On the Backlot

Yuji Agematsu, François-Marie Banier, Will Benedict, Hannah Black, Dora Budor, Dese Escobar, Che Gosset and Ser Serpas, Ghislaine Leung, Puppies Puppies

curated by Quinn Goldsmith Harrelson and Ser Serpas

i’m on the backlot again. about once a year i report here to film something that will probably change my life. there’s a to-scale model of downtown new york here, frozen at some point in the mid-nineties. there’s an episode of sex and city where carrie goes to la to pitch her book of essays for a film adaptation; she’s also fleeing her troubles in new york. she finds herself in this part of the backlot and acknowledges the irony. la proves too superficial and exploit-ative for her, so she goes back to new york. i never did. today i am working with a famous actor whose parents are also famous actors. she is beautiful and cold, and she has her own makeup artist. her ease on the backlot makes my blood run cold. we attempt smalltalk between shots; she asks if i went to college. i say i did and i tell her where. she’s silent for a while, then softly confesses that she wishes she had an education. the director calls “action” and we go again

attributed to an American actor