An anthology of fourteen silent films—from the famous corners of the Louvre museum in Paris to the modernist buildings of Oscar Niemeyer in São Paulo and Mies van der Rohe in Toronto—Invention takes us on a dynamic tour of fluctuating cityscapes. The anthology captures the texture of these places, their landmarks, and the people who inhabit their streets and buildings, with images of glass, light, shifting reflections, hard concrete, spiral staircases—and paintings. With Invention, Lewis nods to the experimental city symphony documentaries of the 1920s, which were made to capture day-in-the-life portraits of cities and their urban inhabitants.

Shot in the artist’s signature style of long, meandering takes using an almost free-floating camera, the film juxtaposes architecture, urban life, and art. The camera drifts along buildings and streets, lingering on structural details, before swirling off in a different direction, creating surprising patterns and vantage points. The first feature by acclaimed visual artist Mark Lewis, Invention had its world premiere in 2015 at the Toronto International Film Festival and was presented at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival. (Mark Lewis, 2015, silent, 87 min.)

Lewis’s new film Galveston (2017), commissioned by The Contemporary Austin, is also on view in the Jones Center galleries through August 27, 2017.

Roof opens at 7:30PM, Film at 8:30PM. Tickets at the door.

Screening two nights: Wednesday, April 26, and Thursday, April 27.

Food and drink available for cash purchase from Royal Blue Grocery; picnics welcome!