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The Cinema Arts Program

Established in 1983, Cinema Arts at the Exploratorium has defied expectations by focusing on artist-made and independent cinema at the crossroads of art and science.

Throughout 2023, the Exploratorium will present a special series of curated screenings, public events, and immersive filmmaking experiences celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Cinema Arts. The series will acknowledge Cinema Arts’ history, pay tribute to the accomplished filmmakers who over the decades helped ferment the program’s innovative direction, and showcase and amplify the voices and visions of a new generation of curators and emerging interdisciplinary/media artists.

Approaching movies as an active experience, Cinema Arts sees the projection screen as a portal to investigation. We engage with filmmakers who create works that inspire the imagination and instigate conversation. Animation, documentary, poetic observations, and abstract visuals serve a broad spectrum of curious audiences while blending the methods and aesthetics of artists and scientists. Through our programming, we create a space for deep observation and provide an opportunity for visitors to explore compelling people, places, and ideas that extend through the museum and beyond.

 

Help us celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Exploratorium’s groundbreaking Cinema Arts program.

 

Our collection of films and events offer a rich resource for public audiences, and also provide an important research collection for both our teaching programs and exhibit development teams.

 

Upcoming Events

Apr
6

Gilded monstera leaves against a black background. Event: After Dark 4-6-2023
After Dark: Vitality

Thursday, April 6, 2023 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.

Spring is in swing and new life is popping up everywhere. Tonight, be inspired by flora in our ¡Plantásticas! exhibition and enjoy a life-giving cabaret of art and science with the Gold Beams Social Club.

Apr
13

Heike Liss draws on a storefront window while Fred Frith creates a soundscape using an unusual guitar setup in this black-and-white photo. Event: After Dark 4-13-2023
After Dark: Drawing Sound

Thursday, April 13, 2023 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.

The Exploratorium is your playground after dark! Tonight, immerse yourself in Drawing Sound, a performance by Fred Frith and Heike Liss that explores the nature of improvisation.

Apr
20

Black and white sketch of a tule boat. Event: After Dark 4-20-2023
After Dark: Landscape Is Homeland

Thursday, April 20, 2023 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.

Celebrate Earth Day as we honor our landscape’s original care keepers and explore the complex bonds that Indigenous communities have with the land that gave birth to them.

Past Events

Saturday Cinema: Paper Craft

Saturday, August 5, 2017 • 1:00, 2:00 and 3:00 p.m.

Join us for a shorts program showcasing diverse papers that are manipulated through puppetry, abstraction, and creative reuse.

After Dark: Thursday, July 20, 2017
An Ernie Gehr Variety Show

Thursday, July 20, 2017 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.

Tonight, Ernie Gehr joins us to present a screening of new works—four moving image landscape considerations. An essential filmmaker of the avant-garde, Gehr has worked continuously for over 50 years, crafting hypnotic and perception-shifting studies of the familiar. 

 
Shadow Theater Workshop with Caryl Kientz

Saturday, July 15, 2017 • Noon–4:00 p.m.

Guided by artist Caryl Kientz, this workshop reveals the process of building a shadow theater performance from the ground up. You’ll learn about each of the complex, handcrafted ingredients that are essential to shadow theater.

Guided by artist Caryl Kientz, this workshop reveals the process of building a shadow theater performance from the ground up. You’ll learn about each of the complex, handcrafted ingredients that are essential to shadow theater.

Saturday Cinema: Roadside Attractions

Saturday, July 1, 2017 • 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.

Inspired by Welcome to WildCard’s foray into roadside attractions and timed to celebrate our most patriotic holiday, we’ll take a look at some of the weird and wonderful places and people spanning the nation.

The Handmade Cinema of Jeremy Rourke

Saturday, June 17, 2017 • 2:00 p.m.

Enter the inventive worlds of animator and troubadour Jeremy Rourke during a program that fuses animation with live musical performance and surprising off-the-screen interactions. 

After Dark: Thursday, June 8, 2017
Cinema Arts and Pairings

Thursday, June 8, 2017 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.

See Bay Area cityscapes reframed in short poetic documentaries that meditate on urban environments presented by Dominic Angerame, or join us at Pairings for robust presentations and refreshing conversation about nuts. Also, crawl through our pitch-black Tactile Dome, experience exhibits, and more. 

Saturday Cinema: Obscurus Projectum

Saturday, May 27, 2017 • 11:00 a.m–2:00 p.m.

Obscurus Projectum reimagines the multipurpose theatrical setting of the Exploratorium's Kanbar Forum as a large-scale camera obscura, drawing cinematic inspiration from a window overlooking the San Francisco Bay.

Saturday Cinema: Powers of Temperature

Saturday, May 13, 2017 • 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.

Join us for a program of shorts that explore how varying temperatures in natural and industrial environments influence our experience of the world.

After Dark: Thursday, May 11, 2017
Pairings, Cinema Arts, and Sewn Scenarios

Thursday, May 11, 2017 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.

Follow the amazing migration of California salmon with NOAA ecologist Eric Danner at Pairings. See new work by filmmaker Chip Lord at Greetings from Amarillo. And watch sewing artist Paul Nosa embroider your ideas on fabric at Sewn Scenarios.

Cinema Arts: (Re)action

Friday, May 5 • 8:00 p.m.

From bodies in motion to catalyzing reactions, Cinema Arts has selected energizing shorts from its film collection to motivate creativity and scientific inquiry.

Saturday Cinema: Whose Line Is It Anyway? with Jodie Mack

Saturday, April 29, 2017 • 2:00 p.m.

An artist of unmatched, playful meticulousness, filmmaking-tour-de-force Jodie Mack joins us to present a screening highlighting the fun side of language in experimental cinema.

Saturday Cinema: Obscurus Projectum

Saturday, April 22, 2017 • 11:00 a.m–2:00 p.m.

Obscurus Projectum reimagines the multipurpose theatrical setting of the Exploratorium's Kanbar Forum as a large-scale camera obscura, drawing cinematic inspiration from a window overlooking the San Francisco Bay.

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40 Years of Cinema Arts 1983-2023 logo

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For questions about the Exploratorium Cinema Arts Program, please contact us at:
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