National Gallery of Art

Streaming now through October 27

Swiss filmmaker Christoph Schaub’s unusual, poetic, and visually beautiful survey of contemporary sacred spaces and church buildings considers the work of architects Peter Zumthor, Peter Märkli, and Álvaro Siza Vieira; artists James Turrell and Cristina Iglesias; and percussion virtuoso Jojo Mayer. Making a case for a spiritual life in architecture and other arts, the film relates the spaces on view to the natural world, while Schaub's cinematography often suggests an otherworldliness. He also turns his film into a personal journey through his earlier life, when his personal fascination with architecture began. (Christoph Schaub, 2018, 86 minutes)

Streaming October 28 through November 3

Filmmaker, archivist, writer, and collector Pearl Bowser donated her collection of motion picture films to the Smithsonian Institution in 2012, where they are now cared for by the Earl W. and Amanda Stafford Center for African American Media Arts (CAAMA) at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Thanks to the collaboration of curators and archivists at NMAAHC, the Gallery highlights three short films from this collection of over forty titles. Each reflects the diversified roles of Black women as filmmakers—producers, editors, directors, designers, sound artists, and writers—as well as the varied content and themes in these remarkable, historic shorts. Special thanks go to Dr. Rhea L. Combs, curator of photography and film, and Ina Archer and Blake McDowell, media conservators from NMAAHC.

Streaming November 4 through November 10

Lynda Benglis reveled in exploring the possibilities of nascent analog video technology. The medium gave artists newfound control of their images, which they could capture electronically and immediately play back. Benglis was one of the first artists to experiment with analog video in two distinct ways: figuratively as performer and subject, and conceptually by pushing the boundaries of video imagery through layered generations of recordings, as well as image and sound decay. She built up electronic images much like a traditional collagist and explored editing in linear time with considerable care and mastery.

This program of early video art pairs three of Benglis’s titles with the work of three other important artists: Joan Jonas, Shigeko Kubota, and Susan Mogul. With thanks to Video Data Bank, Lynda Benglis, Molly Donovan, and Susan Mogul.