The Broodthaers Society of America is pleased to present a private lecture by Raf Wollaert. As much subjective performance as scholarly lecture, the presentation is inspired by newly discovered evidence that Marcel Broodthaers did, in fact, set foot in America and spend time in New York City. Details remain scant, but heretofore unseen film fragments shot by Broodthaers in Wall Street and the South Street Seaport are concrete proof that the peripatetic artist—the one who a year later cryptically lamented that he “had discovered nothing, nothing, not even America"—was indeed speaking from first hand experience.
       Wollaert's lecture will take these film fragments as a jumping off point for his own scholarly musing on Broodthaers, his film oeuvre, and New York City. Even though the film footage Broodthaers shot never coalesced into a finished work, the imagery presents many tropes familiar to Broodthaers' allusive arsenal: swirling clouds of vapor, double entendres, street scenes reminiscent of London, and the visual poetry and word play of vernacular shop windows. Wollaert will also present new Super 8 film footage that he has shot in the past year in response to Broodthaers' fragments. 
       All in all, Wollaert's presentation will be a confidential coda following two nights of public programming at Anthology Film Archives, screenings that will be hosted by Wollaert with scholarly introductions by Bruce Jenkins on Friday, July 11, and Steven Jacobs on Saturday, July 12. 
       So come join us on Sunday, July 13, to celebrate a film-filled Marcel Broodthaers weekend and enjoy a garden reception in honor of these three visiting scholars. Plus ones are welcome, but space is limited. Please RSVP by next Wednesday, July 9.  

                                                *      *      *

Raf Wollaert analyzes the avant-garde media practices of Marcel Broodthaers. In 2021 he coedited La Lumière Manifeste, a vinyl record featuring newly discovered audio tapes of Broodthaers reading his own poetry. In 2023 he organized an international conference on Broodthaers' films that produced Marcel Broodthaers and Film: A Second of Eternity (2024), the first collection of essays dedicated solely to Broodthaers' film work. The book is published by Leuven University Press, with North American distribution by Cornell University Press. Wollaert currently lives and works in Brooklyn as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar, cosponsored by New York University and the Broodthaers Society.