Another Man Hosts a Screening of Peter Hujar's Day at the ICA

"Adapted from Rosenkrantz' book of the same name, published in 2022, the film hinges on a single conversation in December 1974, as Hujar recounts, almost pedantically, everything he did the previous day. Drawn from a long-lost tape, the monologue turns errands, meals and irritations into a portrait of an artist's inner life. It trades plot for precision, offering instead a study of friendship, attention and the conditions of making work in 1970s New York."

""He was like the Pied Piper," Schneider recalled. "Charismatic, brilliant - almost a guru." Aletti added with characteristic economy that Hujar offered "an education in looking". Among those listening were Thurstan Redding, Jacques Testard, Harley Weir, Eva Yelmani, Pauline Daly, Isabella Burley, Maureen Paley, Sam Talbot, Jonas Glöer, Kiki Willems, David Musgrave, Ai Kamoshita, Annie Symons, Ed Quarmby, Oscar Ouyang, Princess Julia, Olivia Laing and Jess Hallett."

Peter Hujar lived with monkish frugality, washing his clothes in the sink and sustaining himself on canapés scavenged from parties while anticipating late recognition. Another Man screened Ira Sachs' film Peter Hujar's Day at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, with Ben Whishaw as Hujar and Rebecca Hall as Linda Rosenkrantz. The film adapts Rosenkrantz' 2022 book and centers on a December 1974 monologue drawn from a long-lost tape in which Hujar pedantically recounts the previous day's errands, meals and irritations. The monologue transforms mundane actions into a portrait of an artist's inner life, trading conventional plot for precise attention and examining friendship, attention and the conditions of making work in 1970s New York. John Douglas Millar chaired an event joined by critic Vince Aletti and master printer-photographer Gary Schneider, whose 1979 Hujar portrait later graced Another Man's cover.

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