What Kind of Zoo Is the Museum? | Part 1

Frederick Wiseman’s films are “compelling stories about institutions that reflect our best and worst values” notes a statement about the American filmmaker, who has made more than forty documentary films since the late 1960s – in a prison, a school, and a hospital, and also in the fashion world, a meat processing business, and a monastery.

This film program compares and contrasts Wiseman’s Zoo (1993) and National Gallery (2014), which were filmed in the zoo in Miami, Florida, and in the National Gallery in London. At both institutions, the zoo and the museum, Wiseman focuses on activities both in front of and behind the scenes, including the preservation and care of specific exhibits, the roles of visitors and staff, and various operational processes. In the sense of a typical film disclaimer: similarities may be unintended, but they are by no means coincidental.

Part 1 on January 18, 7 pm
Frederick Wiseman, Zoo, 1993, 130 min

With an introduction by Manuela Ammer and Ulrike Müller.
 

Distribution: Collection of the Austrian Film Museum

Manuela Ammer is a curator at mumok
Ulrike Müller is an artist living and working in New York

Part 2 on January 25, 7 pm
Frederick Wiseman, National Gallery, 2014