Sunday, April 19, 2026 at 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
2220 Arts + Archives, Los Angeles
Los Angeles Filmforum presents *The Films of Gordon Matta-Clark*. In person: curators Jessamyn Fiore, Co-Director of the Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark, and Dylan Adamson. Full program notes and film lineup: https://www.lafilmforum.org/schedule/winter-2026/the-films-of-gordon-matta-clark/ ~ Gordon Matta-Clark, the artist, urban explorer, and “anarchitect” most famous for the “building cuts” he performed on various decomposing structures in the 1970s, made 18 short films before his untimely death from cancer in 1978. Aside from walking through the buildings themselves, which have all since been demolished, film provides the ideal venue in which to experience Matta-Clark’s singular artistry. The power of the cut to create strange new juxtapositions, the epistemological faculty of an opening that introduces light to new planes — metaphorical connections between Matta-Clark’s work and the cinematic apparatus abound. This program collects six of his films shot between 1972 and 1976, documenting four building cuts, one formal experiment, and one car crash. In all of his work, Matta-Clark sought to expose the thinness of the boundaries that divide people, mediums, spaces, and ideas. With sledgehammer, chainsaw, and his own two feet, he punched through these walls with an urgency that has been increasingly felt in the decades since his passing, cutting new holes for light to pour in.