Books by Nick Nguyen
Book Reviews by Nick Nguyen
Archivaria 68 Winter 2010, 2010
Exhibition Reviews by Nick Nguyen
Review of Marc-Antoine Mathieu's S.E.N.S. exhibition at the Huberty Breyne Gallery in Brussels, B... more Review of Marc-Antoine Mathieu's S.E.N.S. exhibition at the Huberty Breyne Gallery in Brussels, Belgium (November 2014-January 2015) and installation at the LiFE in Saint-Nazaire, France (May 2015-October 2015).
Overview of the major exhibitions at the Angouleme International Comics Festival that took place ... more Overview of the major exhibitions at the Angouleme International Comics Festival that took place 29 January - 1 February 2015
Film Reviews by Nick Nguyen
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn opens with a lively introductory sequence tha... more The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn opens with a lively introductory sequence that takes place in a digitally animated flea market of what looks to be the Place du Jeu de Balle in Brussels. The environment is recognizable thanks to the strikingly accurate attention given to the architectural and street level details, from the building facades right down to the grey cobblestone roads. However it is clear that certain aspects have been visually enhanced in order to dramatize the space beyond its actual physical and spatial characteristics. For example, there are too many trees, too little trash and some of the signs are in English! As well, though the people gathered at this flea market walk and move in life-like fashion, they don't actually look like 'real' people since they all sport the exaggerated physical features of caricatures. This interplay between physical approximation and animated idealization reaches a climax with a scene involving a street artist who is putting the final touches on a portrait of an unseen client. After gradually recognizing his subject as a famous reporter from the English papers, the street artist (whom sharp-eyed Tintinophiles will have immediately recognized as Hergé) presents his client with the completed portrait, proclaiming 'I believe that I have captured something of your likeness'. The portrait shows the iconic head shot of Tintin in all of his flat two-dimensional glory as the camera pans around to finally reveal the face of the model, a three-dimensional version of Tintin who gives his verbal approval of the artist's rendition: 'Not bad."
Exhibition Publications by Nick Nguyen
Collection of publicly disclosed NATO documents related to the Hungarian Uprising of 1956, publis... more Collection of publicly disclosed NATO documents related to the Hungarian Uprising of 1956, published on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the events
Companion book for the NATO Archives exhibition on the artworks gifted by NATO member states to d... more Companion book for the NATO Archives exhibition on the artworks gifted by NATO member states to decorate NATO Headquarters at Porte Dauphine, Paris (1960-1967)
Conference Presentations by Nick Nguyen
Over his storied 40-year career as a filmmaker, Martin Scorsese has been honored with a unique le... more Over his storied 40-year career as a filmmaker, Martin Scorsese has been honored with a unique level of canonization that has allowed him to attain popular and critical acclaim, evidenced in the public declarations of his consideration as the most important living American filmmaker. As a result of this consecration, Scorsese has been able to accumulate a great deal of cultural prestige, power, and capital allowing him to venture into enterprises that have extended his persona beyond that of a filmmaker.
In recent times, Scorsese has openly adopted a pedagogical role within film culture, using his encyclopedic knowledge of cinema to serve as an onscreen authority for numerous documentaries that present the ‘History of cinema’. Scorsese’s role as a film educator in this capacity reached a critical mass when he was commissioned by the British Film Institute to create a documentary that was part of an international series celebrating the centennial of cinema in which noted directors were each charged with tracing the film history of their respective countries. For this project, Scorsese, in collaboration with film historian Michael Henry Wilson, wrote and directed A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese through American Movies (1995), a celebration of American cinema that ignored canonic Hollywood figures to focus on previously marginalized figures and films from American film history. Scorsese followed up this project with Il Mio Viaggio in Italia [My Voyage to Italy] (1999), a documentary detailing his personal journey through the history of Italian cinema. As the titles of both of these documentaries highlight, Scorsese’s pedagogical approach to film history focuses intently on those films that were significant in his own spectating history, thereby presenting a notion of film heritage that blurs the distinction between private and public histories. Upon closer inspection, this intertwining of histories leads into another history in which Scorsese is intimately involved: the history of film preservation.
