Center for Visual Music
May 1: Visual Music films at Filmforum, Los Angeles
An
Evening of Visual Music Films
Presented by the Center for Visual Music and LA
Filmforum
Sunday, May 1, 2005, 7 pm, $8
Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA
Filmforum and CVM present "Visual Music Films" - from German pioneers to psychedelia to current day Visual Music. Presented in conjunction with the Visual Music show at MOCA.
Program includes:
Light Rhythms, Francis Bruguiere, 1930, b/w, 6 min, 16mm. In the
late 1920s, Francis Bruguiere exhibited photographic works based on dramatically
lit cut and folded paper shapes, some figurative, some abstract. Light Rhythms
is a strictly abstract film which added new dimensions to these shapes: moving
light-sources, a scheme of superimpositions, and the elements of time and music.
(Tate program notes)
Study No. 6, Oskar Fischinger, 1930, b/w, sound, 2.5 min. 35mm. This
little gem, next to Study No. 8 the best of the black and white studies,
combines a jolly popular air with a clear statement of the profound mystical
imagery exploited in Fischinger's later works, especially Radio Dynamics.
(Dr. William Moritz, Film Culture). Preserved by The Academy Film Archive.
Tanz der Farben (Dance of the Colors), Hans Fischinger, 1939, color, sound, 6 min, 16mm. Abstract animation by Oskar's brother Hans, rarely screened in the US.
Peyote Queen, Storm De Hirsch, 1965, color, sound, 8 min, 16mm. A further exploration into the color of ritual, the color of thought; a journey through the underworld of sensory derangement. "A very beautiful work! The abstractions drawn directly on film are like the paintings of Miró moving at full speed to the rhythm of an African beat." (D. Noguez, La Nouvelle Revue Française )
Cibernetik 5.3, John
Stehura, 1960-65, 8 min, 16mm. John Stehura's spectacular film combines
computer graphics with organic live-action photography to create a new reality,
a Third World Reality, that is both haunting and extraordinarily beautiful.
(Gene Youngblood, Expanded Cinema)
Heavy Light, Adam Beckett, 1973, 7 min, 16mm. Music: Barry Schrader. … one of those abstract animated films in which colored, richly textured light moves in a black, three-dimensional space. The pictures and the electronic score are unified in a strict structure made of three main sections which progressively develop three subsections. This film may look like it was made using computers or video to the uninitiated, but only animation and mucho optical printing are to be seen herein. (Canyon Cinema notes)
Cycles, Jordan Belson and Stephen Beck, 1975, 10 min. 16mm. "A cinematic collaboration by Belson and Beck combining video synthesis with traditional chemical film processes…Cycles is a theme and variation on the myriad symbolism of kyklos, the Greek word for circle. Twelve thematic elements with twelve variations thereof depicting the flow of time as Yagas from past to present to future." (Stephen Beck)
Power Spot, Michael Scroggins,
1986, color, sound, 8:12. DVD. … perfectly complements Hassell's music with
a dynamically choreographed tapestry of hard-edged geometries and cascading
fluids of color and light. Like music, it can be enjoyed repeatedly. Indeed,
it demands repeated viewing to explore the depths of its many-layered textures."
(Gene Youngblood)
A Sense of Wonder, Devon Damonte, 1987, color, sound, 2.5 min. 16mm.
A transformative exploration into the nature of wonder in our collective cultural
consciousness. Made by hand directly onto clear film leader.
Passage, Bärbel Neubauer, 2002, color, sound, 8:03. 35mm, screened on
DVD. Metamorphoses of patterns and basic geometrical forms scratched on black
film directly. Image and music patterns are sampled and change their position
in space and their meaning. (B.N.)
Zygote and Xylo, Chris Casady, 2005, color, sound,
2 min (2 short pieces). DVD. Animation abstraction inspired by music.
Helios, Mondi, 2005, color, sound, 4 min. DVD. Helios is the first in a 10 part short film series exploring celestial harmony and the congruence of mathematics and art.
Green Violet/Reflecto, George Stadnik, 2005, 5:10. DVD. Digital Lumia in the tradition of Thomas Wilfred. "Digital Lumia is created using optical simulation algorithms to construct virtual opto-mechanical machines. The elements within each machine are adjusted over time so that a visual sequence of changes in color, refraction, reflection and shadow are composed." (G.S.)
Xtacism, Richard Baily and John Buchanan, 2005, 5 min. Xtacism was
created with visual effects artist Richard Baily's software invention SPORE.
Center for Visual Music thanks the following for prints and for their support of the program: Elfriede Fischinger Trust, Canyon Cinema, Adam Hyman/Filmforum, and all the artists. Images courtesy the artists, and The Elfriede Fischinger Trust.
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