Jesse Lerner

  • Professor of Media Studies
  • Media Studies Field Group
portrait of jesse Lerner
Phone
909-607-2636
Office Location

Scott Hall 208

PhD, Claremont Graduate University
MA, University of Southern California
BA, University of California, Los Angeles

鈥淧r贸logo,鈥 in Cine politico en M茅xico, 1968-2017, ed. by Adriana Estrada 脕lvarez, Nicolas D茅fos茅, and Diego Zavala Scherer (New York: Peter Lang).

鈥淐inema and the Mexico City of 1968,鈥 in Architectures of Revolt: The Cinematic City circa 1968 (Philadelphia: Temple University Press).

鈥淩esignations of Pre-Hispanic Art/Resignificationes del arte prehispanico,鈥 in Rita Eder, ed., Defying Stability: Artistic Process in Mexico/Desafio a la Estabilidad: Procesos Artisticos en Mexico, 1952-1967, Mexico City, Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, March 2014.

鈥淭he Proletarian Camera: Hector Garcia and the Reconfiguring of the Mexican Street, in Erica Segre, ed., Ghosts of the Revolution in Mexican Literature and Visual Culture, Oxford, UK: Peter Lang, 2013.

鈥淓xoticism,鈥 in Sina Najafi, ed., Curiousity and Method. Brookly, NY: Cabinet 2012.

A Camera in One Hand and a Rock in the Other: Latin American Film and Social Confrontation,鈥 in Gerardo Mosquera, ed., crisisss 鈥 Am茅rica Latina, Arte y Confrontaci贸n, 1910鈥2010. Mexico City, Mexico: Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, 2012.

鈥淣acho L贸pez, Cineasta,鈥 in Jos茅 Antonio Rodr铆guez and Alberto Toval铆n Ahumada, eds.,  Nacho L贸pez, Ideas y Visualidad. Mexico City, Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Econ贸mica, 2012.

鈥淏orderline Archeology,鈥 in Fiamma Montezemolo and Josh Kun, eds., Tijuana Dreaming: Life  and Art at the Global Border. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2012.

鈥淒ante Cerano鈥檚 D铆a Dos: Sex, Kinship and Videotape,鈥 in Ming-Yuen S. Ma and Erika  Sudernburg, eds. Resolutions 3: Global Networks of Video. Minneapolis, MN: University  of Minnesota Press, 2012.

鈥淓xiles at Home,鈥 in Ruben Ortiz Torres and Jesse Lerner, eds., Mex/LA: 鈥淢exican Modernism(s) in Los Angeles, 1930-1985. Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Cantz, 2011.

鈥淎sco鈥檚 Super-8 Cinema and the Specter of Muralism鈥 in C. Ondine Chavoya and RitaGonzalez, eds. Asco: Elite of the Obscure. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles County Museum of Art/Williams College Museum of Art/Hatje Cantz, 2011.

鈥淭he Ruins of Modernity,鈥 in Josef Raab, Sebastian Thies and Daniela Noll-Opitz, eds. Screening the Americas: Narration of Nation in Documentary Film. Trier, Germany: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag, 2011, Light Industries, Brooklyn, NY (2017); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA (2016).

鈥淐谩mera Obrera: Hector Garc铆a y la Calle Mexicana,鈥 in Claudia Arroyo Quiroz, James Ramey and Michael Schuessler, eds. M茅xico Imaginado: Nuevos Enfoques sobre el Cine (Trans)nacional. M茅xico, D.F.: Universidad Aut贸noma Metropolitana, 2011.

鈥淟os Mayas Indolentes,鈥 in Magali Arriola and Pablo Le贸n de la Barra, eds. Incidentes de Viaje Espejo en Yucat谩n y Otros Lugares. M茅xico D.F.: Museo Rufina Tamayo, 2011.

鈥淐ine Povera,鈥 Ready Media: Arqueolog铆a de medios y la invenci贸n en M茅xico, (2010).

ed., with Luciano Piazza, Ism, Ism, Ism: Experimental Cinema in Latin America. Oakland: UC Press, 2017.

with Leandro Katz, The Catherwood Project: Incidents of Visual Reconstruction and other Matters.  Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2017.

ed., with Rub茅n Ortiz Torres, How To Read el Pato Pascual: Disney鈥檚 Latin American and Latin America鈥檚 Walt Disney. London: Black Dog, 2017.

Latin American Studies Association annual meetings (2019).

MesAm茅rica, Million Dollar Theater, Los Angeles, CA (2019).

Museo Nacional de Antropolog铆a, Mexico City (Simposio Internacional de Teoria de Arte Contemporaneo, 2019).

University of California Irvine, (Latin American Studies, 2019).

Centro Cultural de Espa帽a, Montevideo (2018).

Cineteca Nacional de Chile, Centro Cultural la Moneda, Santiago de Chile (VIII Encuentro Internacional de Investigaci贸n sobre Cine Chileno y Latinoamericano, 2018).

College Art Association annual meetings (2018).

