Special Screening, February 27: Sleep, a Film by Andy Warhol featuring John Giorno
- February 27, 2026 | 5:00 PM - 10:30 PM
Upcoming Event
Film still of John Giorno from Andy Warhol’s Sleep. New York, 1963. Image courtesy of the Giorno Poetry Systems Archive.
As a special event on the occasion of the exhibition JOHN GIORNO: NO NOSTALGIA, the Marciano Art Foundation is proud to present a one night only screening of Andy Warhol’s epic five hour and twenty-one-minute silent film Sleep in conjunction with the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. Starring a young John Giorno, Warhol’s first foray into the world of filmmaking was made over several nights in the summer and autumn of 1963. The film shows twenty-two close-ups of the poet Giorno, who was briefly Warhol’s lover, as he sleeps.
By documenting a single action durationally with no dramatic narrative, Warhol turned film into something that could be treated like a painting hanging on a wall, or as Giorno himself put it: “the body of a man as a field of light and shadow.” Sleep became a legendary work of experimental cinema and marked the beginning of Warhol’s half decade focus on filmmaking as a central part of his artistic practice.
Sleep will be screened from 5-10:30 p.m. on Friday, February 27, 2026. All other galleries in the Foundation will be open for viewing during these extended hours.
Los Angeles artist Christopher DeLoach created two event-exclusive bumper stickers, each in a limited edition of 250, available to collect as tokens of attending this screening of Sleep here at Marciano Art Foundation.
‘Sleep with John Giorno’ bumper stickers by artist Christopher DeLoach
Please join us for an evening of what The Village Voice once described as “something strange, unusual, daring” with Sleep by Andy Warhol featuring John Giorno as its subject, protagonist and star.
Please note: guests do not need to arrive right at 5pm as the screening begins. They may come any time between 5 and 9:30 p.m. to enjoy the film.
Film Credit:
Andy Warhol
Sleep, 1963
16mm film transferred to digital file, black-and-white, silent, 5 hours 21 minutes at 16 frames per second
Collection of The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh
Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.