in front of a painting of a nude woman and nude angel in a bed.

Cupid & Psyche (1644) by Elisabetta Sirani, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig/MdbK, Leipzig, Germany.

Cupid & Psyche (1644), Elisabetta Sirani

A teen girl gazes off camera with a serious expression while standing in front of a painting of a nude "Eve."

Eve (1533) by Lucas Cranach the Elder, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig/MdbK, Leipzig, Germany.

Eve (1533), Lucas Cranach the Elder

A video camera is filming in an art museum.

Portrait of Sophie Gabain, née Eckhardt (ca. 1795) by Anton Graff, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig/MdbK, Leipzig, Germany.

Portrait of Sophie Gabain, née Eckhardt (ca. 1795),
Anton Graff

The back of a woman in a black dress faces the camera as she holds a sheet of translucent black fabric in the air. A video camera sits on a tripod, pointing toward a large painting.

Shelly Silver filming a painting for the documentary, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig/MdbK, Leipzig, Germany.

Shelly Silver filming

A film poster shows a little girl looking at a painting.

Film poster, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig/MdbK, Leipzig, Germany.

Film poster


a tiny place that is hard to touch (2019)

Trailer, documentary, 38:52 min., Tatekawa, Tokyo.

Trailer

Clip, documentary, 38:52 min., Tatekawa, Tokyo.

Clip

A skyscraper in front of a gray, stormy sky

Skyscraper, Tatekawa, Tokyo.

Skyscraper

View of an apartment door lit by an overhead light at night

Residential building, Tatekawa, Tokyo.

Residential building

A young girl sits on a rusty balcony

Girl on balcony, Tatekawa, Tokyo.

Girl on balcony

View of several houses crowded together

Houses, Tatekawa, Tokyo.

Houses

Silhouette of a loon flapping wings as it begins to fly out of water in an urban area

Loon in flight, Tatekawa, Tokyo.

Loon in flight


Frog Spider Hand Horse House (2013–17)

Trailer, documentary, 50 min.

Trailer

A large spider on a window that is heavily covered by webs

Spider, documentary, 50 min.

Spider

A bat hangs upside down on a net

Bat, documentary, 50 min.

Bat

A child looks at the camera while holding a bug on the side of their hand

Child and bug, documentary, 50 min.

Child and bug

Photo of a horse's ears and top of its head

Horse ears, documentary, 50 min.

Horse ears

A child wearing a helmet lies on the back of a horse

Child on horse, documentary, 50 min.

Child on horse


5 lessons & 9 questions about Chinatown (2009)

Film excerpt, documentary, 10 min., New York City.

Film excerpt

A Chinese women and a Chinese men are folding clothes inside a laundry mat, accompanied by another Chinese woman.

Laundromat, New York City.

Laundromat

Two paper bags sit on a blue chair.

Paper bags, New York City.

Paper bags

Three Chinese men huddle together outside, wearing winter coats.

Three men, New York City.

Three men

A green, white, and red paper cup with black Chinese characters.

Paper cup, New York City.

Paper cup


What I'm Looking For (2004)

Film excerpt, documentary, 15 min., New York City.

Film excerpt

Man wearing a tactical helmet

Man in tactical helmet, New York City.

Man in tactical helmet

View of the back of a man's torso, clad in black tactical gear and holding a gun.

Man in tactical gear, New York City.

Man in tactical gear

People mingle in a gallery. Framed photos cover the wall behind them.

Installation view, New York City.

Installation view

View of the back of a man dressed in a green shirt as he looks at papers covering a wall.

Installation view, New York City.

Installation view

A woman looks at dating profiles printed and displayed on two walls.

Installation, New York City.

Installation

Two people examine papers displayed on a wall

Installation, New York City.

Installation

A man looks closely at dating profiles printed and displayed on a wall.

Installation, New York City.

Installation


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