NEWSLETTER
The special exhibition Envisioning 2001: Stanley Kubrick’s Space Odyssey has been extended through September 2021;
The Redstone Theater will reopen with a retrospective of Stanley Kubrick and a revived edition of See It Big!
New hours, visitor guidelines, and timed ticketing are in place to ensure safety;
Online programming and activities from the past year and at the Queens Drive-In will continue
Astoria, New York, April 7, 2021 — Beginning Friday, April 30, Museum of the Moving Image will reopen its building, galleries, and theater to the public, it was announced today by the Museum’s Co-Chairs Michael Barker and Ivan L. Lustig and Executive Director Carl Goodman. Doors will reopen with new procedures and physical adjustments in place to ensure the safety of visitors and staff. On view will be the special exhibition Envisioning 2001: Stanley Kubrick’s Space Odyssey, which has been extended through September 2021; The Jim Henson Exhibition; the Museum’s core exhibition Behind the Screen; and more. The Museum’s 267-seat Sumner M. Redstone Theater will open with a retrospective of the films of Stanley Kubrick, including weekly screenings of 2001: A Space Odyssey, to accompany the Envisioning 2001 exhibition, and other programs, including a revival of the Museum’s signature See It Big! series.
To ensure the safety of visitors and staff, the Museum is instituting new protective systems that align with guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control, as well as those set by New York State and City. While the Museum pivoted to online programming in the past year, it also used the time to prepare the building for safe reopening. The Museum has had barriers installed where appropriate, along with a complete upgrading of all HVAC air filters—and has added a dedicated ionization system that serves the Redstone Theater. Other new protocols include setting occupancy at 25% capacity, requiring face masks and social distancing, adding multiple hand-sanitizing stations, adhering to a strict building cleaning and maintenance schedule, and implementing timed ticketing and contactless entry where possible. Visitors will be asked to review all safety guidelines prior to coming to the Museum. As these regulations change, the Museum will review and implement as it sees fit to maintain safety for all. For more details about the Museum’s safety measures, click here.
Museum hours (from April 30 until further notice):
Friday, 2:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, 12:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Sunday, 12:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Timed-entry tickets will go on sale later this month at movingimage.us. Tickets for Friday, April 30 are reserved for Museum members and those holding tickets for the Envisioning 2001 exhibition before the building closed. To become a MoMI member, visit movingimage.us/membership.
“Though our in-person activity stopped in March of last year, we are proud to have spent the past year shifting our programs online,” said Carl Goodman, the Museum’s Executive Director. “We also served our community as a free meal distribution point and early voting poll site, and created the Queens Drive-In with our partners Rooftop Films and New York Hall of Science. We are grateful to our members and staff who stuck with us through it all, the many supporters who donated to our fundraisers and Kickstarter campaign, and the new audiences we found across the country and around the world. We are excited to welcome everyone back to the Museum in Astoria, and to continue our online programming.”
When the building closed on March 13, 2020, the Museum was only two months into presenting Envisioning 2001, an in-depth exploration of Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi masterpiece; in the midst of welcoming international filmmakers and guests to the ninth annual First Look Festival, the Museum’s showcase devoted to premieres of innovative international films; and engaging students throughout the city in its education programs.
When the building reopens on April 30, in addition to Envisioning 2001, The Jim Henson Exhibition, and Behind the Screen, the Museum will also have on view D’Oh! Animating America’s Funniest Family, an exhibition of original animation cels from the long-running animated series The Simpsons, which had opened just a few days before the pandemic shuttered the Museum; The Situation Room, an ongoing program of commissioned GIFs installed in the Museum’s elevator—work by Addie Wagenknecht (b. 1981, United States) will be on view upon reopening; Dialogues with the Unseen, a program of shorts by artists working in Southeast Asia, in the Video Screening Amphitheater; and a new installation of movie posters exploring the representation of Black women film stars in America. See below for more information.
