This special screening of American artist Paul Sietsema’s 2002 film Empire takes place on the occasion of Tate Liverpool’s hosting of major international conference Border Control: On the Edges of American Art. The first time the 16mm film has been presented by Tate, Empire brings together a range of references from art and culture, engaging with architecture, sculpture, painting and photography, as well as film. One of the sections in the film recreates – from a photograph that appeared in Vogue magazine in 1964 – the living room in the art critic Clement Greenberg’s New York apartment, including works by Barnett Newman and Kenneth Noland. Reflecting on the continued influence of the critic and the movements he promoted, Sietsema has explained that Greenberg was ‘the iconic centre’ of the film.
Exploring the crossed boundaries and expanded limits of art from the United States, the conference is the culmination of three-year Tate Research project Refiguring American Art. It coincides with a related constellations display on our first floor, in which you can find a digital version of Sietsema’s original 16mm film projection, Vogue magazine and works by iconic post-war American artists, including Newman, Noland and Andy Warhol.