Jordan Belson (1926-2011)
Retrospective Tribute Program, Exhibitions and Other Screenings
Please visit the main Belson page for recent screenings. Older screenings of the Belson Retrospective with 16mm preserved prints are below.
2017
March 3, Retrospective program at Centre Pompidou, Paris
February 7, Retrospective program screened at Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA. 16mm and digital
late February, Retrospective program at British Film Insitute, London
2016
September 5, Brazil: São Paulo Art Biennial included Jordan Belson's Samadhi (digital, looped installation) plus selected artwork by Belson. Through December 11.
September 23, Belson's Bop Scotch and Chakra at Centre Pompidou, Paris
October, November - Belson films in CVM salons at Horse Hospital, London; Oxford University (UK), and Los Angeles.
October 8, Lisbon: Jordan Belson: Films Sacred and Profane, Retrospective film screening introduced by CVM Director/Curator Cindy Keefer. 16mm and digital
October 9, Landscape by Jules Engel and Samadhi by Jordan Belson, London, details tba
October 29, several Belson films including Music of the Spheres (original long version) screening at Whitney Museum, NYNovember 18, Los Angeles: several films in a CVM salon event
RECENT
Metz, France - Samadhi was included in Cosa mentale - Art et télépathie au XXe siècle exhibition at Centre Pompidou Metz, through March 2016 (digital version).
Allures (new HD transfer by CVM) was in the exhibition Hippie Modernism at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, through February 2016.
CVM is booking our Jordan Belson Retrospective, program for dates in the Northeast US for 2018. This Retrospective includes 16mm prints of Allures, Chakra, Music of the Spheres (original long version, for venues with archival projection), Vortex Presentation Reel (1959), Seance, Mandala, Meditation, and other films. Digital versions include Samadhi, the unreleased Quartet (c. 1982), Bop Scotch and more. Please contact CVM if interested, with details of your 16mm projection capabilities. This program is not available digitally at this time, only a few films are digital. Image above from Mandala, below from Quartet.
May 2016 - Music of the Spheres, LSD and other films screened at Oberhausen Film Festival, Archives section program of new restorations, presented by Cindy Keefer of CVM.
2015
Minneapolis, MN - Films Sacred and Profane: Jordan Belson Retrospective screened at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis as part of opening day events for the exhibition Hippie Modernism: The Search for Utopia. The Retrospective screening from CVM features many preserved 16mm prints including Allures, Chakra, Music of the Spheres (original long version), Momentum, plus the rarely-screened LSD, Vortex V presentation reel, Mandala, Seance, and Bop Scotch. Also includes digital versions of Samadhi and Quartet (unreleased).
October 4, London. Several Belson films including Chakra and Allures (16mm prints) screened at Barbican Centre, in a program of trancendental and psychedelic films curated by Cindy Keefer of CVM, for the "Head Trips" film series.
September, Dublin. Chakra (digital) included in the exhibition System of a Down at Ellis King Gallery, Dublin. Closed October 17.
April, Allures at Contemporary Arts Center, Vilnius screening
2014
Nov. 16, MoMA, New York. Preserved print of LSD (c. 1962) screens in To Save and Project, MoMA's annual Festival of Preservation
Nov. 4, BFI, London. Momentum (new print) and Samadhi (digital) screen in Jet-Propelled Cinema: program. Both from CVM.
April 26, Bard College, NY Four rare Belson films in CVM's touring program, New Restorations and Discoveries. Quartet (digital version), new 16mm preservation print of LSD, a Presentation Reel from Vortex 5 (16mm, 1959, new preservation print) and Bopscotch (16mm). Program also includes newly discovered John Cage SUN film, new 35mm prints of several Oskar Fischinger films, Jud Yalkut's Turn, Turn, Turn and more. Ottaway Theatre, Bard.
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Retrospective Program, 2013:
September 21: Arnolfini Centre, Bristol, UK
Other Screenings and Events, 2013:
September 25: 4 Belson films in a new CVM program at Tate Modern, London, also in December at Hammer Museum/UCLA Film & TV Archive, LA: Quartet (digital version),, Bopscotch (16mm), new 16mm preservation print of LSD, and a Presentation Reel from Vortex 5 (16mm, new preservation print).