Coloquio Acad茅mico sobre Representaci贸n Cinematogr谩ficas, Morelia, Michoac谩n (2018).

Instituto Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes, Montevideo (2018).

Princeton University (Program in Latin American Studies, 2018).

Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey (2018).

鈥淣arco-Capitalism,鈥 presentation at the Berlin Documentary Forum, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany, June 2014. With Sylvere Lotringer and Sergio Gonz谩lez Rodriguez.

Professor Lerner and his documentary La Piedra Ausente were featured in 鈥淣arran historia de un despojo,鈥  Reforma, March 13, 2014.

Professor Lerner and La Piedra Ausente were featured in 鈥淓l m铆tico viaje de Tl谩loc,鈥 Milenio, January 12, 2014.

Professor Lerner was interviewed about La Piedra Ausente for La Jornada, January 3, 2014.

Guest lecture, Visiting Artists and Scholars Lecture Series, Art and Art History Department, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, February 2014.

鈥淭he Absent Stone,鈥 invited talk, Institute of the Americas, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, March 12, 2013.

Professor Lerner鈥檚 documentary The Absent Stone, received extensive coverage in the Mexican press. Previous works were discussed in academic texts such as 鈥淐uratorial Designs in the Poetics and Politics of Ethnography Today: A Conversation between Tarek Elhaik and George E. Marcus,鈥 脥conos, 42 (2012) and 鈥淎udiovisual Experimental Contempor谩neo en M茅xico,鈥 in Ready Media: Hacia una Arqueolog铆a de los Medios y la Invenci贸n en M茅xico (Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, 2012).

鈥淭he Narco-aesthetic,鈥 paper presented at Visible Evidence XIX Conference, the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, December 2012.

鈥淢odernismos 鈥楳exicanos鈥 en el Sur de California,鈥 paper presented at the III Encuentro de Investigadores de Cine, Bogot谩, Colombia, November 2012.

鈥淩esignificaciones de Arte Prehispanico,鈥 paper presented at Geneolog铆as de Arte Contemporaneo, Museo Universitario de Arte Contempor谩neo, Mexico City, Mexico, August 2012.

鈥淒ocumenting Death,鈥 paper presented at the Visible Evidence XVIII Conference, New York University, New York, NY, August 2011.

鈥淐onferencia Magistral,鈥 artist鈥檚 talk at the Centro de Capacitacion Cinematografica, Mexico City, Mexico, October, 2011.

鈥淟a Piedra Ausente,鈥 artist鈥檚 talk at the Instituto de Investigaciones Est茅ticas, Universidad Nacional Aut贸noma de M茅xico, Mexico City, Mexico, October 2011.

鈥淓xperimental Ethnographic Filmmaking,鈥 artist鈥檚 talk at the Technocultural Studies Department, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, November 2011.

鈥淭he Maya of Modernism,鈥 author鈥檚 talk at Artists鈥 Television Access, San Francisco, CA, November 2011.

鈥淎sco: Chicano Cinema,鈥 author鈥檚 talk at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, November 11, 2011.

鈥淢ex/LA鈥 panel, September 2011, and 鈥淢ex/LA Photography and Film,鈥 two curatorial talks at the Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA, January 2012.

鈥淐ine Radical: Di谩logos entre Jap贸n y M茅xico,鈥 paper presented at the Festival Internacional de Cine de la Universidad Nacional Aut贸noma de M茅xico, Mexico City, Mexico, February 2012.

鈥淧hotography in Mexico,鈥 panelist, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, April 2012.

鈥淎rcheological (In)authenticity,鈥 paper presented at the Current Issues in Authenticity Conference, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, January 2012.

鈥淭he Shock of Modernity,鈥 paper presented at Ghosts of the Mexican Revolution conference. Trinity College, Cambridge, England, February 26, 2010.

鈥淒ocumentary and its Double,鈥 paper presented at Ambulante, Benem茅rita Universidad Aut贸noma de Puebla, Puebla, Mexico, March 8, 2010.

Artists鈥 talk, Center for Visual Anthropology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, January 29, 2010.

Co-curator, with Luciano Piazza, Two or Three Things I Know about Latin America. Arsenal, Berlin. 2019

Co-curator, with Luciano Piazza, Ism Ism Ism: Experimental Film in Latin America. For Los Angeles Filmforum.  Presented at the RedCat Theater, Hammer Museum/Billy Wilder Theater, Egyptian Theater, Luckman Art Gallery at California State University Los Angeles, and Museum Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and University Art Museum at California State University Long Beach.
Selections toured to: Pacific Film Archives, Berkeley; Brooklyn Museum, New York;
Centro Cultural Espa帽a, Montevideo; Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires, Argentina; Faro Arag贸n, Mexico City; MUTA Muestra Internacional de Apropiaci贸n Audiovisual, Lima, Per煤; CinEuropa, Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Anthology Film Archives, New York; and Museo Nacional de Arte Reina Sof铆a, Madrid; Festival Vartex, Medell铆n, Colombia; Museo de Arte Moderno, Medell铆n, Colombia; Lightbox Film Center, Philadelphia. 2017-2019

Two Very Short Films about Maya Revival Architecture was part of the In Motion: Borders and Migration, exhibition at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City, UT, May-September 2014.

