1/23/20
NewsReview.com
Marvelous toys: The Smithsonian’s Burning Man exhibition travels out west
“…people climbed aboard a steampunk/art deco bus-like vehicle called “Capitol Theater,” to sit in rows of velvet seats and watch Chaplinesque silent comedies projected on a screen.”
1/13/20
edhat
Burning Man and Other Bay Area Holiday Discoveries
This Santa Barbara site enthused: “It seemed that you were watching an old-time silent movie from 100 years ago. But on careful inspection it turned out the Burning Man artists not only created the old time theater on wheels. They also created the entire movie which looked like a high production commercial film from the silent era!”
11/29/19
Shane Izykowski’s Drawing From Experience podcast
Episode 58: Discussing Collaboration with Allen White & Bree Hylkema
“Throughout an artist’s career, we’re posed with the question of whether or not we should collaborate with other creatives. Join Shane as he talks collaboration with two filmmakers. They delve deeply into the process of collaboration, and the how-to’s and what-not-to-do’s of creatively collaborating on projects. Allen & Bree also discuss their art car project, which is touring in museums (like the Smithsonian) throughout the country, and currently at the Oakland Museum of California.”
11/19
East Bay Express – Critics’ Choice
Speak Softly and Carry a Big Camera
“Hylkema and White’s witty films aren’t protesting the ‘progress’ of civilization, nor are they a silent scream against the mechanization of moviemaking. They’re simply labors of love and tomfoolery designed for people who know and appreciate the conventions and clichés of early cinema — and children who are bewitched by old-fashioned storytelling.”
10/22/19
48 Hills
Can a museum exhibit capture Burning Man?
“The Capitol Theater—which combined a retro theater art car with an original silent film production featuring Bay Area burner luminaries as actors—was particularly impressive, marrying builder and performance art in a way that embodied Burning Man’s participation principle more than any piece in the exhibit.”
10/15/19
KQED Arts
Now Playing! Contemporary Silent Movies at the Oakland Museum
Michael Fox gives us a juicy, excellent review, which includes this heartfelt praise: “Creative whirlwind Allen White and producer and story maven Bree Hylkema are the movies’ key collaborators, employing current gear to evoke the look, feel, innocence and incredulity of early cinema. The films work as both homage and parody, our pleasure deriving from a shared understanding (by the artists and the viewer) of both the constraints that early filmmakers faced and the smugness with which many people watch older films.”
9/30/19
Marina Times
FOMO Times Two
For the Oakland Museum of California exhibit, columnist Michael Snyder (and old friend of Obsolete Pictures) gave us a lovely write-up, in which he notes of our work: “These short films are meticulous in their vintage look, appearing at first glance to be artifacts of the 1920s, but there’s no mistaking the post-modern wit of the makers.”
11/7/19
Cincinnati Parent
Burning Man is an accessible, family-friendly exhibit: Kids will love this interactive installation at Cincinnati Art Museum
A lovely endorsement of the show and its appropriateness for kids. Includes this nugget about icky smooching in our films: “…my 8-year-old groaned during the kissing scenes in the silent film (part of the Capitol Theatre installation).”
5/7/19
CityBeat
The CAM’s ‘No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man’ Brings the Art of the Black Rock Desert Playa to Eden Park
Excellent, thorough coverage of the entire exhibit, with a marvelous write-up of Obsolete Pictures and Five Ton Crane.
4/19/18
American Craft Council
The Renwick Celebrates Burning Man
A write-up of the exhibit in which they refer to our film The Picnic as “cheeky-but-authentic.”
4/18/18
MommyNearest.com
Renwick Gallery’s Burning Man Exhibit is a Must for D.C. Kids
Notes that “Both adults and kids can sit inside an open truck tricked out to be a mobile movie theater—it shows films reminiscent of the black-and-white flicks from the Charlie Chaplin era. It’s easy to imagine what sitting in the open air in the middle of the desert during Burning Man is like.”
4/10/18
Artsy.net
16 of Burning Man’s Biggest Artists on Showing Their Work at the Smithsonian
A description of Five Ton Crane’s Capitol Theater installation, which mentions Obsolete Pictures as the exhibit’s content creator.
3/23/18
New York Times
Will the Spirit of Burning Man Art Survive in Museums?
Overview of the Smithsonian Exhibit that discusses the Capitol Theater installation and notes: “Three films will be shown on a loop, including a six-minute German abstract impressionist dance and a silent melodrama created by the collective.”