Three Belson films in the Raven Row, London exhibition Reflections from Damaged Life: an exhibition on psychedelia. September - December 2013. Digital versions.
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Retrospective Program, 2012:
October 14 - Harvard Film Archive, Cambridge, Mass.
October 16 - Colgate University, Hamilton, NY
October 20 - Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Double feature with Oskar Fischinger Retrospective, afternoon screenings.
October 24 - TIFF Light Box, Toronto
November - Wexner Center, Columbus, OH
Previous screenings:
July 6- Philadelphia, International House
2011 and prior years:
October 19, 2011 - Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CVM's Program Jordan Belson: Films Sacred and Profane.
May Tate Modern, London;
EYE Film Institute Amsterdam
ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany
March: LACMA , Los Angeles
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco (2010)
Northwest Film Forum, Seattle
EMAF Festival Osnabruck; Queensland Gallery of Art, Brisbane (2008)
Queensland Gallery of Art, Brisbane, Australia
University of Southern California, Los Angeles (classroom presentation)
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2005)
Other Previous Screenings:
March 29, 2012, Chakra screened at Ann Arbor Film Festival (16mm print, preserved by CVM)
April 27, Caravan and Mandala screen in CVM's program of California midcentury Abstraction at LACMA, Los Angeles, Bing Theatre. 16mm.
The Jordan Belson Retrospective program with new 16mm preservation prints from CVM can be booked via cvmaccess at gmail dot com. This is the program Jordan Belson: Films Sacred and Profane, with films approved by Belson, with certain additions/changes as the tour progresses and we preserve and digitize more of his films.
Other Rental Information:: In the meantime, for those in Europe, a preserved 16mm print of Allures can be rented at Light Cone, Paris. Belson removed his films from distribution many decades ago, so currently that's the only print in general distribution, approved by him. While we are working to make the films more accessible, we can in certain cases rent a few of the films on video, or a few on 16mm prints including Chakra, in the meantime. We don't present the Belson Tribute / Retrospective program in an all-digital format at this time; many of the films have not yet been transferred to HD.
For booking inquiries, please contact cvmaccess (at) gmail (dot) com
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Why should I see the program in film?
Two short reviews by filmmaker/artist Sky David, of the recent Belson Retrospective show at LACMA:
This is the most excellent presentation that honor's Belson's intention of seeing the most sensuous/spiritual beautiful creations ever in film, as [the films are] introduced giving it context and makes the genius of Belson alive for the audience. Go see this unique theatrical screening that is a rare event in this era of small screen, low res. copies. This is all the original restored with much much work. I saw this at the LACMA as the most stand out show ever in cinema Art..
These works were all intended to be seen in a large format theatrical screening as is done presently by CVM traveling to many locations. I went to one at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art a few months ago that was so well presented with introductions of each work. It is magical to see these creations in the context of the intended form....Looking at films on a small low resolution computer screen is not really seeing the film. These works are treasures of Art. (9/9/2011)
Reviews, comment, notes on the Program
"So the Belson show last night was, as could be expected, a completely ecstatic and other worldly experience!... I wish I could watch the Jordan Belson program from last night every day for the rest of my life... as a type of meditation, I think it would make me a much better person." - B.H., fan on Facebook
"This screening was excellent - tasteful and quiet. I had only seen a couple of Belson's pieces, so it was a pleasure to get a deeper taste of his work. Cindy Keefer, Director of the Center for Visual Music, provided a great overview of the work, and prep'd us beautifully for what was to follow." posted by VJ Chaotic in the FB Visual Music Group, October 24, 2011
CVM's Facebook post re the Oct. PFA show: "We screened a special surprise, a rare archival print of Quartet from c. 1982, silent, unfinished, gorgeous. Think Fountain of Dreams meets Music of the Spheres with a little Chakra and Samadhi added. The audience was mesmerized, totally silent, you could hear a pin drop." (October 20, CVM Facebook page)
Top image from Allures (1961), other (blue) image from Belson's film Samadhi (1967)
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Contact us: cvmaccess (at) gmail (dot) com