Spanish Caprice, Junipero Serra and the Legacies of the California Missions exhibition, Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA, August 2013-January 2014.

Professor Lerner and co-director Sandra Rozental鈥檚 documentary La Piedra Ausente (The Absent Stone) had a semi-theatrical run in Mexico City in winter 2013 and screened at locations throughout Mexico and around the world, including BV d鈥檋istoria de la Ciencia, Tecnica i Medicina, Barcelona, Spain, April 2014; National Anthropology Museum, Mexico, DF, April 2014; and Instituto Cultural Mexicano, Copenhagen, Denmark, March 2014. As part of Encuentro Mundial de Cine, La Piedra Ausente screened in California, Colorado, New York and Texas as well as in Argentina, Mexico and Peru. La Piedra Ausente also played at dozens of international film festivals.

Curator, Orfanato Cinem谩tographico, an eight-part program from Asco: Elite de lo Oscuro at the Museo Universitario de Arte Contempor谩neo, Mexico City, May 5鈥揓une 23, 2013. A shortened version of the program was shown in the UK as Asco: Your Art Disgusts Me, South London Gallery, London, UK, April 4 and 11, 2013.

Co-curator, XV Bienal de Fotograf铆a, Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City, Mexico, March鈥揂pril 2013. With Yolanda Andrade and Marcela Quiroz.

Co-curator, documentary section and curator of the Cine sin Fronteras section, Festival Internacional de Cine de Morelia, Mexico City, Mexico, November 2012. With Daniela Alatorre.

The Absent Stone premiered January 2013 at Cineteca Nacional, Mexico City, and subsequently toured 14 cities in Mexico as part of the Ambulante documentary film program (February 8-May 7, 2013). Additional screenings include the Museo de Historia Mexicana, Monterrey, Mexico and TEOR/茅Tica, San Jos茅, Costa Rica. T.S.H., 鈥淭echnology is History,鈥 Guggenheim Museum, New York (2018); 鈥淟adr贸n que roba a Landr贸n,鈥 Festival de Cine Puy ta Cuxlejaltic, Oventic, Chiapas (2018); 鈥淚f You Can Screen it There,鈥 Anthology Film Archives, New York (2018); SOMA, Mexico City (2018). and Magnavoz screened at the Cinemateca Distrital de Bogot谩, Colombia. Frontierland screened as part of the exhibition The Very Large Array at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego. Atomic Sublime screened in the Athens International Film Festival.鈥淪trangloscope,鈥 Florian贸polis, Brazil (2018); Reencuentros al Margen, Casa del Hijo del Ahuizote, Mexico City (2018); 鈥淰oyage to the Land of Speaking Blood,鈥 Velaslavasay Panorama, Los Angeles (2018); 鈥淧ir谩mides: Monta帽as sagradas,鈥 Museo Regional de Antropolog铆a Palacio Cant贸n, M茅rida, Yucat谩n (2018).

Co-curator of the documentary section for Festival Internacional de Cine de Morelia, Morelia, Mexico, October 2011.

Associate curator, Mex/LA: 鈥淢exican鈥 Modernism(s) in Los Angeles, 1930-1985, Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA. Selected films from this exhibition were presented at the San Francisco Media Archive, November 4, 2011.

Guest curator, Cinema Povera, RedCat Theater, Los Angeles, CA, May 7, 2012.

Contributor to Mariana Castillo Deball, Never Odd or Even (Berlin: Bom Dia Boa Tarde Boa Noche, 2011), at the Grimmuseum, Berlin, Germany, October 1-November 20, 2011.

鈥淎tomic Sublime,鈥 2010. Premiered at Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles.

Curator: 鈥淐ine Povera鈥 shown at the Images Film Festival, Toronto, Canada and the Laboratorio Arte Alameda, Mexico City, Mexico, 2010.

Production grant, Graham Foundation, (for These Fragmentations Only Mean 鈥). 2019

Artist鈥檚 residency, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA (for These Fragmentations Only Mean 鈥). 2019

Won the jury award for the documentary La Piedra Ausente (The Absent Stone) at the Ann Arbor Film Festival,  Ann Arbor, MI, March 2014. With co-director Sandra Rozental.

Won the Premio Zapata award for the documentary La Piedra Ausente at the Festival de la Memoria Documental Iberoamericano, Cuernavaca, Mexico, November 2013. With co-director Sandra Rozental.

Awarded a Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA grant by The Getty Foundation for his project LA Collects LA. With Ruben Ortiz Torres and Karen Rapp. 2014-15.

Awarded a Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA grant by The Getty Foundation for his project How To Read el Pato Pascual: Disney鈥檚 Latin America and Latin America鈥檚 Disney. 2014-15.

Recipient of City of Los Angeles (COLA) Award, Department of Cultural Affairs, Los Angeles, CA. (2009-10)