“Having opened it just weeks before the onset of the pandemic, we are so pleased to have Envisioning 2001 and related programs on view through the summer,” said Barbara Miller, Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs. “We are equally excited for audiences to experience a new installation of movie posters in our lobby and a program of short films from Southeast Asia in our Video Screening Amphitheater, both of which we will complement with original content on our website. We have also made some changes to The Jim Henson Exhibition, including some works on paper from The Jim Henson Company archive which have never been exhibited, and a Kermit puppet from 1963, generously loaned by Heather Henson.”
In tandem with the galleries reopening, the Museum’s main theater, the Redstone, will reopen at 25% capacity with weekly screenings of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, to be presented in conjunction with the Envisioning 2001 exhibition and as part of a Kubrick film retrospective. The Museum will also present its signature series See It Big!, co-presented with the Museum’s publication Reverse Shot, featuring a program of classic films intended for big-screen viewing; and selected films from the interrupted First Look Festival. Schedule and ticket information will be announced soon.
This spring, with the support of a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Museum will launch a new website to better serve a diverse audience with humanities-rich content related to the study and appreciation of the moving image from an historical and contemporary perspective. All of the Museum’s recorded events from the past year and earlier will be organized to allow for easier discovery, and the site will allow for improved showcases of the Museum’s collection. The new website will be the portal through which visitors can continue to experience online programs such as Virtual Cinema presentations and live online discussions and events, as well as live-streamed events that take place in the Museum.
About the Museum’s Education Programs
Before the pandemic, the Museum welcomed 75,000 students each year visiting as part of school groups. While the building was closed, the Museum continued to serve students, senior groups, and families through online workshops, video tutorials, and virtual tours of exhibitions, in addition to providing after-school programs for local public school students as part of the Cultural After School Adventures program, funded by New York City Council members. Among new initiatives, the Museum’s education department is presenting Game Play: Between Fantasy and Realism, a public series of online role-playing games, which continues through June 2021, and a virtual Teen Film Festival on April 24, which is currently accepting entries from New York City filmmakers ages 14–19.
ON VIEW IN THE GALLERIES (BEGINNING APRIL 30)
Envisioning 2001: Stanley Kubrick’s Space Odyssey
APRIL 30–SEPTEMBER 26, 2021 Directed by Stanley Kubrick and developed in collaboration with writer Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) depicts the fraught relationship between humanity and technology, using pioneering special effects. Made before the first moon landing, the film had and continues to exert widespread influence on cinema, design, painting, architecture, and advertising. This exhibition presents an in-depth exploration of the story, design, and visual effects of the landmark film, through video clips, models, costumes, and production materials, including original artifacts from international collections and from the Stanley Kubrick Archive at the University of the Arts London, as well as from the Museum’s own collection. More info.
Envisioning 2001: Stanley Kubrick's Space Odyssey was organized by the DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum in Frankfurt am Main (where a version of the exhibition debuted in 2018), supported by the Stanley Kubrick Archive at University of the Arts London, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., and Stanley Kubrick Film Archives LLC. Additional support provided by: George Lucas Family Foundation, Film and Furniture.
The Jim Henson Exhibition
ONGOING
An exciting destination for visitors of all ages, The Jim Henson Exhibition features historic puppets, original artwork, and rare film and television footage. It reveals how Jim Henson and his team of builders, performers, and writers brought to life the enduringly popular worlds of The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and much more. When the Museum reopens, visitors to the exhibition will be welcomed by a Kermit puppet on temporary loan from Heather Henson. Built in 1963, it is only the second Kermit puppet ever made, before the character acquired its trademark collar and flippered feet. More info.
Behind the Screen
ONGOING
The core exhibition of the Museum, Behind the Screen is a one-of-a-kind experience that immerses visitors in the creative and technical process of producing, promoting, and presenting films, television shows, and digital entertainment. The exhibition reveals the skills, material resources, and artistic decisions that go into making moving images. Behind the Screen also introduces visitors to the history of the moving image, from nineteenth-century optical toys to the present-day impact of digital tools on film editing and post-production. Special exhibit within Behind the Screen: Creatures from the Land of Thra: Character Design for The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance features a selection of concept art, maquettes, puppets, and behind-the-scenes images, tracing the collaboration between concept artist Brian Froud, who originated the world of Thra in The Dark Crystal, and Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, which built the puppets for the series. Please note: The third floor section of the exhibition, which contains many hands-on, interactive experiences, will remain closed for this initial reopening period. More info.
