JOHN DI STEFANO
(TELL ME WHY) THE EPISTEMOLOGY OF DISCO [1991]
Single-channel digital video | 00:24:00 | Colour | Stereo |English | 4:3
VIEW : https://vimeo.com/80169654
(TELL ME WHY) THE EPISTEMOLOGY OF DISCO is an essay film that offers an often humorous, and at times poignant look at the role that disco music has played in the formation of contemporary post-Stonewall gay male identity. The video engages a revisionist approach by positing disco as an historically significant cultural and political space for the queer community. It draws the historical lineage between gay movement politics of the late 60's/early 70's and gay movement politics around AIDS, and mourns the generation of gay men who were on the frontline of first wave of the epidemic.
AWARDS
New Vision Award - Video, San Francisco International Film Festival [1991]
Audience Choice Award, Los Angeles International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival [1991]
Best Social Critique, Atlanta International Film Festival [1993]
BROADCAST
Living Room Festival, KQED (PBS affiliate - San Francisco)
WRITING
İnan Suna & İpek Kıraç, This is Not a Love Song. Pera Museum, Istanbul, 2015
F. Javier Panera, This is Not a Love Song. La Virreina, Barcelona, 2013
Ani Maitra, 'Hearing Queerly: Musings on the ethics of disco/sexuality'. Continuum - Journal of media & cultural studies, UK, 2011
Kelly Dennis, Art/Porn: a history of seeing & touching. Berg, Oxford, 2009
F. Javier Panera, Rock My Religion: Cruce de caminos entre el rock y las artes visuals. Domus Atrium, Salamanca, 2008
Chris Straayer, Deviant Eyes - Deviant Bodies. Columbia University Press, 1996
Andrew Patterson, Corporeal Economics. Mercer Union, Toronto, 1995
Christen Torben, et. al., Into The Lapse. Royal Danish Academy of Art, Copenhagen, 1994
Huey Lentz, et. al. Queer Bodies. Evergreen State College, 1992
Barbara DeGenevieve, et. al., No More Heroes. SF Camerawork, 1991
DISTRIBUTION
Video Data Bank (Chicago) www.vdb.org
V-Tape (Toronto) www.vtape.org
SHOWN [selected]
This is Not a Love Song, Fernán Gómez Centre, Madrid, Spain [2020]
Magic Bureaucracy, Tensta Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden [2018]
Hamburg International Short Film Festival, Hamburg, Germany [2018]
Disco! An Interdisciplinary Conference, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK [2018]
This is Not a Love Song, Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey [2016]
This is Not a Love Song, La Virreina (in association with Screen Festival), Barcelona, Spain [2013]
London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival - Experimental Visions. British Film Institute. London, UK [2009]
Channeling. CineMental, Boston, MA, USA. [2009]
Channeling. Northwest Film Forum, Seattle, WA, USA. [2009]
Channeling. Artists Television Access, San Francisco, CA, USA. [2009]
Channeling. Basement Films, Albuquerque, NM, USA. [2009]
Channeling. Zeitgeist Films, New Orleans, LA, USA. [2009]
Crossroads: Interfaces betweenMusic and Art, Domus Artium Museum, Salamanca, Spain. [2008]
Channeling. Roots+Culture, Chicago, IL, USA. [2008]
Channeling. ABC NO RIO, New York, NY, USA. [2008]
Channeling. Cable Car Cinema, Providence, RI, USA. [2008]
From Mini-FM to Hacktivists. Govett-Brewster Gallery, New Plymouth, NZ. [2006]
Politics, Resistance and Musical Subculture. Barcelona Museum of Modern Art, Barcelona, Spain. [2002]
Gender Trash & Other Cookies. Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA. [1998]
Center for Communications Resources, Chicago, IL, USA, [1997]
On Love, Sex & Politics. Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA. [1996]
Day Without Art. Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA, USA. [1996]
Day Without Art. Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA. [1996]
Day Without Art. Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles, CA, USA. [1996]
Corporeal Economics. Mercer Union, Toronto, Canada. [1995]
Into the Lapse. Royal Academy of Art, Copenhagen, Denmark. [1994]
Into the Lapse. Palais des Beaux-Arts - Societé des Expositions, Brussels, Belgium. [1994]
Hong Kong International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, Hong Kong Art Center, Hong Kong, China [1994]
Budapest Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, Budapest, Hungary [1994]
Ottawa Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, Ottawa, Canada [1994]
Transcendaids. Watts Towers Art Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA. [1993]
Into the Lapse. Karsten Schubert Gallery, London, UK. [1993]
Into the Lapse. Friesenwall 120, Cologne, Germany. [1993]
Into the Lapse. Dogenhaus, Leipzig, Germany. [1993]
Into the Lapse. Bruno Brunnet Fine Arts, Berlin, Germany. [1993]
Atlanta International Film Festival, [Award: Best Social Critique] [1993]
London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. British Film Institute, London, UK([1993]
Festival Internazionale di Film con Tematiche Omosessuali, Turin, Italy [1993]
Tokyo Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, Tokyo, Japan [1993]
Stockholm International Film Festival, Stockholm, Sweden [1993]
New Langton Arts, San Francisco, CA, USA. [1992]
Into the Lapse. FAR BAZZAR, Los Angeles, CA, USA. [1992]
European Media Art Festival (EMAF), Osnabruck, Germany [1992]
Day Without Art. Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA. [1992]
San Francisco International Film Festival, San Francisco, CA, USA. [1992]
San Francisco Lesbian & Gay Film Festival (Frameline), San Francisco, CA, USA. [1992]
Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH, USA, [1992]
Berlin Film Festival / VideoFest, Berlin, Germany [1992]
Images International Film and Video Festival, Toronto, Canada [1992]
Into The Lapse. 1301, Santa Monica, CA, USA. [1992]
Queer Bodies. Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA, USA. [1992]
Day Without Art. Art/LA. Los Angeles, CA, USA. [1991]
No More Heroes, SF Camerawork / Cinematheque, San Francisco, CA, USA. [1991]
American Film Institute Video Festival, American Film Institute Los Angeles, CA, USA [1991]
Chicago International Film Festival, Chicago, IL, USA. [1991]
Articulating Disparities. San José State University Gallery, San José, CA., USA. [1991]
Amsterdam Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, Amsterdam, Netherlands [1991]
Chicago Lesbian & Gay International Film Festival, Chicago, IL. USA. [1991]
Image et Nation. Goethe Institute, Montréal, Canada. [1991]
LA Freewaves Festival, Los Angeles, CA, USA. [1991]
Hamburg Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, Hamburg, Germany [1991]
The New Festival, New York, NY, USA. [1991]
Los Angeles International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, Los Angeles, CA [1991]