INSPIRING HOPE: SUNDANCE 2020 RECAP
Friends, Visitors, Colleagues:Susan Swartz Studios does not take the current crisis at hand lightly. Artist Susan Swartz’s endurance and recovery of the harsh effects of Lyme disease and Mercury poisoning is an example of the havoc an illness can wreck on an individual’s body and spirit. Knowing that COVID-19 is affecting individuals directly through disease as well as local and global populations with the repercussions of its spread, is disheartening to say the least.
A couple of weeks ago Susan Swartz Studios was gearing up to share highlights from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival – a successful sequencing of people coming together for the greater good. Together, we hosted film premiere parties, book signings and panel discussions with an outstanding line up of directors, producers, artists and guests.
The pandemic has shed a new light on how we view this celebration of events. During the festival, Susan Swartz Studios’ ground-breaking exhibition ART AND SOCIAL JUSTICE connected Susan’s work as an artist, activist and film producer with artists from the Agnes Gund collection and artists associated with the Art for Justice Fund. Our events, such as the Dissident Film Premiere Party and Born into Brothels Rescreening Party, synonymously act to inspire social justice, human rights and global change through the power of art.
Together, we did not merely host a party, but we celebrated what is at the core of each endeavor – innovative, unstoppable action to make the world a better place. Our summaries are evidence of courageous, creative people and organizations that take a stand. They embrace challenges, face fears and sometimes risk their lives. Susan Swartz Studios is sharing this so that their actions do not go unrecognized, and instead continue to inspire change and further hope.
2020 Sundance Film Festival events ran from Jan. 24 - Feb. 2 at Susan Swartz Studios. Here are some highlights.
Video by Carla Boecklin Creative.
AGGIE PREMIERE PARTY
We were honored to host the Aggie film Premiere Party on Friday, January 24. The film is a portrait of Agnes Gund, the revered art collector and philanthropist who donated over $100 million in proceeds from the sale of her beloved Lichtenstein painting to form the Art for Justice Fund. The Fund is dedicated to disrupting mass incarceration and addressing racial biases by providing grants directly to artists and advocates who seek to reform America’s criminal justice system. During Sundance, Susan Swartz Studios exhibited ART AND SOCIAL JUSTICE, an exhibition celebrating art, artists and film to advance the mission of social change. The exhibition showcased work by Susan Swartz, select women artists from the Agnes Gund Collection and artists associated with the Art for Justice Fund.
Read the Art for Justice Fund’s call to action, preventing COVID-19 behind bars here.
Select Women Artists from the Agnes Gund Collection included Teresita Fernández, Mary Heilmann, Julie Mehretu, Catherine Opie, Xaviera Simmons, Kiki Smith, Mickalene Thomas, Kara Walker, and Carrie Mae Weems. Select Artists Associated with the Art for Justice Fund include Mark Bradford, Titus Kaphar and Reginald Dwayne Betts, Jesse Krimes, and Russell Craig.
We welcomed a wonderful group of visitors including: Agnes Gund; Cat Gund, Director of Aggie and Founder of Aubin Pictures; Cindy Sherman, contemporary artist; John Cooper, Director of the Sundance Film Festival; Rajendra Roy, Chief Curator of Film at MoMA; Tanya Selvaratnam, Producer at Aubin Pictures; Nicole Gallo, Curator of the Agnes Gund Collection; and Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation, to name a few.
AGGIE PANEL DISCUSSION
As part of the exhibition we hosted a fascinating panel discussion called "Art, Justice and Imagination” organized in association with Aubin Pictures. Susan Swartz welcomed the panel and visitors by expressing gratitude that we are “United together to share our goals and ambitions to change the social narrative through art.” Speakers include Darren Walker from the Ford Foundation, Artist Xaviera Simmons, Moderator Charles Blow from the New York Times, Artist Russell Craig and philanthropist Agnes Gund.
Concurrent with the Aggie documentary directed by Cat Gund, Panelists discuss: How has Agnes Gund altered the scope of art collecting? In what ways do we need to expand our support for artists of color? What are the critical ways the incarceration system is broken? And how is art a necessary means for making change?
The exhibition ended on February 2nd. Select women artists from the Agnes Gund Collection and Artists Associated with the Art for Justice Fund then travelled to exhibit at Modern West in SLC.
Susan Swartz and Agnes Gund discuss Susan’s journey as an artist at her studio in Park City, UT.
