About this Event
Bibliomancers return to PRS to celebrate the release of their new book OCCULT EYE, with a fascinating assemblage of film and music that journeys from ethereal fashion ephemera to the extremities of “sanity,” featuring an experimental film live score by sonic shadow lurker Mr. Pharmacist and culminating with a screening of Jane Arden’s incendiary experimental psychodrama THE OTHER SIDE OF UNDERNEATH (1972)!
For their fifth tome, the curatorial small press – created and owned by Los Angeles based occult collage artist Astraleyes in collaboration with curator, designer, & concept artist Eric Nordhauser – takes a closer look at the world of the occult sciences, ESP, parapsychology, spiritualism, iconography of new religious movement, and even pagan fashion trends. Replete with a special examination of the graphics and design elements from 1970s gnostic newspapers, this book has it all! Occult Eye continues their survey of 1970s and 80s occult mass market paperbacks, this time also including RARE 1970s magazine and newspapers, some of which have never been archived! Published in partnership with Skylight Books, attendees will get the first chance to grab copies of its limited special edition of 350 copies at the event! And the brilliant Jordan Crane, who created the incredible cover art reminiscent of esoteric 1930s new religious movement pamphlets, will be here to sign them!
PROGRAM
Always eclectic, Bibliomancers’ program for the evening will begin with an original, dreamy mix of vintage new-romantic fashion commercials, recontextualized with a cherrypicked soundtrack of übercool needle drops. These eyepoppingly avant garde advertisements will be our jumping off point for a plunge from the allure and dazzle of mass-market beauty ideals to Arden’s fiercely feminist and unapologetically assaultive THE OTHER SIDE OF UNDERNEATH – one of cinema’s most disturbing and viscerally vital treatises on mental illness and the insidious, archaic diagnoses of “hysterical women.” And en route, sonic shadow lurker MR. PHARMACIST will shepherd us from dream to nightmare with the premiere a new musical score for an obscure experimental film, selected by Eric of Bibliomancers!
The Other Side of Underneath (1972)
“Strength, little girl, is madness.”
Feminist and radical theatre icon Jane Arden adapts her own multimedia production A New Communion for Freaks, Prophets and Witches in this harrowing, nightmarish exploration of reason, chaos and her own battles with mental illness that’s unlike anything audiences have seen before or since. Made by Arden’s experimental, radically feminist Holocaust Theatre troupe, supposedly the film’s actresses were on LSD throughout filming to enhance its depiction of psychosis.
Film scholar and author Kier-La Janisse on The Other Side of Underneath:
“The protagonist’s ‘madness’ is a type of cathartic, shamanic journey – a collapse of the false self is necessary for the real self to emerge…As the film begins, (she) is being fished out of a lake and revived from (presumably suicidal) drowning. She is taken to an isolated hospital in the country where histrionic flashbacks and psychological fugues are intercut with group therapy sessions with a host of other bare footed women dressed in dirty white nightgowns. The woman and a fellow inmate play a game with broken mirrors – as they move the pieces around in dangerous configurations, their fragmented images are repeated in a ritualistic display. But this is foreplay – revulsion and ecstasy, violence and love are used interchangeably. Funerals masquerade as weddings; women vomit in churches; they M**der each other with rubber weapons; they are revered as saints while being buried alive and crucified.” (from House of Psychotic Women)
Sheila Allen (CHILDREN OF THE DAMNED), Ann Lynn (THE BLACK TORMENT), renowned visual artist Penny Slinger (one of PRS’ 2024 contributing artists!), and Arden herself star in the only British feature film of the 1970s directed solely by a woman – newly restored by the British Film Institute.” (AGFA)
CW: Mental Illness, Suicide, Violence, Sexual Content
Dir. Jane Arden, 1972, UK, 111mins, Unrated (Mature Audiences), Color, English Language, Digital.
Special thanks to Bret Berg of American Genre Film Archive.
ABOUT BIBLIOMANCERS
Bibliomancers is a small press created and owned by the Los Angeles based occult collage artist Astraleyes. Working with his longtime friend & partner in crime, curator, designer & concept artist Eric Nordhauser they have created a series of esoteric themed books documenting their obsessions.
Bibliomancy is the practice of divination through books by allowing a seemingly randomly chosen passage the seeker can apply its wisdom or symbolic meaning to provide guidance. Astraleyes has been collecting books using bibliomancy for almost 30 years.
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ABOUT MR. PHARMACIST
Mr. Pharmacist (aka Gregg Foreman), is a multi-instrumentalist musician residing in Los Angeles. He has been playing music for decades alongside of artists like: Cat Power, The Gossip, Beth Ditto, James Williamson (of the Stooges), Lydia Lunch, Alan Vega (Suicide), Martin Rev (Suicide), Jesse Malin, Lucinda Williams, Linda Perry, Toody (Dead Moon), Peter Buck (REM) David J (Bauhaus), Pink Mountaintops, The Delta 72, and is currently Band Leader and key synth player for Kat Von D.
Gregg has been using Sequential instruments since he was a kid — his relationship with Sequential started when he bought a second-hand TOM drum machine. Mr.Pharmacist refers to his style and genre as “Moth,” referring to being one part Mod and one part Goth. He draws his influences from the soundtrack music of Blade Runner and John Carpenter, and the post-punk sounds of Suicide, Fad Gadget, and Cabaret Votaire. (Sequential)
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Tickets $10 (In Person Event Only)
Please email [email protected] or phone 323-663-2167 with any questions.
REFUND POLICIES
All sales are final. There are no refunds or exchanges for PRS events, except in the event of a medical emergency, including but not limited to a positive COVID-19 test.
In the event that PRS is forced to cancel an event entirely, tickets will be refunded or vouchers offered for a rescheduled event.
PARKING
Limited parking is available onsite at PRS in both the front lot (entry from Los Feliz Blvd. when heading east) and back lot (entry from first alley way, off Griffith Park Blvd. from intersection with Los Feliz Blvd.), as well as street parking on Griffith Park Blvd. and on Los Feliz Blvd after 7pm. We encourage attendees to consider carpooling, walking or biking to events if possible, and please be considerate of our Los Feliz neighbors when parking.
ACCESSIBILITY
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PRS EVENT POLICIES
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Philosophical Research Society, 3910 Los Feliz Boulevard, Los Angeles, United States
USD 10.00