D’Oh! Animating America’s Favorite Family
ONGOING
The longest-running series in the history of television (now in its 32nd season), The Simpsons features a distinctive visual style and a mix of acerbic parody and slapstick comedy. Before switching to digital animation in 2002, The Simpsons was made using traditional cel animation. In this process, images are hand-painted onto transparent plastic sheets—or cels—and photographed sequentially over painted backgrounds. Some of the thousands of cels used to create each half-hour episode were made available for purchase, enabling avid fans to amass collections featuring their favorite characters and gags. This exhibition presents a selection of character art and cels from the collection of animation enthusiasts Bill Heeter and Kristi Correa. Their collection provides a window into the evolution of The Simpsons’s character design, captures some of the funniest moments of life in Springfield, and represents the connection between an iconic television show and its devoted fans. More info.
Special thanks to Bill Heeter and Kristi Correa, and to Margaret Bullock and Rock Hushka of the Tacoma Art Museum. The lighting of this exhibition has been generously supported by Lutron Electronics, utilizing their state-of-the-art Ketra lighting system.
The Situation Room
ONGOING
The Situation Room is a series of site-specific installations that play with the relationship between public and private information, disembodied presence, critical engineering, pranksterism, ambiguous identities, and online user culture. Commissioned by the Museum, seven artists have each created four original GIFs to be presented as two-month installations on the walls and ceiling of the visitor elevator, an exhibition environment that offers a unique and intimate encounter with the work. The series resumes with Addie Wagenknecht’s (b. 1981, United States) There Are No Girls on the Internet (2020), the third installation in the series, which had just opened when the Museum shut its doors last March. More info.
Organized by independent curator Lindsay Howard. The Situation Room series is made possible by support from GIPHY Arts.
Dialogues with the Unseen: Short Films from Southeast Asia
OPENS APRIL 30, 2020
A common thread connecting many of the singular and diverse cultures across Southeast Asia is a deeply held belief in an invisible realm, unseen forces that shape our world. This program presents six short films by artists living and working across the region that dramatize how such unseen forces actively shape identity, memory, and belonging, and are testament to the potential for transcendence through interconnectedness.
Organized by guest curator Juliette Yu-Ming Lizeray.
Icons: Framing Images of Black Women on Movie Posters
OPENS APRIL 30, 2020
This exhibition of movie posters and lobby cards encapsulates the contradictions, as well as the power and pleasure, inherent in the Black female image as cinematic icon. Selections include material featuring Louise Beavers in Life Goes On (1938), Dorothy Dandridge in Carmen Jones (1954), Diana Ross in Lady Sings the Blues (1973), and Halle Berry in Catwoman (2004). Embodying the best and the worst of America’s racial histories, these images celebrate the significance of Black women in cinematic history, and raise questions about race and gender not only in film but also in American society at large.
Organized by guest curator Dr. Racquel J. Gates.
FILM PROGRAMS
Redstone Theater at Museum of the Moving Image
BEGINNING APRIL 30
Series information and screening schedule for the Redstone Theater will be announced in the coming weeks. They will include weekly shows of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey as part of a Kubrick retrospective, the revival of the series See It Big!, and more.
Classic films at the Queens Drive-In
THROUGH JUNE 2021
In partnership with Rooftop Films and the New York Hall of Science, Museum of the Moving Image is presenting outdoor, big-screen movies at the Queens Drive-In. Upcoming highlights include: double features of Shaft + Boyz n the Hood (April 10), Friday + Straight Outta Compton (April 16), Singin’ in the Rain + Magic Mike XXL (April 17), Thelma and Louise + Desperately Seeking Susan (April 24), Fist of Fury + Lady Snowblood (May 14); free screenings of Oscar-nominated films Minari (April 13), Sound of Metal (April 14), and My Octopus Teacher (April 15); and popular favorites Close Encounters of the Third Kind (April 18), The Big Lebowski (April 20), and more. For schedule and tickets, visit QueensDriveIn.com.
