Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis

Date: 28 October 2006 | Season: London Film Festival 2006 | Tags:

JACK SMITH & THE DESTRUCTION OF ATLANTIS
Saturday 28 October 2006, at 9pm
London National Film Theatre NFT3

‘The only person I would ever copy. He makes the best movies.’ (Andy Warhol)

Mary Jordan, Jack Smith & The Destruction of Atlantis, USA, 2006, 96 min
Diving headlong into the exotic world of Jack Smith, this is a ravishing celebration of a seminal figure of contemporary art, experimental theatre, fashion, film and photography. A devotee of ‘moldy glamour’, Smith was shooting fanciful tableau vivants in 1957, later naming his ensemble the ‘Superstars of Cinemaroc’ way before Warhol had a Silver Factory. His ethereal masterpiece Flaming Creatures is an epic fantasy, featuring blonde vampires and bohemians cavorting amid a tangle of naked bodies. FĂȘted by Fellini, but denounced by Playboy for ‘defiling at once both sex and cinema’, the film was became a totem in the battle against censorship. Dismayed and resentful, Smith reacted to this unwanted attention by never completing another film. To become a product was to be embalmed. Returning to the ephemeral medium of performance, he appeared amongst piles of meticulously arranged garbage with Yolanda, a toy penguin with jewel-encrusted brassiere. Utterly opposed to the concept of rented accommodation, Smith railed against ‘landlordism’, transforming his dilapidated apartment into an homage to Babylonian architecture. This documentary opens up Ali Baba’s cave, mixing commentary from friends and enemies with the glistening treasures of Smith’s own creation. An abundance of rare photographs, footage and audio bear testament to his uniquely baroque vision.

Also Screening: Thursday 26 October 2006, at 1:15pm, London NFT2

PROGRAMME NOTES

Anger Me

Date: 29 October 2006 | Season: London Film Festival 2006 | Tags:

ANGER ME
Sunday 29 October 2006, at 7pm
London National Film Theatre NFT3

Elio Gelmini, Anger Me, Canada, 2006, 72 min
A portrait of Kenneth Anger, legendary pioneer of independent film-making. Raised in Hollywood, a spell as the Changeling Prince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935) provided his first taste of the fantasy world of the movies. The nine films Anger made between 1947 and 1980 are shown together as the ‘Magick Lantern Cycle’, emphasising his belief in cinema as magical weapon. An authority on Aleister Crowley, his dazzling montage invokes myth and ritual, exploring taboo subjects and popular culture with a complex iconography. From the homoerotic fantasy Fireworks to the transcendental Lucifer Rising, his influence reaches beyond the avant-garde and into the mainstream, touching the work of Jarman, Lynch, Scorsese and countless others. Anger’s fascination with film history, memorabilia and scandal eventually led to the bestseller Hollywood Babylon, a dark exposĂ© of Tinseltown’s seamy side. He inadvertently invented the music video with Scorpio Rising, and his acquaintances ranged from AnaĂŻs Nin and Alfred Kinsey to the Rolling Stones. Anger Me takes the form of an extended monologue, in which this visionary artist talks at length about his extraordinary life and remarkable body of work.

Also Screening: Friday 27 October 2006, at 1:45pm, London NFT2

PROGRAMME NOTES

Shine On

Date: 29 October 2006 | Season: London Film Festival 2006 | Tags:

SHINE ON
Sunday 29 October 2006, at 9pm
London National Film Theatre NFT3

Luther Price, Same Day Nice Biscotts, USA, 2005, 6 min
A bleak but touching incantation composed from 13 identical prints of an early 70s documentary on elderly Afro-Americans. Time has taken its toll on the raw material too: now faded and worn, it is steeped in pathos.

Ken Jacobs, Krypton is Doomed, USA, 2005, 34 min
The original Superman radio play from 1940 accompanies the mind-bending ‘Nervous Magic Lantern,’ a filmless projection system that twists light into a perpetually throbbing mass of impossible depth. Presented by the film-maker as a metaphor for the onset of WWII, the apocalyptic narrative could be read as allegory for the present, a world of instability with the potential of environmental collapse.

Courtney Hoskins, The Counter Girl Trilogy, USA, 2006, 6 min
In an inventive response to the cosmetics industry, Hoskins has created imagery from some unusual materials discovered while working as a sales assistant on a make-up counter.

Dietmar Brehm, Blah Blah Blah, Austria, 2006, 13 min
Hotwiring history, the film-maker excavates his image bank of 16mm footage to reveal an archaeology of clandestine pursuits that hovers between ennui and agitation. Brehm’s week beats your year.

