Expanded Cinema: Space / Time / Structure

EXPANDED CINEMA: SPACE / TIME / STRUCTURE
7 – 10 December 2006
Stuttgart Württembergischer Kunstverein

Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart presents a four-day symposium of performances, screenings, workshops and discussions on the theme of EXPANDED CINEMA.

EXPANDED CINEMA is an unfixed mode of film presentation, encompassing multiple projection, live performances and film environments. In contrast to installation, each individual projection is a unique and finite durational experience. Works are structured to incorporate temporal drifts and spatial variations, and performances often depend on the participation of the artist-creator. EXPANDED CINEMA deconstructs and subverts the standard conditions of cinema to break down the relationship between film and viewer, liberating the mechanics of cinema from the hidden space of the projection booth and placing them amongst the audience. In resisting documentation and recreation, EXPANDED CINEMA is a dynamic, live art which can only be experienced in the here and now.

The event presents around 30 works by 20 international artists, among them early expanded works from the sixties and seventies, as well as recent works by a younger generation of artists.

In addition to the live performances and screenings each evening, the symposium features lectures, workshops and discussions led by the artists and guest speakers. On Friday 8 December, there will be a particular focus on the problems of documentation and recreation of EXPANDED CINEMA, addressing issues relating to the conservation, presentation and study of this filmic performance art for the future. Throughout the symposium, video documentation of previous EXPANDED CINEMA performances and screenings (among others ca. 40 performances at hartware medien kunst verein in Dortmund, 2004) will be available for viewing in the study area during gallery opening hours.

Guest artists Tony Conrad, Bruce McClure, Karen Mirza & Brad Butler, William Raban.

Films by: Yann Beauvais, Carl Brown, Gill Eatherley, Morgan Fisher, Ken Jacobs, Malcolm Le Grice, Rose Lowder, Anthony McCall, Hans Michaud, Robert Morris, Werner Nekes, Sally Potter, Joost Rekveld, Lis Rhodes, Ernst Schmidt Jr., Paul Sharits and Michael Snow

Curated by Mark Webber.
Coordinated by Katrin Mundt.
Commissioned by Hans D. Christ and Iris Dressler.

Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart, Schlossplatz 2, D-70173 Stuttgart, Germany
www.wkv-stuttgart.de

Workshop: Creative Projection

EXPANDED CINEMA: WORKSHOP
Thursday 7 December 2006, at 1pm
Stuttgart Württembergischer Kunstverein

KAREN MIRZA & BRAD BUTLER: CREATIVE PROJECTION

British artists Karen Mirza and Brad Butler will lead a practice-based workshop in creative projection that explores different approaches to EXPANDED CINEMA. Participants will be encouraged to experiment with unconventional modes of projection, and investigate the sculptural nature of film as a spatial and temporal medium.

Screening

EXPANDED CINEMA: SCREENING
Thursday 7 December 2006, at 7pm
Stuttgart Württembergischer Kunstverein

Gill Eatherley, Pan Film, UK, 1972, 3 x 16mm, b/w, silent, 8 min
Representation of a personal space through visual counterpoint, and positive / negative shifts.

Robert Morris, Gas Station, USA, 1969, 2 x 16mm, colour, sound, 34 min
Gas Station explores the lived experience of space and the fixed viewpoint of the camera.

Sally Potter, Play, UK, 1971, 2 x 16mm, b/w & colour, silent, 7 min
Seen from the filmmaker’s window, the choreographic play of twin children is fractured into cinematic space.

Karen Mirza & Brad Butler, Where A Straight Line Meets A Curve, UK, 2003, 2 x 16mm, colour, sound, 30 min
“A durational sculpture, of real and imagined activity shot entirely in one room. It is a film concerned with the objective reduction of space, a film ‘about’ the recording and representation of space and the politics of the viewing space of film itself.”

Opening Reception

Expanded Cinema: Opening Reception
Thursday 7 December 2006, at 8:30pm
Stuttgart Württembergischer Kunstverein

Anthony McCall, Line Describing a Cone, USA, 1973, 16mm, b/w, silent, 30 min, film environment
Over time, a projected beam of light is transformed into an apparently solid volume that stretches across the room, inviting the audience to experience it from all perspectives.

