Passage To The North

1981, 16 min, color, sound

"Passage to the North revolves around a reverse Ibsen dialogue (Ibsen's people would have longed for the south) about the necessity of the various characters-including two hard-faced young women in black leather coats and a soft man-going to the north. Domestic scenes of inquisition and conflict are intercut with black and white photographs and movies of a fire being put out on the blackened remains of a ship. Weiner inserts his texts more adroitly and humorously than usual: at one point, he sensuously sucks a woman's toes while placing a telegram that spells out various verbal 'actions' or situations to take place in a Northern Art Center." — Ann-Sargeant Wooster

Produced by Moved Pictures, New York City. Executive Producer and Sound Consultant: Michael H. Shamberg. Cinematography: Michael Oblowitz. Editor: Skip Lievsay. Players: Coosje van Bruggen, Michael Oblowitz, AZW Bentley, Michael H. Shamberg, Lala Orychkevich, Lawrence Weiner, Leslie Schiff, Kirsten Vibeke Thueson, Rosemary Hochschild, Susan Davis and "Emily." First Screening: Two Evenings of Films by Sculptors, Collective for Living Cinema, New York City, February 28, 1981.

EAI Preservation: Telecine at DuArt Labs from the 16mm internegative and separate optical soundtrack. Transfer supervised by Lawrence Weiner and Alice Weiner, 2005.