7 February 2024, Clore Auditorium, Tate Britain

Riddles of the Sphinx, made by Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen in 1977, portrays the experience of motherhood through the prism of psychoanalysis, using experimental film techniques and staging to address the difficulties of affective labour, seen through the narrative of a mother caring for her young daughter. The narrative of Anna iscombined with other voices and images from outside the film’s narrative world, which question and disrupt pre-supposed meanings and symbols of the woman within and without the screen; from the mythical enigma of the Sphinx to the appearances of the artist Mary Kelly and Mulvey herself.

The screening of Riddles of the Sphinx (Laura Mulvey, Peter Wollen, 1977) will be followed by conversation between Professor Griselda Pollock and Professor Laura Mulvey 

Through a Radical Lens is a moving image programme takes up the themes of Tate Britain’s current exhibition ‘Women in Revolt: Art, Activism and the Women Movement in the UK 1970-1990’ by a series of screening showing the film and videos practices of UK based feminist artists then and now. The Clore auditorium, and other London venues such as the BFI Southbank and Chelsea Space, become spaces for debate around moving image works already well regarded or rarely seen, screening archival restorations beside works recently made. The screenings and conversations of Through A Radical Lens revisit urgencies of the 1970s and 1980s which are still current today.

Programmed by Lucy Reynolds, with curatorial contributions from Club des Femmes, Karen di Franco for Chelsea Space, and Rachel Garfield and Will Fowler at BFI Southbank. 

For more information, visit tate.org.uk or book tickets here.