Matter Falling Out of Form

A red building exterior cut into squares with the number 9 written in yellow at center.

"Matter Falling Out of Form" is a program of experimental short films, curated by Ashley Edlund-Chescheir, PhD candidate in the Department of Romance Studies, and Paul Lorca Fuentealba, Humanities Scholars Postdoctoral Associate at the Society of the Humanities

The artist Gordon Matta-Clark's thoroughly unique artistic project was a radical investigation of architecture, deconstruction, space, and urban environments. His film and video works include documents of major pieces in New York, Paris and Antwerp, and are focused on three areas: performances and recycling pieces; space and texture works; and his building cuts.

This program showcases some of Matta-Clark’s most emblematic “cuts”. All three cuts shown in these short films—a collaboration with the Dennis Oppenheim at the "Earth Art" exhibition at Cornell in 1969, cutting Beebe Lake; the dissection of a house in Niagara Falls; and the literal “splitting” of a house in New Jersey—underscore and develop a socially engaged commentary on landscape, architecture, politics, and housing.

Additionally, this program will feature an exclusive preview of Ovid House, a short-film inspired by Matta-Clark as a way to examine the landscape of Central NY.

Free admission! This program is made possible through the generous support of the Cornell Council for the Arts.

Featuring:

Bingo/Ninths
Gordon Matta-Clark
1974, 9:40 min, color, silent, Super 8mm film on HD video
In August 1974, Matta-Clark made a cut in a house in Niagara Falls, New York. The artist obtained permission to divide the exterior facade into nine parts. An hour after he finished, the house was demolished; segments of the facade were taken to Art Park and dumped.
Courtesy of Electronic Arts Intermix.

Splitting
Gordon Matta-Clark
1974, 10:50 min, b&w and color, silent, Super 8mm film on HD video
This film documents the major building cut made by Matta-Clark in a house on Humphrey Street in Englewood, New Jersey.
Courtesy of Electronic Arts Intermix.

Beebe Lake Ice Cut
Dennis Oppenheim and Gordon Matta-Clark
1969, b&w, silent, 16mm on digital video
Documentation of the "Earth Art Exhibition", curated by Willoughby Sharp and filmed by Marilyn Rivchin, A.D. White Museum, Cornell University, February 1969.
Courtesy of Cornell Library's Rare and Manuscript Collections.

Ovid House
Directed by Ashley Edlund-Chescheir and Paul Lorca Fuentealba
2025, digital video, 10:00 min
Special preview of a new short-film inspired by Matta-Clark as a way to examine the landscape of Central NY.

Special thanks to Cornell Cinema, CCA, The Johnson Museum of Art, the Department of Romance Studies, Marilyn Rivchin, Jessamyn Foire at the GMC Estate, White Column in NYC, Jooyoung Friedman-Buchanan at EAI, and Ithaca College.