Levitated Mass

The mechanics of defining what is and isn’t art has tendered an ongoing debate since the discovery of drawings in caveman dwellings. How much do we as humans have to manipulate something before it becomes ours artistically? Levitated Mass, a new documentary from acclaimed filmmaker Doug Pray (Surfwise, Art &...

By Keith Garcia

January 15, 2015

Audio By Carbonatix

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The mechanics of defining what is and isn’t art has tendered an ongoing debate since the discovery of drawings in caveman dwellings. How much do we as humans have to manipulate something before it becomes ours artistically? Levitated Mass, a new documentary from acclaimed filmmaker Doug Pray (Surfwise, Art & Copy, Scratch), examines these thoughts through the quest of artist Michael Heizer, whose discovery of the perfect 340-ton boulder to complete a decades-in-the-planning public-art piece requires a 105-mile journey from a desert quarry on a football-field-sized trailer through 22 cities full of citizens whose opinions on the process matter just as much as the artist’s. The trip ends on a perch outside of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

The movie, which opens tonight at the Sie FilmCenter, explores this dramatic story with aplomb, capturing the human struggle to leave one’s mark on every existence. “I think what sets the film apart from a lot of other art/artist-driven documentaries is that it explores the core question of ‘What is art?’ from the perspective of many who might never set foot in a museum,” says Paul Marchant, director of theatrical sales for First Run Features. “Life is said to be all about the journey and not the destination. In this case, so is art.”

Levitated Mass screens at 7 p.m. at the Sie, 2510 East Colfax Avenue. Tickets are $10, or $7 for Denver Film Society members. Get more info at denverfilm.org.
Tue., Jan. 20, 7 p.m., 2015

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Keith Garcia is a filmmaker, writer and secret agent looking for love and the perfect slice of pizza. If he looks familiar, it's probably because he introduced a film you watched in Denver sometime between 1996 and 2014.

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