Discussion: The Future of Expanded Cinema

EXPANDED CINEMA: DISCUSSION
Friday 8 December 2006, at 11am
Stuttgart Württembergischer Kunstverein

THE FUTURE OF EXPANDED CINEMA

Guest artists and invited speakers will discuss issues related to the presentation and documentation of EXPANDED CINEMA works, addressing important questions concerning the conservation, presentation and study of this filmic performance art. EXPANDED CINEMA often demands the direct participation of the artist-creator, resisting re-enactment and reconstruction in their absence. Each projection is different, embracing chance and variation, and adapted to its exhibition environment, making it impossible to encapsulate a definitive performance. Given these conditions, how can such works be adequately recorded and studied outside of the live experience, whilst retaining the unique characteristics of this dynamic, ephemeral art form ?

Demonstration: Pickled Film

EXPANDED CINEMA: DEMONSTRATION
Friday 8 December 2006, at 3pm
Stuttgart Württembergischer Kunstverein

TONY CONRAD: PICKLED FILM

In a radical approach to film preservation, Tony Conrad will discuss and prepare Pickled Film, methodically mixing raw film stock, vinegar, vegetables and spices.

Tony Conrad, Pickled Film, USA, 1974, 16mm performance, colour, sound, variable duration

Screening

EXPANDED CINEMA: SCREENING
Friday 8 December 2006, at 7pm
Stuttgart Württembergischer Kunstverein

Ken Jacobs, Opening the Nineteenth Century: 1896, USA, 1990, 16mm, b/w, sound, 9 min
An archival film from the turn of the century, transformed into impossible 3D.

Hans Michaud, MorningFilms Double Projection 8/2001-10/2004, USA, 2004, 2 x 16mm, b/w, silent, 5 min
A celluloid sketchbook composed to a strict mathematical scheme.

Rose Lowder, Certaines Observations, France, 1979, 2 x 16mm, b/w, silent, 14 min
“Certain observations are used to define notions regarding the appearance of things in true or apparent motion.”

Yann Beauvais, Sans Titre 84, France, 1984, 2 x 16mm, colour, silent, 14 min
Photographs of the Arc de Triomphe, split into strips, reformed and transformed.

Werner Nekes, Gurtrug Nr. 2, Germany, 1967, 2 x 16mm, colour, sound, 13 min
Two triangular images, vertically aligned, form an X in space and time.

Ernst Schmidt Jr., Doppelprojektion, Austria, 1969, 2 x 16mm, b/w, silent, 5 min
Doppelprojektion explores the transformation of events from physical space into visual space.

Performance: William Raban

EXPANDED CINEMA PERFORMANCE: WILLIAM RABAN
Friday 8 December 2006, at 8:30pm
Stuttgart Württembergischer Kunstverein

English artist William Raban is one of the leading practitioners of EXPANDED CINEMA, mixing the materialist aesthetic with time-lapse and observational documentary. The programme draws on key works from the 1970s, and features the world premiere of a new arrangement of Wave Formations.

William Raban, Surface Tension, UK, 1976, 2 x 16mm, b/w, sound, 15 min
William Raban, Angles of Incidence, UK, 1973, 2 x 16mm, colour, silent, 10 min
William Raban, Moonshine, UK, 1974, 2 x 16mm, colour, silent, 8 min
William Raban, Diagonal, UK, 1973, 3 x 16mm, colour, sound, 5 min
William Raban, Wave Formations, UK, 1977-2006, 5 x 16mm, colour, sound, 20 min

Lecture: William Raban

EXPANDED CINEMA: LECTURE
Saturday 9 December 2006, at 3pm
Stuttgart Württembergischer Kunstverein

WILLIAM RABAN: EXPANDED CINEMA AND STRUCTURAL FILM

Using film examples, William Raban will give a personal account of EXPANDED CINEMA at the London Film-Makers’ Co-operative throughout the 1970s, demonstrating how some of the multi-screen and film performance works came into being and will describe their relationship within a broader structural film aesthetic.

Screening

EXPANDED CINEMA: SCREENING
Saturday 9 December 2006, at 7pm
Stuttgart Württembergischer Kunstverein

Paul Sharits, Razor Blades, USA, 1965-68, 2 x 16mm, colour, sound, 25 min
“By opposing the eyes and ears against the mind, Razor Blades cuts deeply, both in our psychic and visceral bodies.”

Joost Rekveld, #5 (Variation 2), Netherlands, 1994, 3 x 16mm, colour, silent, 6 min
A luminescent action painting of abstract light forms in kinetic motion.

Carl Brown & Michael Snow, Triage, Canada, 2004, 2 x 16mm, colour, sound, 30 min
Each artist worked independently on one panel of a double screen ‘exquisite corpse’.