Columbus, OH - Chris Marker: Staring Back, an exhibition of almost 200 photographs taken over the course of six decades by the enigmatic and influential French filmmaker, will be on view May 12—August 12 at the Wexner Center for the Arts.  This show, organized by the Wexner Center and the first such exhibition of Marker’s photographs, consists of images selected by the artist himself from his own archive, including black-and-white portraits of individuals—some celebrated, most not—that Marker has encountered during the course of his world travels.

Notes Wexner Center Media Arts Director and exhibition organizer Bill Horrigan: “We’re extremely honored that Marker has entrusted us with this rare opportunity to bring to light some of the photo treasures from his vast personal archive.  Those who know him only from his films will see some familiar faces, but beyond that, Staring Back embodies Marker’s boundless curiosity about the men and the woman with whom he’s come face to face, armed with his camera, throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and North and South America.”

A catalogue will accompany the exhibition and will feature texts by Marker, Horrigan, and Molly Nesbit, scholar and contributing editor to Artforum.  Included will be the English translation of Marker’s most recent film The Case of the Grinning Cat, and selected photo annotations.  The 160-page catalogue will be co-published with MIT press.

ABOUT CHRIS MARKER
Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, Chris Marker is one of the most influential and important filmmakers to emerge in the post-war era.  After studying with Jean-Paul Sartre, Marker began a collaboration with filmmaker Alain Resnais, including working as an assistant director on Resnais’s epochal Night and Fog.  Eschewing traditional narrative techniques and working from a deeply political vein, Marker focused on non-fiction films ranging from the highly experimental and boundary-breaking Sans Soleil to AK, a documentary about director Akira Kurosawa.  Marker began garnering international recognition in 1962 with the sci-fiction short film La jetée, a hugely influential story of nuclear experimentation and time travel.  Marker has also produced acclaimed media installations, including Owls at Noon Prelude: The Hollow Men, at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 2005, and Silent Movie, which the Wexner Center commissioned in 1995 through its Residency Award program, and which subsequently traveled to over a dozen other venues internationally.

Wexner Center for the Arts, 1871 North High Street at 15th Ave. at The Ohio State University. Visit : www.wexatrs.org