---- ARNULF RAINER Peter Kubelka, Austria, 1958, 35mm, b/w, sound, 8 minutes “Hehas even created a film whose images can no more be ‘turned off’ by theclosing of eyes than can the soundtrack thereof it (for it is composedentirely of white frames rhythming thru black inter-spaces and of suchan intensity as to create its pattern straight thru closed eyelids) sothat the whole ‘mix’ of the audio-visual experience is clearly ‘in thehead’, so to speak: and if one looks at it openly, one can see ones owneye cells as if projected onto the screen and can watch one’s opticphysiology activated by the soundtrack in what is, surely, the mostbasic Dance of Life of all (for the sounds of the film do resemble and,thus, prompt the inner ear’s hearing of its own pulse output at intakeof sound).” (Stan Brakhage)
YYAA Wojciech Bruszewski, Poland, 1973, 35mm, colour, sound, 5 minutes “Theauthor of the film (appearing on the screen) is shouting “YAAAH…” Thelight comes from four sources being switched at random (this takesbetween 1 and 8 seconds) by an electronic device. In any moment, onlyone of the four lamps casts light on the filmmaker. Each light-changeis accompanied by a different voice modulation of the author’s voice.The film technique makes it possible for the author to exhale forseveral minutes. The alternating close-ups and half-close-ups aretotally unjustified.” (Wojciech Bruszewski)
SPEAK John Latham, UK, 1968-69, 16mm, colour, sound, 11 minutes “Speakis his second attack on the cinema. Not since Len Lye’s films in thethirties has England produced such a brilliant example of animatedabstraction. Speak burns its way directly into the brain. It is one ofthe few films about which it can truly be said, ‘it will live in yourmind’.” (Ray Durgnat)
BERLIN HORSE Malcolm Le Grice, UK, 1970, 16mm, colour, sound, 8 minutes “BerlinHorse is a synthesis of a number of works which explore thetransformation of the image by re-filming from the screen and bycomplex printing techniques. There are two original sequences: a pieceof early newsreel and a section of 8mm film shot in Berlin – a villagein Northern Germany. The 8mm material is re-filmed in various ways fromthe screen onto 16mm and that in turn used for permutativesuperimposition and color treatment in the printer. The music iscomposed for the film by Brian Eno and like elements of the image,explores off-setting loops with each other so that their phases shift.”(Malcolm Le Grice)
THE DIVINE MIRACLE Daina Krumins, USA, 1973, 16mm, colour, sound, 5 minutes “Anintriguing composite of what looks like animation and pageant-like liveaction is The Divine Miracle, which treads a delicate line betweenreverence and spoof as it briefly portrays the agony, death andascension of Christ in the vividly coloured and heavily outlined styleof Catholic devotional postcards, while tiny angels (consisting only ofheads and wings) circle like slow mosquitoes about the central figure.Ms. Krumins tells me that no animation is involved, that the entireaction was filmed in a studio, and that Christ, the angels and thebackground were combined in the printing. She also says it took her twoyears to produce it.” (Edgar Daniels)
AXIOMATIC GRANULARITY Paul Sharits, USA, 1972-73, 16mm, colour, sound, 20 minutes “InSpring 1972 a series of analyses of colour emulsion ‘grain’ imagery wasundertaken (the word ‘imagery: is significant because onlyrepresentations of light sensitive crystals, or ‘grain’, remain on adeveloped roll of colour film). The investigation is preliminary to theshooting of Section 1 of “Re: Re: Projection”, Variable EmulsionDensity, wherein attempts to construct convincing lap dissolves ofsolid colour fields with straight fine grain Ektachrome ECO provedunsatisfactory. It was thought that more ‘grainy’ colour fieldinteractions might adequately prevent the undesirable smoothness of huemixture resulting from ECO superimposition. A discreteness ofindividual hues, during superimposition, is necessary; then, a switchto Ektachrome EF, pushed extra stops in development, seemed somewhatreasonable. Still, unexpected (colour blurring) problems arose and itwas clear that a ‘blow up’ of the situation was called for; a set ofprimary principles was needed and, particle by particle, AxiomaticGranularity seemed to formulate itself. Its ‘structure’ lacks normative‘expressive intentionality’.” (Paul Sharits)
DRESDEN DYNAMO Lis Rhodes, UK, 1974, 16mm, colour, sound, 5 minutes “Theresult of experiments with the application of Letraset and Letratoneonto clear film. It is essentially about how graphic images createtheir own sound by extending into that area of film which is ‘read’ byoptical sound equipment. The final print has been achieved throughthree separate, consecutive printings from the original material, on acontact printer. Colour was added with filters on the final run. Thefilm is not a sequential piece. It does not develop crescendos. Itcreates the illusion of spatial depth from essentially flat, graphic,raw material.” (Tim Bruce)
STRAIGHT AND NARROW Tony & Beverly Conrad, USA, 1970, 16mm, b/w, sound, 11 minutes “Anextension of the flicker film phenomenon, Straight and Narrow is astudy in subjective colour and visual rhythm. Although it is printed onblack and white film, the hypnotic pacing of the images will causeviewers to experience a programmed gamut of hallucinatory coloureffects. Straight And Narrow uses the flicker phenomenon not as an endin itself, but as an effectuator of other related phenomena. In thisfilm the colours which are so illusory in The Flicker are visible andunder the programmed control of the filmmaker. Also, by using imageswhich alternate in a vibrating flickering schedule, a new impression ofmotion and texture is created.” (Film-Makers’ Cooperative catalogue)
Attention: The films shown on the bottom of this site are impressions of OTHER films by these artists.
OUR FAVORITE THINGS is a new film project from reigning Kulture Kut-up Kings Negativland. Twenty-seven years of the group's "greatest hits" have become all-new moving pictures in this amazing, years-in-the-making movie. Created with many other film makers, designers and animators from all over the USA, OUR FAVORITE THINGS is a collaborative project that takes Negativland's complex sound collage explorations into the world of film and video. What emerges is a darkly cracked look at 21st century America, juxtaposing paranoia, torture, control, power, guns, fear, suicide, cola wars, mental illness and intellectual property issues with the lighter side of dopey advertising, cartoon characters, cleaning products and Jesus.
OUR FAVORITE THINGS was created with Paula Aguilera, Jon Behrens, Harold Boihem, Jenny Carden, Mike Cousino, DJ Patootiehead, Thomas Dimuzio, Devon Dumante, Steve Fisk, James Gladman, Jessica Green, Trulee Grace Hall, Heath Hanlin, i.d., Aaron Kruse, Dan Lynch, Tim Maloney, Kurt Miller, Peter Neville, Mark O’Connell, Sean O'Neil, R Room, Miguel Soares, Diana Thorneycroft, Miranda Torn, James Towning, and Jonathan Williams.
Saturday 22 september
The VICE GUIDE TO TRAVEL is the first installment in VICE magazine’s new DVD series. The series will feature short documentaries arranged around a different theme. For this edition they went to the kinds of places that nobody else wants to visit. They traveled to the corners of the world where news is happening, the forgotten locales where strange people and stories lie and where history is being made every day. This is the VICE idea of a vacation.
Tuesday & Wednesday: Curated by Mark Webber
CINEMA AURICULAR: CINEMA OF THE EAR
The potential for combining image and sound has been explored since the invention of cinema. This primer of classic works of the international avant-garde demonstrates some of the possibilities specific to the filmmedium, from the flickering frames of Tony Conrad, Paul Sharits and John Latham to the intricate optics of Daina Krumins, Malcolm Le Grice, and others. Featuring soundtracks by Brian Eno, Rhys Chatham, John Cale and Terry Riley. All films will be shown on 16mm.
