Vivienne Dick (born 1950) is an Irish feminist experimental and documentary filmmaker. Her early films helped define the No Wave scene. According to ''The Irish Times'', Dick is "one of the most important film-makers Ireland has produced".

Biography

Dick was born in

Donegal Donegal may refer to: County Donegal, Ireland * County Donegal, a county in the Republic of Ireland, part of the province of Ulster * Donegal (town), a town in County Donegal in Ulster, Ireland * Donegal Bay, an inlet in the northwest of Ireland b ...

and grew up in Ireland during the 1950s, attending

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

there in the 1960s. After travels in Europe, India and Mexico, she emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in the 1975. She relocated to London in the mid-1980s and returned to Ireland in the mid-1990s. Dick currently lives in

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

and teaches filmmaking at Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology.

Career

Upon her arrival in the U.S., Dick became an integral figure in No Wave film culture and produced a series of seminal Super8 short films. Living in New York, which was undergoing a recession and an inexpensive place to live, many of her films were staged around well-known sites such as

Coney Island Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...

, the

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a List of colossal sculpture in situ, colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the U ...

, and the

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. The films featured punk performers such as Lydia Lunch,

Pat Place Pat Place (born 1953) is an American artist, photographer, and musician noted for her work as a founding member and guitarist of no wave bands James Chance and the Contortions and Bush Tetras. Art Place grew up in Chicago. She studied art in co ...

(of the band Bush Tetras) and Adele Bertei (of The Contortions). Film critic and author

J. Hoberman James Lewis Hoberman (born March 14, 1949) is an American film critic, journalist, author and academic. He began working at ''The Village Voice'' in the 1970s, became a full-time staff writer in 1983, and was the newspaper's senior film critic ...

has called Dick the "quintessential No Wave filmmaker". After leaving the United States, Dick's work took on a more political tone. She was an active member of the London Filmmakers Coop during her time in the city. Her 2014 film, ''The Irreducible Difference of the Other'', acknowledges her longstanding interest in

Luce Irigaray Luce Irigaray (born 3 May 1930) is a Belgian-born French feminist, philosopher, linguist, psycholinguist, psychoanalyst, and cultural theorist who examined the uses and misuses of language in relation to women. Irigaray's first and most well know ...

. Her work is examined in the 2010 documentary ''Blank City'', which discusses the No Wave movement. Her name appears in the lyrics of the Le Tigre song " Hot Topic." Dick's work formed part of two major retrospectives of American ''avant garde'' film: ''No Wave Cinema 1978-87'' (1996) at the Whitney Museum, New York and ''Big as Life: An American History of Super8 Film'' (1999) at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, New York and the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

. Vivienne's work was the subject of a retrospective at the Crawford Arts Centre, with an accompanying monograph co-published by the Crawford Arts Centre and the

LUX The lux (symbol: lx) is the unit of illuminance, or luminous flux per unit area, in the International System of Units (SI). It is equal to one lumen per square metre. In photometry, this is used as a measure of the intensity, as perceived by the ...

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in late 2010. It included a collection of her remarkable films and included a performance by Lydia Lunch as well as discussions with Nan Goldin, Claire Pajaczkowska, and Maeve Connolly, as well as films by other artists selected by Dick. "In 2017 IMMA presented 93% STARDUST, a survey exhibition of Dick’s work."

Films

* DVD, ''Afterimages 4 : Vivienne Dick'', Lux. Comprenant : ''Guerillére Talks'', 1978, 24 min; ''She Had Her Gun Already'', 1978, 28 min; ''Staten Island'', 1978, 4 min. *2016. ''Felis Catus'', 5:30 min *2015. ''Red Moon Rising'', 15:00 min *2013. ''The Irreducible Difference of the Other'' *2005. ''Molecular Moments'' *2004. ''Saccade'' *2002. ''Excluded by the Nature of Things'', DVD pour trois écrans *1999. ''Two Be Two'' *1994. ''A Skinny Little Man Attacked Daddy'' *1992. ''New York Conversations'' *1990. ''Two Pigeons'' *1989. ''London Suite'' *1988. ''Images : Ireland'' *1988. ''Pobal-Portrait of an Artist'' *1986. ''Rothach'' *1983. ''Trailer'' *1983. ''Like Dawn to Dusk'' *1982. ''Loisaida'' *1981. ''Visibility: Moderate'' *1980. ''Liberty's Booty'' *1979. ''Beauty Becomes the Beast'' *1978. ''She Had Her Gun All Ready'' *1978. ''Staten island'' *1978. ''Guerillere Talks''

References

External links

*
Excluded by the Nature of Things? Irish Cinema and Artist's Film
''CIRCA'', 106, Winter 2003, pp. 33–39.

Maeve Connolly, ''National Cinema and Beyond'', Four Courts Press 2004, 61–73. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dick, Vivienne 1950 births Living people American women film directors American film directors Irish women film directors Irish film directors Punk filmmakers American experimental filmmakers Irish experimental filmmakers No wave Film people from Dublin (city) Aosdána members Women experimental filmmakers Irish contemporary artists 21st-century American women Women in punk