Education
The New School for Social Research, New York, NY, BA English Literature
New York Studio School of Drawing, New York, NY Painting, and Sculpture
Millennium Film Workshop, New York, NY
Selected Solo Exhibitions
“Competing Realities,” Microscope Gallery, New York, NY, 2024.
“Loose Corner,” Microscope Gallery, New York, NY, 2021.
“From the Vaults: Homage to Magritte” (online), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, 2021.
“Anteroom,” Microscope Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2017
“Time Present / Time Past,” Mulberry Street Library, New York Public Library, New York, 2014
“Detours,” Microscope Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2014
“Leeway,” Mixed Greens, New York, NY 2011/12
“Anita Thacher Retrospective & Traveling Light Installation,“ 30th Internationale Festival de “Femme“, Florence, Italy 2008
“Anita Thacher: Loose Corner,“ The Gallery, Marygrove College, Detroit, MI 2006
“Anita Thacher,” Belgium Cultural Center, Paris, France 2003
“Anita Thacher,“ Art Resources Transfer, Inc., New York, NY 2002
“If a House,“ Art Resources Transfer, Inc., New York, NY 1999
“Night Light,“ Islip Art Museum, Anthony Giordano Gallery, East Islip, NY 1998/99
“Tentative Agreements,“ Adelphi University, Long Island, NY 1992
“Anteroom,“ University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 1988
“Anteroom,“ Norwegian International Film Festival, Haugesund, 1988
“All Through the House,“ The Fabric Workshop, New York, NY 1985
“Anteroom,“ Instituto de Estudios Norteamericanos, Barcelona, Spain 1985
“Anteroom,“ 33rd International Design Conference, Aspen, CO 1984
“Anita Thacher,“ High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA 1981
“Lighthouse.“ PS.1, Long Island City, New York 1981
“Lighthouse,“ Alice Tully Hall, New York Film Festival, Lincoln Center, 1981
Selected Group Exhibitions
“Critical Zones: Observatories for Earthly Politics,“ ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2020/21
“Tonal Shift,“ Station Independents Project, New York, NY 2017
“Contemporary Monoprints from the Collections of VanDeb Editions and Susan Eley Fine Art,“ Susan Eley Fine Art, New York, NY 2016
“The False Mirror – Surrealism Forward and Back,“ ARTWORKS, Trenton, NJ 2014
“Nation II,“ Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2014
“Ends of the Earth,“ MOCA, Los Angeles/Munich, Germany 2012
“Mic-Check,“ Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2012
“Grey Matter,“ The Painting Center, New York, NY 2011
“Serious Business Company,“ Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY 2010
“Ides of March,“ ABC No Rio, New York, NY 2008
“Along the Way: MTA Arts for Transit, Celebrating 20 Years of Public Art,“ USB Gallery, New York, NY 2006
“NY Alumni Exhibition of The New York Studio School,“ Roebling Hall, Brooklyn, NY 2005
“Wonderland,“ Arts Center of the Capitol Region, Troy, NY 2004
“The Color of Ritual, the Color of Thought: Women Avant-garde Filmmakers in America 1930-2000,“ Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY 2002
“Home Movies… and More,“ Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY 2000
“The Luminous Image, V,“ The Newark Museum, Newark, NJ 2000
“American Century 1950-1999,“ The Whitney Museum of American Art 1999
“Raw Seeing, New York “Studio School of Drawing, Painting & Sculpture, New York, NY 1999
“The Luminous Image III,“ Velan, Torino, Italy 1998
“Footfalls.“ Greenport, New York, NY 1998
“Art on Film/Film on Art,“ Los Angeles County Museum (LACMA), Los Angeles, LA 1993
“Magritte and Surrealist Film,“ Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY 1992
“Art on Film/Film on Art,“ Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY 1992
“Birds as Critics: Artist’ Bird Houses,“ Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston, MA 1991
“Let’s Play House,“ The Fabric Workshop, Philadelphia, PA 1990
“A Rain of Talent,“ American Craft Museum, New York, NY 1989
“Stopped Time: Four Projected Environments,“ The Sculpture Center, New York, NY 1985
“Film as Installation, II,“ Clocktower Gallery, MoMA PS1, New York, NY 1983
“Directions ’83,“ Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC 1983
“Projections,“ West Hubbard Gallery, Chicago, IL 1982
“Film as Installation,“ Clocktower Gallery, MoMA PS1, New York, NY 1981
“Filmworks,“ The Kitchen, New York, NY 1980
“Moving Visions, Film,“ New Jersey State Museum, New Jersey, 1977
