The Picture Show is a celebration of filmmaking, of the moviegoing experience, and of the enduring influence of cinema on artists. The exhibition also pays homage to The Real Estate Show (1980) and The Times Square Show (1981), two large scale group exhibitions that critiqued the systems of power articulated by the control of property while embracing the romance of decay. In the spirit of those shows, whose position outside the gallery system was as much a presence in the exhibition as the work itself, The Picture Show will take place in the lobby of the Brooklyn Heights Cinemas, which is facing an appropriately cinematic end.

The Brooklyn Heights Cinemas is an independently owned and operated two screen movie theater showing a mix of independent and foreign films. In the last year, architectural historians and the Brooklyn Heights Preservation Society fought to protect the historical landmark from demolition, but it was recently announced that the theater would be torn down before the end of 2012 and replaced by a residential complex. Located away from Brooklyn’s trendier art neighborhoods, and featuring a gently worn, unapologetically kitsch décor, the Brooklyn Heights Cinemas embodies the faded outlandishness of pre-multiplex movie theaters.

Participating artists: Jon F. Allen, Julien Archambault, Elizabeth Bick, James Blucher, Marcel Castenmiller, Paul D’Agostino, Dean Dempsey, Jon Feinstein, Christopher Gorski, Gabrielle Lamontagne, Alice Lancaster, Andrew Landauro, Michael Markos, Grace Miceli, Dexter Miranda, Austin Nelson, Wet Lamp (Lauren Nickou and Adam Bach), Mike Olenick, Mike Rollo, Margaret Shannon, Steven Siegel, Bill Sullivan, Synchrodogs (Tania Oldyork and Roman Noven), Carmen Von K, Ruvan Wijesooriya

Curated by Claudia Eve Beauchesne