Barbara Sternberg, Surfacing, Canada, 2005, 10 min
An exodus of ghostly footsteps pass through the frame beneath layers of scratched emulsion, suggesting the transience of being and a state of emergence beyond the everyday.

Michael Robinson, And We All Shine On, USA, 2006, 7 min
‘An ill wind is transmitting through the lonely night, its signals spreading myth and deception along its murky path. Conjuring a vision of a post-apocalyptic paradise, this unworldly broadcast reveals its hidden demons via layered landscapes and karaoke, singing the dangers of mediated spirituality.’

PROGRAMME NOTES

Luis Recoder + Sandra Gibson

Date: 30 October 2006 | Season: London Film Festival 2006 | Tags:

LIVE PERFORMANCE: LUIS RECODER + SANDRA GIBSON
Monday 30 October 2006, at 7:30pm
London ICA Theatre

Luis Recoder & Sandra Gibson, Untitled, USA, 2006, variable duration
New York artists Luis Recoder + Sandra Gibson create innovative and engaging light works in which they interact with and manipulate the projected image. Though their work is grounded in cinema, it goes beyond an understanding of what film is, taking into consideration the architecture and conditions of the performing / viewing situation and the physical and emotional presence of light itself. From the inventive ways that they create images on the film strip to the use of multiple projection in live performance, Recoder + Gibson are two of the most vital young artists active in the field of ‘expanded cinema’. Rarely seen in the UK, their work has been featured in the Whitney Biennial and many major festivals. This untitled piece was developed in collaboration with experimental musician Daniel Menche and first presented at ‘Kill Your Timid Notion’ in Dundee earlier this year. The performance uses multiple 16mm projectors and an ingenious method of refracting and transforming the beams of light. As the work unfolds, Recoder + Gibson subtly manipulate the projectors, creating a constantly changing and hypnotic sequence of abstract imagery reminiscent of Rothko and colour field painting.

Please Note: Arrive Early ! This piece will be running as an installation from 19.00 and will shift into the live performance sometime after 19.30. The performance will be between 60-90 minutes long.

PROGRAMME NOTES

Shoot Shoot Shoot Condensed 2006-08: Programme 1

Date: 10 November 2006 | Season: Shoot Shoot Shoot 2006 | Tags:

SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT CONDENSED: PROGRAMME 1
November 2006—May 2008
International Tour

The London Film-Makers’ Co-operative was established in 1966 to support work on the margins of art and cinema. It uniquely incorporated three related activities within a single organisation – a workshop for producing new films, a distribution arm for promoting them, and its own cinema space for screenings. In this environment, Co-op members were free to explore the medium and control every stage of the process. The Materialist tendency characterised the hardcore of British filmmaking in the early 1970s. Distinguished from Structural Film, these works were primarily concerned with duration and the raw physicality of the celluloid strip.

Annabel Nicolson, Slides, 1970, colour, silent, 11 mins (18fps)
Guy Sherwin, At the Academy, 1974, b/w, sound, 5 mins
Mike Leggett, Shepherd’s Bush, 1971, b/w, sound, 15 mins
David Crosswaite, Film No. 1, 1971, colour, sound, 10 mins
Lis Rhodes, Dresden Dynamo, 1971, colour, sound, 5 mins
Chris Garratt, Versailles I & II, 1976, b/w, sound, 11 mins
Mike Dunford, Silver Surfer, 1972, b/w, sound, 15 mins
Marilyn Halford, Footsteps, 1974, b/w, sound, 6 mins

PROGRAMME NOTES

Shoot Shoot Shoot Condensed 2006-08: Programme 2

Date: 11 November 2006 | Season: Shoot Shoot Shoot 2006 | Tags:

SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT CONDENSED: PROGRAMME 2
November 2006—May 2008
International Tour

The 1960s and 1970s were a defining period for artists’ film and video in which avant-garde filmmakers challenged cinematic convention. In England, much of the innovation took place at the London Film-Makers’ Co-operative, an artist-led organisation that incorporated a distribution office, projection space and film workshop. Despite the workshop’s central role in production, not all the work derives from experimentation in printing and processing. Filmmakers also used language, landscape and the human body to create less abstract works that still explore the essential properties of the film medium.