AGGIE VISITS SUSAN SWARTZ’S HOME STUDIO
An artist’s studio is a sacred space often reserved for contemplation, experimentation, and hard work. Set high in the Wasatch Mountains, Susan’s home studio in Park City provides an intimate view into the mind of the artist. It’s a warm and inviting space that she visits around the clock, even in the dead of night. Like the rest of her home, the studio is carefully organized. Large windows seem to dissolve the boundary between indoors and the surrounding nature. And it is full of completed artwork, which often mirrors the current season and her state of mind, providing continuous inspiration.
One of the most memorable moments of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival was welcoming Agnes “Aggie” Gund, the beloved art collector and philanthropist, into Susan’s studio. The documentary film Aggie is a portrait of the woman with an appetite for challenging the status quo to reform the American criminal justice system.
Both women share the same ambition, as they work to harness the power of art to connect, open minds, and encourage change.
IMPACT PARTNERS BRUNCH
Susan is a founding member of Impact Partners, the film production group renowned for igniting social change through storytelling on pressing social issues. On Sunday January 26, Susan Swartz Studios hosted the annual Sundance Film Festival Impact Partners brunch, an event which welcomes investors, filmmakers, and friends of the Oscar and Emmy award winning organization.
Five films produced by Impact Partners premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival: Epicentro (Recipient of the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema Documentary category), Spaceship Earth, Us Kids, On the Record, and Giving Voice (Recipient of the Festival Favorite Award).
Congratulations to Impact Partners for a successful Sundance season!
THE TRUFFLE HUNTERS PARTY
Special thoughts go out to our friends in Italy during this critically trying time. While the country is getting global recognition for the heartbreaking crisis at hand, we want to celebrate the richness of its culture and remember the beauty it has brought to us and the rest of the world.
As Executive Producer of The Truffle Hunters, Susan adventured behind the scenes with directors Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw. Through enchanting forests of Norther Italy, the directors tell the story of the world's most expensive ingredient, the white Alba truffle, and the people who search for it. The small, dwindling enclave of hunters consists of silver-haired men and their faithful dogs, whose mysterious way of life risks disappearance.
We were thrilled to celebrate this film’s premiere afterparty on Sunday, January 26. Chef Fabio Fresia created a delicious sampling of the white truffle for a full house of guests in conjunction with Done to Your Taste Catering. Here’s to hoping even more people can indulge in the pleasure of a white truffle in the near future!
The worldwide rights of The Truffle Hunters documentary was recently purchased by Sony Pictures Classics.
GIVING VOICE PARTY
On January 26th, we also hosted the Giving Voice Premiere party, celebrating younger generations taking initiative for change. Directed by James D. Stern and Fernando Villena, the film follows six high school students in a monologue competition as the individuals discover their own self power.
John Cooper, director of the Sundance Film Festival describes it as the “next generation of leaders, artists and change-makers stepping out” and we couldn’t agree more.
LEVEL FORWARD’S PREMIER OF THE INSTRUMENT OF HOPE VIDEO
On Tuesday, January 28th we were pleased to welcome back our friends from the organization Level Forward to debut their Gun Neutral Instrument of Hope video featuring two Parkland school shooting survivors Andrea and Sawyer and a 71 instrument orchestra accompanying the stunning song Shine.
As a special performance our guests and passersby got to hear Amazing Grace played on a trumpet made of brass bullet casings to bring attention and awareness to the healing power of art therapy for school shooting survivors and their communities.
TIFFANY SHLAIN PRESENTATION AND BOOK SIGNING
On January 28th we celebrated filmmaker, author and dear friend Tiffany Schlain to present her insightful theories and thoughts from her new book 24/6 – The Power of Unplugging One Day A Week.
In 24/6 Tiffany explores how turning off screens one day a week can do wonders on your brain, body and soul.
BORN INTO BROTHELS RESCREENING PARTY AND KIDS WITH CAMERAS BOOK SIGNING
Born into Brothels was nearly lost in a fire and we celebrated the restoration and rescreening of this film on January 30th. In this film, Directors Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman chronicle the amazing transformation of several children growing up in Calcutta’s red-light district. The film won an Academy Award for Documentary Feature in 2005.
Zana Briski is also the founder of Kids with Cameras, a non-profit organization to empower marginalized children through learning the art of photography, which is depicted in the film. Briski was present for a book signing of two beautiful companion books, BROTHEL and Kids with Cameras.
May these stories of great innovation and ambition carry us through trying times as we seek stillness, inspiration and hope.