Proceed with Caution: Science on Screen at the Queens Drive-In
APRIL 9–JUNE 4, 2021
Presented with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, this series showcases acclaimed sci-fi thrillers and adventures framed by introductions from scientists and public health experts on the front lines of research. It aims to both entertain and engage members of the Queens community and surrounding. Films include: 12 Monkeys preceded by short films La Jetée and Semmelweis, introduced by epidemiologist Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo (April 9); Gravity and short films Nose Hair and Distemper, introduced by Dr. Alexander C. Stahn and NASA astronaut Dr. Karen Nyberg (April 30); 28 Days Later and The Polio Crusade, introduced by epidemiologist Dr. Caitlin Rivers (May 13); and The Host and short films Snow and The Ball Method introduced by Dr. Kendra Phelps, a specialist in zoonotic transmission of disease (June 4). Press release. | Series info.
VIRTUAL CINEMA PROGRAMS
Six Films by Midi-Z, including online release of Nina Wu
THROUGH APRIL 18, 2021
An online retrospective of Myanmar-born Taiwanese filmmaker Midi Z, presented on the occasion of the release of his latest film, Nina Wu, which debuted at Cannes’s Un Certain Regard. This program is presented in collaboration with the Taipei Cultural Center in New York, Ministry of Culture of Taiwan (R.O.C.). Press release. | Event page. | Series trailer.
This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection
THROUGH APRIL 18, 2021
Dir. Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese. Lesotho/South Africa/Italy, 2019. A Dekanalog release. Event page
Małni—Towards the Ocean, Towards the Shore
APRIL 9–25, 2021
Dir. Sky Hopinka. U.S, 2020. A Grasshopper Film release. Event page.
Downstream to Kinshasa
APRIL 16–MAY 2, 2021
Dir. Dieudo Hamadi. Democratic Republic of the Congo/France/Belgium, 2020. An Icarus Films release. Event page.
In Silico
APRIL 30–MAY 16, 2021
Dir. Noah Hutton. U.S., 2020. Presented as part of the Museum’s Science on Screen series.
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Press contact: Tomoko Kawamoto, tkawamoto@movingimage.us
PRESS MATERIALS/IMAGES ARE AVAILABLE HERE (user: press / pw: images).
ABOUT MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE
The Museum's mission is to advance the understanding, enjoyment, and appreciation of the art, history, technique, and technology of film, television, and digital media. Despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Museum continues to fulfill its mission online through live conversations with artists, filmmakers, scholars, media educators, and other industry professionals; articles published in MoMI's online film magazine Reverse Shot and science and film resource Sloan Science & Film; online access to the Museum's collection and exhibitions, including through virtual tours and recorded programs; and the presentation of a range of films—including acclaimed new theatrical releases and repertory programming—online and at the Queens Drive-In. For more information, visit movingimage.us. Follow MoMI on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
Temporary Hours (starting April 30, 2021): Friday, 2:00 to 8:00 p.m. Saturday–Sunday, 12:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Museum Admission: $15 adults; $11 senior citizens (ages 65+) and students (ages 18+) with ID; $9 youth (ages 3–17). Children under 3 and Museum members are admitted free.
Address: 36-01 35 Avenue (at 37 Street), Astoria (Queens), NY, 11106
Subway: M (weekdays only) or R to Steinway Street. W (weekdays only). N or W to 36 Ave.
Program Information: Telephone: 718 777 6888; Website: movingimage.us
Membership: http://movingimage.us/support/membership or 718 777 6877
Museum of the Moving Image is housed in a building owned by the City of New York and has received significant support from the following public agencies: New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; New York City Council; New York City Economic Development Corporation; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; Institute of Museum and Library Services; National Endowment for the Humanities; National Endowment for the Arts; and Natural Heritage Trust (administered by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation).