Sky Hopinka's Outdoor Film Installation at Ballroom Marfa's Bull Room Screens Nightly Through October 23
On October 23, filmmaker Sky Hopinka showcased four short films at the Bull Room, the new event venue at Ballroom Marfa in Marfa, Texas, set against the stunning Chisos Mountains and an electrical storm. Before the screening, he engaged in an interview with Nicholas Frank, a former neighbor from Milwaukee. Hopinka, who participated in the 2017 Whitney Biennial and is a 2022 MacArthur Fellow, shared insights on how his learning of Ho-Chunk and Chinook Wawa has shaped his work. He recounted his journey starting from a photography class at College of the Deserts and mentioned his debut film featuring friends along the Columbia River. He aims to steer clear of traditional Native documentaries and discussed his annotated photographs influenced by various artists.
Key facts
- Sky Hopinka's four short films were projected on the corrugated metal outer wall of Bull Room, Ballroom Marfa's new event space on the east side of Marfa, Texas.
- The outdoor installation is projected nightly and is on view through October 23.
- Hopinka was selected for the 2017 Whitney Biennial and named a MacArthur Fellow in 2022.
- He teaches film at Harvard and tours with his recent feature film Powwow People.
- He learned Ho-Chunk from elder Jeanette Smoke in Milwaukee and later from his grandmother Dolly Big John in Wittenberg.
- He studied Chinook Wawa in Oregon for two to three years before moving to Milwaukee.
- His 2015 film Jáaji Approx. runs seven and a half minutes and uses recordings of his father collected over 10 years.
- In 2018 or 2019, he showed at Green Gallery in The Land Describes Itself, etching text into photographs with a screwdriver.
Entities
Artists
- Sky Hopinka
- Nicholas Frank
- Jeanette Smoke
- Dolly Big John
- Béla Tarr
- Grace Dillon
- Shelley Niro
- Ira Glass
- Allen Ginsberg
- Jack Kerouac
- Roni Horn
- Franklin K. R. Klein
- Sterlin Harjo
- Yves Bonnefoy
Institutions
- Ballroom Marfa
- Bull Room
- Marfa Spirit Co.
- The Open
- Microlights
- Whitney Biennial
- MacArthur Foundation
- Harvard University
- Ho-Chunk Nation
- College of the Deserts
- Portland State University
- Milwaukee Art Museum
- Green Gallery
- University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
- NPR
- This American Life
- Brown University
- Glasstire
Locations
- Marfa
- Texas
- United States
- Chisos Mountains
- Milwaukee
- Wisconsin
- Oregon
- Wittenberg
- Coachella Valley
- California
- Columbia River
- Portland
- Montana
- Washington
- San Antonio
- Standing Rock