dennis hopper and the new hollywood
Dennis Hopper comes to Melbourne in November
54 years after his screen debut in the Richard Boone TV show Medic, a unique exhibition by and about one of film's most inventive and mercurial artists is coming to ACMI.
Dennis Hopper and the New Hollywood, curated and produced by the Cinémathèque Française in Paris, goes much further than simply celebrating the work of an (in)famous film artist. The exhibition explores a watershed time in 20th Century art and culture, when "old Hollywood" made way for "new", and the simmering undercurrents of social change exploded on the big screens, the canvases and the bookshelves of America.
Three late '60s films in particular are cited as changing the business of American filmmaking - Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate, and Easy Rider. But it was Easy Rider - filmed and produced with an indie, maverick sensibility, and a massive box office hit on its release in 1969 - that marked a true shift in both audience and studio consciousness.
Dennis Hopper was a central player in this consciousness shift, as co-writer, co-star and director of Easy Rider after a period in the box office wilderness. As an actor, director, artist, and as a counterculture icon, Hopper claimed and has since never relinquished, a key place in American cultural history.
Dennis Hopper and the New Hollywood is an expansive exhibition showcasing an extraordinary man's life's work, his collaborations and personal art collection, and an amazing insight into a formative era of Hollywood.
ACMI will also curate a film season and a series of public programs, talks and workshops based around the exhibition that will open exclusively at ACMI in November 2009.
Exhibition and screen program details will be announced soon. For now, for more information click here for the media release.
Published Friday, 6 February 2009
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