“New Directors/New Films,“ Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY 1975
New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, New York, NY 1974
Selected One and Two-person Screenings
“The Films of Anita Thacher, Opening Night Program,” Prismatic Ground Festival, New York, NY 2021
“Surrealism”(screening w/ Sara Driver), Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY 2015
“Artists on Film: Anita Thacher,“ Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center, East Hampton, New York 2014
“Tracking Back: Films of Anita Thacher,” Microscope Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2014
“An Evening With Anita Thacher,“ Jerusalem Cinematheque, Jerusalem, Israel 2013
“Films d’Anita Thacher,“ Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, Paris, France 2003
“Anita Thacher,“ a retrospective, Anthology Film Archives, New York, NY 1988
“Films of Anita Thacher,“ 37th edition Berlin Film Festival, Berlin, West Germany 1987
“Anita Thacher,“ Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY 1985
Selected Group Screenings
“Elusive Illusions,“ presented by Vivian Ostrovsky, Scratch Collection at Light Cone, Luminor Hotel de Ville, Paris, France, 2021
“Women Film Preservation Fund (WFPF) presents Selected Experimental and Animated Works,“ Anthology Film Archives, New York, NY 2019
“Songs of the Unsung,“ curated by David Schwartz, The Film-makers’ Co-op, New York, NY 2019
“American Experimental,“ Arsenal Berlin, Berlin, Germany 2019
“Two Evenings of Found Footage Films,“ la lumière, Montréal, Québec 2019
“Edit Film Culture!,“ Silent Green, Berlin, Germany, 2018
“16mm Film Nights: 60s Avant Garde,“ curated by Amy Taubin, New York Public Library, New York, NY 2018
“Found Footage Cinema,“ Filmmuseum Munich, Munich, Germany 2018
Selected Group Screenings (continued) Fragments,“ Microscope Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2017
Festival du film documentaire, Marseille, France 2016
33rd Festival International du Film sur l’Art, FIFA, Montreal, Canada 2015
“Metomorphose, Transformation, Short Story Omnibus, Illusion,“ Masion Hermès, Toyko, Japan 2014
“MFJ 67: Devoted to Artists’ Moving Image: The 50th Edition,“ Anthology Film Archives, New York, NY 2014
“Digital Dilemma,“Tribeca Film Festival, New York, NY 2014
“Pretense,“ Le Bal, Paris, France 2013
“40 Years Collectif Jeune Cinema,“ Pompidou Center, Paris, France 2011
“40 Years Film Forum,“ Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY 2010
I“ndependent Women: 15 years of NYWIF Funded Film,“ Tribeca Film Festival 2011
“Carte blance to Matthias Mueller,“ Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB), Barcelona, Spain 2011
“Scratch Projection: Le Corps Désiré,“ Cinema Action, Paris France 2010
“22 short films between 1926 and 2005, selected by Ute Aurand (Berlin) and Peter Todd (London),“ Goethe Institute, London, England, UK 2010
Montreal International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA), Montreal, Canada 2008
Tribeca Film Festival, New York, NY 2007
“Women’s Arts: the Ultimate Female Allure. Film,“ Women Make Waves Film Festival, Shin Kong, Cineplex, Taipei, 2006
“Found Footage,“ Jerusalem Film Festival, Jerusalem, Israel, 2006
“Cinema Spoutnick,“ Geneva, Switzerland 2005
“Pioneering Women Filmmakers,“ New York Public Library, NY 2004
“The Boxhead Ensemble: Stories, Maps and Notes from the Half-Light,“ curated by Astria Suparak and Braden King, touring program The Netherlands, Belgium, France, United Kingdom, and Ireland, 2001
“Is This Desire?,“ Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA), Berkeley, CA 2001
“Sex in Short Films,“ Festival de Cine Alcala de Henares, Madrid, Spain 1999
“Works by Women,“ Barnard Film Festival, New York, NY 1996
“A Program of Experimental Works,“ Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY 1993
Kino im auf Bruch, Arsenal, Berlin, Germany 1992
3rd Biennale Du Film Sur L’Art, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France 1992
The 8th International Festival of Film on Art, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montreal, Montreal 1990
The 28th New York Film Festival, Alice Tully Hall, New York, NY 1990
“Women and Movies, III,“ AFI Theater, Washington, DC 1983
“Memory in the Space of the Present,“ Harvard Film Archive, Cambridge, MA 1982
“Cinemarge,“ Festival International du Film de La Rochelle, La Rochelle, France 1981
“Secret Affinities,“ Rice Museum, Houston, TX, 1977