Malcolm Le Grice, Threshold, 1972, colour, sound, 10 mins
Chris Welsby, Seven Days, 1974, colour, sound, 20 mins
Peter Gidal, Key, 1968, colour, sound, 10 mins
Stephen Dwoskin, Moment, 1968, colour, sound, 12 mins
Gill Eatherley, Deck, 1971, colour, sound, 13 mins
William Raban, Colours of this Time, 1972, colour, silent, 3 mins
John Smith, Associations, 1975, colour, sound, 7 mins

PROGRAMME NOTES

Expanded Cinema: Space / Time / Structure

Date: 7 December 2006 | Season: Expanded Cinema 2006 | Tags: ,

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

WĂŒrttembergischer 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.

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


Discussion: The Future of Expanded Cinema

Date: 8 December 2006 | Season: Expanded Cinema 2006 | Tags: ,

EXPANDED CINEMA: DISCUSSION
Friday 8 December 2006, at 11am
Stuttgart WĂŒrttembergischer 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 ?

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

Screening

Date: 10 December 2006 | Season: Expanded Cinema 2006 | Tags: ,

EXPANDED CINEMA: SCREENING
Sunday 10 December 2006, at 7pm
Stuttgart WĂŒrttembergischer Kunstverein

Malcolm Le Grice, Castle One, UK, 1966, 16mm, b/w, sound, 20 min
One of the earliest expanded works, “The Light Bulb Film” questions the role of the spectator in film viewing experience.

Morgan Fisher, Projection Instructions, USA, 1976, 16mm, b/w, sound, 4 min
Every film must be performed by the projectionist. This one requires extra attention.

Lis Rhodes, Light Music, UK, 1975-77, 2 x 16mm, b/w, sound, 25 min, film environment
A dynamic and interactive sound and light environment in which image and sound are inextricably linked.


Two Wrenching Departures

Date: 3 April 2007 | Season: London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 2007 | Tags: , ,

TWO WRENCHING DEPARTURES
Tuesday 3 April 2007, at 8pm
London Roxy Bar and Screen

Secret Cinema presents a free screening of a major new work by Ken Jacobs.

In his amazing live performances, Ken Jacobs breathed new life into archival film footage, teasing frozen frames into impossible depth and perpetual motion with two 16mm analytic projectors. Now aged 74, the artist explores new ways of documenting and developing his innovative Nervous System techniques in the digital realm.

Two Wrenching Departures, featuring the legendary Jack Smith (both clownish and devilishly handsome circa 1957), extends five minutes of material into a ninety-minute opus of eight movements. In and out of junk heap costume, Smith cavorts through the streets of New York (much consternation from the normals) and performs an impossible, traffic island ballet.

His improvised actions are transformed into perceptual games as Jacobs’ interrogates his footage, using repetition and pulsating flicker to open up new dimensions and temporal twists: The infinite ecstasy of little things.  In commemorating two dear departed friends, with whom he collaborated on Blonde Cobra and other works, he propels their image into everlasting motion. These mindbending visions are juxtaposed with the soundtrack of The Barbarian, a 1933 Arabian fantasy starring Ramon Navarro and Myrna Loy, and music by Carl Orff.

TWO WRENCHING DEPARTURES
Ken Jacobs, USA, 2006, video, b/w, sound, 90 min
“In October 1989, estranged friends Bob Fleischner and Jack Smith died within a week of each other. Ken Jacobs met Smith through Fleischner in 1955 at CUNY night school, where the three were studying camera techniques. This feature-length work, first performed in 1989 as a live Nervous System piece is a ‘luminous threnody’ (Mark McElhatten) made in response to the loss of Jacobs’ friends.”

Ken Jacobs (born 1933) is one of the key figures of post-war cinema, whose films include Little Stabs at Happiness (1958-60), Blonde Cobra (1959-63), Tom Tom the Piper’s Son (1969-71), The Doctor’s Dream (1978), Perfect Film (1986) and Disorient Express (1995).  He has also presented live cine-theatre (2D and 3D shadow plays) and developed the Nervous System and Nervous Magic Lantern projection techniques.  Since 1999, Jacobs has primarily used electronic media, both in preserving his live performances and creating new digital works in a variety of styles. His 7-hour epic Star Spangled To Death (1957-2004) is now available on DVD from Big Commotion Pictures.

Free admission. No reservation necessary, but arrive early to avoid disappointment.Please note that this screening is not suitable for those susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy due to the extensive use of flickering and throbbing light.

Related Events

Ken Jacobs’ 1963 film Blonde Cobra will screen with Jack Smith’s Flaming Creatures in the London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival on Saturday 31st March 2007 at 6.10pm.

Mary Jordan’s documentary Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis also shows in the festival in the same day.

Back to top