episode 7 with will schmenner
In this episode
Caro Fowler and Will Schmenner investigate the museum as a recurring cinematic space. Moving from Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Vertigo to Ghostbusters and Dressed to Kill, the conversation explores how films use museums as sites of attention, transgression, desire, and institutional critique. Fowler and Schmenner consider the relationship between cinema and painting, the politics of conservation and display, and the enduring tension between popular culture and “high” art, asking what happens when museums become spaces not only for education, but also for fantasy, memory, and social encounter.
TRANSCRIPT
Will Schmenner is head of public programs at the Clark Art Institute. He began his career as a film programmer in Chicago, running Doc Films and then co-founding Block Cinema at the Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University. He's published on the films of Alfred Hitchcock and Buster Keaton and holds a doctorate in the history of art from the University of Pennsylvania. Whether in Chicago, Philadelphia, or Williamstown, the question of popular culture's place in the art museum animates his programming and writing.