How I Threw Art Out the Window

In this experimental short from filmmaker Gaylene Preston, a no-nonsense hitchhiker is subjected to the ramblings of a deeply philosophical driver.  Impressively, Peter Cathro delivers the long, stream of consciousness ramble in a single take — while actor Shirley Grace manages to keep a straight face throughout. The driver's musings on art, society and creative expression cannot be quashed (even by a kiss), and it becomes too much to bear for the hitchhiker, who just wants to get to Taihape. Filmed in a lo-fi style, this screened at The Women’s Gallery in Wellington as part of 1981 exhibition Sexxuality. 

He's wretched, servile. He's on the peripheral: like the criminal, out there somewhere, with the bourgeois, existing in the middle — they observe but they don't understand the future, the concepts of future. The artist does.

– Art (Peter Cathro) muses on the role of the artist in society

Key Cast & Crew

Gaylene Preston

Director, Writer, Producer

Peter Cathro

As: Art

Shirley Grace (aka Shirley Gruar)

As: Hitchhiker