Wrong Number: Films by Frank Heath

<p><em>Program notes from the Spectacle Theater screening series of films by Frank Heath, March, 2026.</em></p> <p>One couldn’t be blamed for mistaking artist and filmmaker Frank Heath for a time traveler sent back with the impossible task of figuring out where it all went wrong. Government surveillance? Technological arms races? Nuclear fallout or an act of God? Each as plausible as the last if you’re inclined to believe what Heath uncovers across an array of conspiratorial prank phone calls, metadocumentaries, and room-shaking music videos. Heath’s work can be seen as a part of a post-9/11 aesthetic shift in art away from subjectivity that curator Paolo Cirio refers to as evidentiary realism, which aims to make visible the complex networks that construct our reality. Grounded in rigorous journalistic research, Heath uses historical events, declassified materials, and government facilities as the backdrop for a cast of real-life characters who are more often than not in the middle of doing their job. The videos often resemble portraiture, catalyzed by conversations with customer service and caretakers of hidden spaces. We learn intimate details about attitudes and interiorities of Heath’s subjects. All the while, it’s unclear if they’re coconspirators in Heath’s agenda or simply playing along because of their obligations to their employers…</p>