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Street

Street

Artist Jamie Nares (British, Born London, 1953 (Lives and works in New York))
Date2011
MediumHD Video, Music by Thurston Moore
ClassificationTime-Based Media
Credit LineMuseum Purchase, by exchange and Purchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott
Object number
2019.4
Not on View
Label TextInspired by Thomas Edison’s “actualities” films (akin to documentary film) and early cinema pioneers like the Lumière brothers, Street chronicles ordinary street scenes from a day in New York City in September 2011. A native of London who has lived in New York since 1974, Jamie Nares describes the video as “a love letter to my adopted home.” A diverse array of individuals from all walks of life move through the city in slow-motion, allowing us to investigate movement, space, and the relationship between people and the environment around them—and to contemplate our own relationship with time and our surroundings. To make Street Nares shot 16 hours of footage from a moving SUV with a high-speed camera at a rate of between 500 and 1000 frames per second. She then greatly slowed the footage and edited the results down to 61 minutes of steady, continuous motion—which, if shown in real time, would last only three minutes. “My intention,” she explained, “was to give the dreamlike impression of floating through a city full of people frozen in time, caught Pompeii-like, at a particular moment of thought, expression, or activity….” Nares’ friend Thurston Moore, co-founder of pioneering “noise rock” band Sonic Youth, composed and performed the video’s musical score.Exhibition HistoryMiami, FL, Paul Kasmin Gallery, “Art Basel Miami Beach”, 2011.

Miami, FL, New World Symphony, America’s Orchestral Academy, “New Work”, 2012.

Hong Kong, Paul Kasmin Gallery, ”ART HK 12”, May 16-19, 2012. St. Louis Art Museum, “New Media Series-James Nares: Street”, November 2, 2012-January 27, 2013.

Hartford, CT, The Wadsworth Atheneum, Street, June 2-November 15, 2012. Chicago, IL, Navy Pier, Paul Kasmin Gallery, ”EXPO Chicago”, 2012. Regent’s Park, London, Paul Kasmin Gallery, Frieze Art Fair, 2012. Marfa, TX, Cinema Film Festival, Street, 2013 (Screening). Jacksonville, FL, Museum of Contemporary Art, Slow: Marking Time in Photography and Film, January 26-April 7, 2013.

Cleveland, OH, Reinberger Galleries, Cleveland Institute of Art, Street, November 8-December 14, 2013. New York, NY, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Street, March 5-May 27, 2013.

Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, Loose Booty, March 13, 2014 (Screening).

Houston, TX, Houston Cinema Arts Festival, Street Scenes, November 13, 2014 (Screening).

Savannah, GA, Telfair Museum, Street by James Nares alongside Helen Levitt: In the Street, April 25-September 21, 2014.

Park City, UT, Sundance Film Festival, New Frontiers Program, Street, 2014.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, Street, April 6-September 7, 2014.

Omaha, NE, Joslyn Art Museum, Street, June 21-September 21, 2014.

Frankfurt, DE, Alte Oper, ”Street” alongside Morton Feldman’s String Quartet, 2014.

Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, “James Nares’ Street”, March 28-July 6, 2014.

Queens, NY, MoMA P.S.1, Greater New York, October 11, 2015-March 7, 2016 (Screening).

Providence, RI, Magic Lantern Cinema, Visual Climates, April 28, 2016 (Screening).

Paris, Louvre, Les Duos Ephemeres de Thurston Moore, May 20, 2016.

Manchester, NH, Currier Museum of Art, Urban Landscapes: Manchester and the Modern American City, June 11-August 29, 2016.

Milwaukee Art Museum, ”James Nares: In the City”, alongside Helen Levitt: In the Street, January 27-April 16, 2017.

Manila, Philippines, Art Fair Philippines: 10 Days of Art, James Nares, February 14-18, 2017 (Screening).

Eugene, OR, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Street and Pendulum by James Nares, May 10-September 3, 2017.

San Francisco, CA, Pier 24 Photography, This Land, June 1, 2018-March 31, 2019.

Toledo Museum of Art, Sights & Sounds: Art, Nature, and the Senses, July 21, 2018- February 24, 2019.

Toledo Museum of Art, Everything is Rhythm: Mid-Century Art & Music, April 6, 2019-February 23, 2020.

Comparative ReferencesSee also Polednik, Marcelle, et al. Nares: Moves, Milwaukee, Milwaukee Art Museum, 2019, p. 116-127 (col. repr.).

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