Details
**Hat & Beard, Bunker Basement & MOC present a Night of Meditations On Crime** Featuring a screening of **Meditations On Crime**, **a film by Jonah Freeman & Harper Simon (30 mins.)** \+ a live musical performance of original songs from the MoC LP, featuring: Ian Svenonius, Julia Holter and Cole Alexander with Harper Simon, Gabe Noel, Carla Azar, Zumi Rosow and John Kennedy, Geneva Jacuzzi Special guests TBA For the book, Harper Simon points to “On Crime,” the essay by Nigerian novelist and poet Ben Okri, as a central piece. “It almost felt like an introduction because it was so philosophical,” he says. “It set the tone. The book started to become less political and more interesting. Simon was committed to including visual art that investigated the idea of crime, so he enlisted his friend Jonah Freeman, from the art team Freeman-Lowe, as a co-curator. The 28-minute film, also titled Meditations on Crime, was produced and directed by Jonah Freeman and Harper Simon to coincide with the release of the book/album package. It uses Simon’s music and excerpts from Ben Okri’s essay as an armature for a kaleidoscopic cinematic collage of found and original footage. Acclaimed actress Katherine Waterston narrates the film which, while touching upon a broad spectrum of crime, finds its focus in the prison system and all its contradictions. The book will be available in three different versions: a softcover with 352 pages containing 339 artworks by 18 visual artists and 11 essays/interviews, a limited edition 13 in. x 13 in. clamshell in a custom clothbound box that includes both the book and a vinyl LP of the Meditation on Crime album, and a limited number of signed clamshell editions signed by Harper Simon and Jonah Freeman. For more information and/or to order yours visit the Hat & Beard Press website, here. Harper Simon is a writer and musician who lives in Los Angeles. Simon is an executive producer on the upcoming feature film Pavements directed by Alex Ross Perry, about the seminal 90s band Pavement, along with Vice. He is also a contributing writer for Airmail, Spin, Purple Magazine and the L.A. Review of Books. Jonah Freeman is visual artist and filmmaker who lives and works in NYC. His work, while grounded in the filmmaking process, has manifested in a variety of forms including painting, sculpture, and large-scale installations. The central theme of his practice is the odysseys of the constructed world and the resulting social and psychological effects. He has exhibited in museums, galleries and biennials worldwide including Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, CA, Deitch Projects, NYC/LA, The Centre Pompidou, Paris, MOMA/PS 1 NYC, Marlborough Gallery, NYC/London, among others. His films have screened in numerous film festivals including The International Film Festival Rotterdam, l and The Rome International Film Festival. He frequently collaborates with artist Justin Lowe. J.C. Gabel began his career in publishing at the age of 19 with Stop Smiling,“The Magazine for High-Minded Lowlifes,” which grew into it into a full-color glossy featuring timeless themes, original stories, and interviews you couldn’t read anywhere else, before moving into book full time working for Taschen, Phaidon and Chronicle as an contributing editor. From 2005 to 2015, Gabel was also a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, Playboy, Bookforum, LA Times, New York Times, and Wallpaper. In 2016, Gabel founded Hat & Beard Press with the goal of finding a more artist-friendly way of producing and selling books in the 21st Century. H&B has since published over 75 books. This is a 21+ event
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