NOSFERATU (The Undead) is a film installation by New York-based artist Javier Téllez that focuses on cinema and mental illness. It is the first exhibition to be presented as part of “Reflections on Place,” a series of media art commissions inspired by the City of Rochester, New York.
Téllez’ film is inspired by Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens, the expressionist silent masterpiece directed by F. W. Murnau in 1922. Téllez made the work in collaboration with people living with mental illness after a series of workshops that he conducted on the subjects of vampirism and the representation of psychiatric institutions in film. Combining black-and-white 16mm and color digital film, NOSFERATU (The Undead) was shot at the Eastman Kodak factory, the Dryden Theatre of the George Eastman Museum*, and at the Main Street Armory, all in Rochester.
Javier Téllez in Conversation with W.J.T. Mitchell
The “Reflections on Place” series of media art commissions by the Memorial Art Gallery is made possible with support from the Zell Family, and Deborah Ronnen and Sherman Levey.
Additional support for the NOSFERATU (The Undead) commission is provided by the Gary and Marcia Stern Family Advised Fund at the Rochester Area Community Foundation, the Maurice and Maxine Forman Fund, the Marion Stratton Gould Fund, the Herdle-Moore Fund, the Strasenburgh Fund, the Lyman K. and Eleanore B. Stuart Endowment Fund, and an anonymous donor. In-kind support is provided by Eastman Kodak Company and the George Eastman Museum.
In Rochester, the exhibition is also made possible by the following: Margaret Davis Friedlich and Alan and Sylvia Davis Memorial Fund Robert A. and Maureen S. Dobies Endowment Fund Irving and Essie Germanow Fund Thomas and Marion Hawks Memorial Fund Grant Holcomb Endowment Kayser Fund Robert L. and Mary L. Sproull Fund Nancy R. Turner Endowment for Temporary Exhibitions
Partial support for closed captioning provided by Theatre Development Fund.
