Monday March 13, 7:30pm
Eddie Becker: 5 Decades on the Ground
Commentary and Q&A with the artist
Free for Members!
Image courtesy of the artist
Microscope Gallery is pleased to present a long-anticipated first solo screening in New York by DC legend and independent video maker Eddie Becker. Becker, who began taping in the early 1970s with his Sony Portapak camera and is currently working with iPhone and 4K, has been making his “instant documentaries” using the equipment of the times he is covering to record the actions and professed ideals, beliefs and values of the American populace as revealed through protests, gatherings and other activities on the streets of the Nation’s capital.
“I wanted an independent view of reality. I wanted to make more complex stories than the three-minute reports, where the correspondent talks over images to a predetermined script. Stories unfold, and people are allowed to speak for themselves.” — Eddie Becker
The works in the program – selected from hundreds of short works spanning nearly 50 years of economic, social and political issues under 9 presidents from Nixon to the current White House occupant – find Becker in the role of an independent and rational questioner who through “asking the obvious” solicits candid responses from those he interviews. Christians try to convert atheists; white supremacists rationalize their harassment of a praying Muslim man; Tea Party members rage against silent, sign-holding activists; young Trump fans voice their surprise at the low supporter to protestor ratio on election day; FBI agents cheer on participants in the Women’s March; and on and on.
The emphasis of the evening is on works that propose a noticeable progression over the decades of beliefs and attitudes that assisted in creating the atmosphere of today, many selected from his active YouTube channel, and culminating in the world-wide premiere of Becker’s latest work “Creating TV in the Time of Trump”, which will be posted on the site live and screened in real time.
$8 General Admission
$6 Students w/ ID
Free for Members!
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Eddie Becker is a longtime Washington DC resident, archival researcher & documentary filmmaker. He has been working with independent video since the early 1970s recording and interviewing protestors, activists and others in the streets of DC about the issues and beliefs that matter to them. He is also known as an activist in his own right. As a researcher for the National Security Archives in the late 80s/early 90s Becker was instrumental in legal action that required presidential emails to be preserved and archived. And in the mid-nineties a series of his inquiries led to the discovery and protection of a forgotten African-American cemetery on property owned by the Smithsonian’s National Zoo.
With the underwriting support of the Robert D. Bielecki Foundation.