This presentation proposes to use Martin Scorsese’s two national cinema documentaries as a launching pad to investigate and situate his work in relation to the field of film preservation. An historical overview of Scorsese’s activities within film preservation will highlight the different aspects of his persona that inform and shape his public identity within the field, namely his role as a cinephile, an historian, and an arbiter of taste. The aim of this investigation is to explore and raise questions about the relationship of the artist with the discourses of film preservation, film history and film historiography.
Master's Thesis by Nick Nguyen
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Books by Nick Nguyen
Book Reviews by Nick Nguyen
Exhibition Reviews by Nick Nguyen
Film Reviews by Nick Nguyen
Exhibition Publications by Nick Nguyen
Conference Presentations by Nick Nguyen
In recent times, Scorsese has openly adopted a pedagogical role within film culture, using his encyclopedic knowledge of cinema to serve as an onscreen authority for numerous documentaries that present the ‘History of cinema’. Scorsese’s role as a film educator in this capacity reached a critical mass when he was commissioned by the British Film Institute to create a documentary that was part of an international series celebrating the centennial of cinema in which noted directors were each charged with tracing the film history of their respective countries. For this project, Scorsese, in collaboration with film historian Michael Henry Wilson, wrote and directed A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese through American Movies (1995), a celebration of American cinema that ignored canonic Hollywood figures to focus on previously marginalized figures and films from American film history. Scorsese followed up this project with Il Mio Viaggio in Italia [My Voyage to Italy] (1999), a documentary detailing his personal journey through the history of Italian cinema. As the titles of both of these documentaries highlight, Scorsese’s pedagogical approach to film history focuses intently on those films that were significant in his own spectating history, thereby presenting a notion of film heritage that blurs the distinction between private and public histories. Upon closer inspection, this intertwining of histories leads into another history in which Scorsese is intimately involved: the history of film preservation.
This presentation proposes to use Martin Scorsese’s two national cinema documentaries as a launching pad to investigate and situate his work in relation to the field of film preservation. An historical overview of Scorsese’s activities within film preservation will highlight the different aspects of his persona that inform and shape his public identity within the field, namely his role as a cinephile, an historian, and an arbiter of taste. The aim of this investigation is to explore and raise questions about the relationship of the artist with the discourses of film preservation, film history and film historiography.
Master's Thesis by Nick Nguyen
In recent times, Scorsese has openly adopted a pedagogical role within film culture, using his encyclopedic knowledge of cinema to serve as an onscreen authority for numerous documentaries that present the ‘History of cinema’. Scorsese’s role as a film educator in this capacity reached a critical mass when he was commissioned by the British Film Institute to create a documentary that was part of an international series celebrating the centennial of cinema in which noted directors were each charged with tracing the film history of their respective countries. For this project, Scorsese, in collaboration with film historian Michael Henry Wilson, wrote and directed A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese through American Movies (1995), a celebration of American cinema that ignored canonic Hollywood figures to focus on previously marginalized figures and films from American film history. Scorsese followed up this project with Il Mio Viaggio in Italia [My Voyage to Italy] (1999), a documentary detailing his personal journey through the history of Italian cinema. As the titles of both of these documentaries highlight, Scorsese’s pedagogical approach to film history focuses intently on those films that were significant in his own spectating history, thereby presenting a notion of film heritage that blurs the distinction between private and public histories. Upon closer inspection, this intertwining of histories leads into another history in which Scorsese is intimately involved: the history of film preservation.
This presentation proposes to use Martin Scorsese’s two national cinema documentaries as a launching pad to investigate and situate his work in relation to the field of film preservation. An historical overview of Scorsese’s activities within film preservation will highlight the different aspects of his persona that inform and shape his public identity within the field, namely his role as a cinephile, an historian, and an arbiter of taste. The aim of this investigation is to explore and raise questions about the relationship of the artist with the discourses of film preservation, film history and film historiography.