The 13th New York Film Festival, Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, New York, NY 1975
Selected Grants, Honors and Awards
Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant
National Endowment for the Arts (four years)
New York State Council on the Arts (five years) (1974)
Ford Foundation
American Film Institute
French Minister of Culture Award
Inaugural Martin E. Segal Award of Lincoln Center
Cine Golden Eagle (two awards)
Beard’s Fund
Jerome Foundation (two years)
Mitchell A. Wilder Award
28th Chicago International Film Festival Gold Plaque Award
New York Women in Film and Television Preservation Fund Grant
NYSCA and Independent Feature Project (IFP) Grant
MacDowell Colony Fellow and Board Member
Civitella Ranieri Fellow
Selected Public Collections
Permanent Art Collection, Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
Film Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Film Collection, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Getty Museum, Los Angeles, LA
Film Collection, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Institute for the Arts, Rice Museum, Houston, TX
City of Seattle, Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, Seattle, Washington
City of Houston Municipal Art Collection, George R. Brown Video Collection, Houston, TX
Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio
Digital Collection, Chicago Art Institute (SAIC), Chicago, IL
The Fabric Workshop, Philadelphia, PA
Neuberger Museum, SUNY, Purchase, NY
Zimmerli Art Museum’s Rutgers Archives of Prints, Rutger, NJ
Musée des Beaux Arts, Belgium
South Caroline Arts Commission, Media Arts Center, Columbia, SC
Berlin Film Archives, Berlin, Germany
Cinémathèque Française (French Film Archives), Paris, France
Selected Commissions
2015-18 Caravan, New York Public Library Mulberry Street Branch, New York, NY
2008 30th Internationale Festival di Femme, Florence, Italy
2005 MTA Arts for Transit, Illuminated Station, Light sculpture
2001 Sedgwick Cultural Center, Philadelphia
1989 Metropolitan Museum & Getty Museum, “Program for Art on Film”
Selected Publications
Latour, Bruno and Weibel, Peter (eds), Critical Zones: The Science and Politics of Landing On Earth, MIT Press, 2020
Hallas, Roger, Documenting the Visual Arts, Routledge, 2019
Fisher, Lucy, Cinemagritte: René Magritte within the Frame of Film History, Theory, and Practice (Contemporary Approaches to Film and Media Series), Wayne State University Press, 2019
FoundFootage Magazine, Issue #5, March 2019
DallAsta, Monica; Chiarini, Alessandra (eds), Feminist Media Histories, Volume 2, Issue 3, University of California Press, Summer 2016
Di Marino, Bruno, hard media: la pornografia belle arti visive, nel cinema e nel web, Johan & Levi, 2014
Kostelanetz, Richard, A Dictionary of the Avant-Gardes, Routledge, 2013
Laura Kern, Joanna Koch and Richard Pena, New York Film Festival Gold, A 50th Anniversary Celebration, 2012
Furniss, Maureen (ed), Animation: Art and Industry, John Libbey Publishing, 2012
Bloodworth, Sandra and William Ayres. Along the Way, MTA Arts for Transit. Monacelli Press. New York, New York. 2006
Lopate, Phillip, “In Search of the Centaur: The Essay-Film,” The Threepenny Review, No. 48 (Winter, 1992)
Kraft, Rebecca and O’Doherty, Brian (eds), The Arts on Television, 1976-1990 Fifteen Years of Cultural Programming, Media Arts: Film/Radio/Television Program, National Endowment for the Arts, Fall 1991
Stroud, Marion Boulton. An Industrious Art, Innovation in Pattern and Print at the Fabric Workshop. W. W. Norton and Company. London, United Kingdom. 1991
Rabinowitz, Lauren. Women Filmmakers and Past Avant-Garders. International Experimental Film Congress Catalog. 1989
Russet, Robert and Cecile Starr. Experimental Animation. Da Capo Press. New York, New York. 1988
Stopped time: 4 Projected Environments: Cathey Billian, Bill Lundberg, Rosalind Schneider, Anita Thacher, Sculpture Center. New York, New York. 1985
Film as Installation: drawings, photographs and maquettes of film installation projects. The Clocktower. New York, New York. 1983
Rosenzweig, Phyllis D, Directions 1983, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden by the Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D.C. 1983
Thacher, Anita. Frames. Capitol City Press. New York, New York. 1979
Gallery Representation
Films and videos distributed also by:
MoMA, NY, Berlin Arsenal, and Light Cone, Paris.