Tonight's Optic Nerve

I had planned on going to tonight's Optic Nerve at MOCA but when I RSVPed earlier this week I was informed that the event was sold out.

Alesh Houdek found himself in the same position but decided to vent his frustrations about the situation at Buildings and Food...

Unless you’ve gotten your tickets way ahead of time, that is. When I went to the website on Wednesday to RSVP, I realized that all the tickets — both screenings — were sold out.

This is absurd. This event grows more popular every year; why doesn’t MoCA add more shows? Why not do a friggin’ week of Optic Nerve? Or, heck, a month of screenings, like they do for Pablo Cano?

Please don’t tell me that I can go night-of and stand in a line to vie for one of a small number of day-of tickets. I’m not 21, and this is not an indie band that needs to be in Atlanta the next day for another gig.

Word.

As Houdek pointed out, this limited one-night screening seems somewhat contradictory to MOCA's own mission statement...

"MOCA's Optic Nerve program is designed to provide emerging artists with an important venue in which to show their works and we want this year's program to represent the most innovative and important film and video being created in the United States today. Encouraging new work and making it accessible to our audiences is an important part of our mission," said MOCA Executive Director and Chief Curator Bonnie Clearwater.

And to show you how much importance they put on this new work, MOCA is going to make it available for 4 hours on a Saturday night. Wow.

Well,  the good news is that the de la Cruz Collection places even more importance on accessibility...

NOTE: The de la Cruz Collection (23 NE 41st Street, Miami) will also screen Optic Nerve XIII finalists from September 10 through October 8, 2011 at their facility.

Optic Nerve fans can contact the de la Cruz Collection at 305.576.6112 or you can visit their website. RSVP's don't seem to be necessary.



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