JEM COHEN: NYC WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

VIDEO INSTALLATION OPENS NOVEMBER 4

The Jewish Museum is presenting Jem Cohen: NYC Weights and Measures, a video installation, from November 4, 2011 to March 25, 2012 in the Museum’s Barbara and E. Robert Goodkind Media Center.  In this 2006 video (6 min. 15 sec.), Jem Cohen chronicles a city that exudes noise and bustle, balanced with beauty and tranquility. A ticker-tape parade, subway riders’ daily commute, and a man pausing for a cigarette all become moments of observation and reflection.  Overlaid with an intricate soundscape that includes fragments of street music, the film evokes the city’s fast-paced rhythms juxtaposed with quieter, more contemplative moments.  Cohen writes, “Sometimes I just wander around with my camera -- I like to see what comes around the corner, and sometimes I just like the corner itself.”

 Jem Cohen is a New York-based filmmaker who mixes documentary, narrative, and experimental genres, often building from his own ongoing archive of street footage, portraits and sound.  His video, Lost Book Found, was screened at The Jewish Museum in 2004.  Cohen’s work has been featured at various festivals and on television. His feature film Chain premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, was broadcast on Arte and the Sundance Channel, and won an Independent Spirit Award. Benjamin Smoke, co-directed with Peter Sillen, was selected for festivals including Berlin, Edinburgh, Melbourne, London, and Vancouver.

The Jewish Museum, the public may visit the Museum’s Web site at http://www.thejewishmuseum.org or call 212.423.3200.  The Jewish Museum is located at 1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street, Manhattan.