William E. Jones's films Is It Really So Strange? and Midcentury will be screened at the ICA on 8 and 9 September 2012. The artist will also take part in a discussion following the Saturday screenings.

Is It Really So Strange? (2004, 80 minutes) makes the connection between The Smiths’ working-class, Manchester-raised, ethnic Irish experience and that of the sons and daughters of Latino immigrants in Los Angeles. This is the first documentary that allows the fans themselves to speak at length about their lives, their loves and their brief encounters with their idol.

Midcentury (2012, 30 minutes) is a compilation of works originally commissioned for the 53rd Venice Biennale, reworked for the 57th Oberhausen Film Festival, then reworked again for his solo exhibition at White Cube Bermondsey. Its form mimics that of a network’s broadcast day, condensed to a half hour. Though Midcentury contains no first person narration, it can be considered an autobiography of sorts: the work of a hyperactive child who grew up in an industrial wasteland during the Cold War and watched far too much television. The compilation includes: Aggressive Child, Coup d’état, Discrepancy, Magenta Rolls, More British Sounds, The National Anthem, No Product #1-7, Youngstown/Steel Town as well as statements by David Sarnoff, Herbert Read, J. Robert Oppenheimer, James Bryant Conant, Walter Reuther, and Harry Pollitt.

This film contians adult material.  

On Saturday, following the special double-bill screening of these two films, William E. Jones will be in conversation with the ICA's Associate Curator of Artists’ Moving Image, Steven Cairns.

William E. Jones
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Mall
London
SW1Y 5AH

+44 (0) 20 7930 3647

Saturday 8 September 2012, 3pm, Double bill screening followed by a discussion with the artist
Sunday 9 September 2012, Screening of Midcentury, 3pm

William E. Jones, Is it Really So Strange, 2004, video, 80 minutes
Courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA