Bruce Conner, a San Francisco–based artist known for his assemblages,
films, drawings, and interdisciplinary works, passed away Monday
afternoon. Conner moved to San Francisco in 1957 and quickly found his
place within the city’s vibrant Beat community. His gauzy assemblages
of scraps salvaged from abandoned buildings, nylon stockings, doll
parts, and other found materials gained him art-world attention, as did
A Movie (1958), an avant-garde film that juxtaposed footage from
B movies, newsreels, soft-core pornography, and other fragments, all
set to a musical score. (In 1991, A Movie was selected for
preservation by the United States National Film Registry at the Library
of Congress.) Conner was active in the Bay Area’s 1960s counterculture
scene, designing light shows for Family Dog performances at the Avalon
Ballroom, and in the ’70s focused on drawing and photography. Art-world
recognition resumed in the ’80s and continued to the present: Conner
was included in the 1997 Whitney Biennial, was the subject of a touring
survey in 1999–2000, and is featured in the current Carnegie
International. At Conner’s request, there will be no funeral.
Experimental Conversations is a new 'online journal of experimental film, art cinema and video art' funded by the Cork Film Centre . Its first issue, dated Summer 2008 has the following contents:
Articles:
- Ailbhe Ni Bhriain At The Butler Gallery (2008)
- Aftermath (2007): An Exhibition by Ailbhe Ni Bhriain by Maximilian Le Cain
- "If you start thinking about your film being a success, you're fucked": An Interview With Vivienne Dick
- Between the salon and the convent: Losing Face & Gaining Faith in Jacques Rivette's 'Don't Touch the Axe' by Tony McKibben
- Cinema as situations: The 2007 Lucca Film Festival by Donal Foreman
Reviews
- The eternal now: Warhol and the Factory 1963-68
- Jonas Mekas at the Jameson Dublin Film Festival
- Experimental Film Club (Dublin)
- Live @ 8 (Galway)
- Redacted (Brian De Palma, 2008)
- Three Projection Events in Cork (0)
The austrian publisher Index DVD has released 3 new titles:
- Obsession: Structuring Time and Space by croatian multimedia artist Ivan Ladislav Galeta
(1947). The DVD focuses in Galeta's film works from the 70s and 80s and
includes his first video work TV ping-pong. Includes the films TV Ping Pong (1976-78, video, 2 min.), Two Times in One Space (1976-84, 35mm, 12 min.), sfaira 1985-1895 (1984, 35mm, 10 min.), Water Pulu 1869-1896 (1987-88, 35mm, 9 min.), WAL(L)ZEN (1989, 35mm, 6 min.) and PiRâMïdas 1972-1984 (1984, 35mm, 12 min.). DVD PAL, Multizone, 51 min., 28,80€
- Flaming Ears - a film by Angela Hans Scheirl, Ursula Pürrer and Dietmar Schipek.
"Flaming Ears is a pop sci-fi lesbian fantasy feature set in the year
2700 in the fictive burnt out city of Asche. It follows the tangled
lives of three woman: Spy, comic book artist; Volly, a performance
artist and sexed up pyromaniac; and Nun, an amoral alien with a
predilection for reptiles. ". DVD PAL, Multizone, 84 min., 28,80€
- Notes on Marie Menken, the documentary by Martina Kudlácek (In the mirror of Maya Deren) about one of american pioneers of exoerimental filmmaking. Music by John Zorn. Includes these films by Marie Menken as extras: Visual Variations on Noguchi (USA 1945, 16mm, B&W, 4 min.), Arabesque for Kenneth Anger (USA 1958-61, 16mm, color, 4 min), Glimpse of the Garden (USA 1957, 16mm, color, 5 min), Lights (USA 1964-66, 16mm, color, silent, 6:30 min). DVD PAL, Multizone, 117 min., 28,80€
Apart from these releases, available now, two new DVDs have been announced to be published soon: The Seconds Strike Reality by Hans Scheugl and Optical Vacuum by Dariusz Kowalski.
Furthermore, great news for those interested in this publisher's
releases, Index has dropped the price of half of their back catalogue
to 18 €.
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Lux has just released a book and DVD on the work of british artist Guy Sherwin. Optical Sound Films (1971/2007) (the title comes from the way sound is printed in 16mm film) covers Sherwin's work on 'the synaesthesic relationship between sound and image manifest in the material of film sound' with 16 films plus several performances. The book covers Sherwin's research profusely,with drawings and diagrams that illustraite the inner workings of films and performances.
The films included in this DVD are Phase Loop (1971), Sound Shapes (1972), Cycles 1(1972/1977), Newsprint (1972), At the Academy (1974), Soundtrack (1977), Musical Stairs (1977), Railings (1977), Night Train (1979), Interval (1974), Interval #2 (1974/2007), Notes (1979), Notes #2 (1979/2007), Optical Sound (2007), Spirals (1974) and Cross Section #2 (1997/2007), plus footage from several film performances.
The short film Railings (1977) is currently showing at Lux's exhibition page. The official press release follows.
lowave , along with the Centre Pompidou, presents the second volume of Hors Pistes, selecting three works from the 2nd edition of the festival of the same name.
- Company of mushrooms (Mo Gu Xiong Di Men) (Tan Chui Mui , Malaysia, 2006, Video, 30 min)
- Forst (Ascan Breuer/Ursula Hansbauer/Wolfgang Konrad, Austria, 2005, Video, 50 min.)
- Sur Place (Justine Triet, France, 2006, Video, 26 min.)
PAL, Multizone, 110 min., 4:3, Stereo, English & French subtitles, 20 €.
Joel Schlemowitz presents a compilation of his experimental films in a 3 DVD edition. All the films have been newly trasnferred and remastered from 16 mmm copies. The first 2 discs cover his experimental short films while the third disc contains some collaborative works and extras sucha as an interview by Jennifer MacMillan ; Footage of the Film-Makers' Coop's move by Brian Frye and documentation footage of the "Grand Magic Lantern Exhibition!" installation by Jeanne Liotta.
NTSC, Multizone, 210 min., 4:3, Stereo, 59.99 US$. This DVD is only available through Microcinema .