Description:

This program, presented in conjunction with the Experiments in Form: Sam Gilliam, Alan Shields, Frank Stella exhibition (currently on view at the Block Museum), showcases a 60-year range of films and videos that explore handmade and cameraless approaches to abstraction. Like the artists in the exhibition, these filmmakers use a variety of means to create their visually rich and dynamic abstract imagery. Influential New Zealand abstract filmmaker Len Lye uses a rayograph technique with textured cloth and stencils in Color Cry. José Antonio Sistiaga handpaints directly on the film strip for Impressions En Haute Atmosphère, and Bärbel Neubauer uses a number of direct animation techniques for Firehouse. Josh Lewis treats the film with chemicals to degrade and alter it in Doubt #2. Barbara Lattanzi's Music for Voices is also chemically treated, and then digitized thirty years later. For Landfill 16, Jennifer Reeves buried outtakes from a previous project and then handpainted the partially decomposed footage. In Sunset Strip, Kayla Parker uses magnolia petals, net stocking, lacquer, and ink to push her time-lapse footage of 365 sunsets past the natural to a more artificial aesthetic. In As Water Is in Water, a collaborative work with musician Tashi Wada, Madison Brookshire (appearing in person) digitizes and loops strips of film that had been soaked in paint. Collectively, these works offer a tantalizing glimpse at the expressive possibilities of the moving image.

Color Cry (Len Lye, 1952, USA, 16mm, 3 min.)
Impressions En Haute Atmosphère (José Antonio Sistiaga, 1989, Spain, 35mm, 7 min.)
Doubt #2 (Josh Lewis, 2013, USA, 16mm, 5 min.)
Landfill 16 (Jennifer Reeves, 2010-2011, USA, 16mm, 9 min.)
Sunset Strip (Kayla Parker, 1996, UK, 35mm, 3 min.)
Music For Voices (Barbara Lattanzi, 1979/2009, USA, digital, 7 min.)
Firehouse (Bärbel Neubauer, 1998, Germany, 16mm, 5 min.)                                  As Water Is in Water (Madison Brookshire and Tashi Wada, 2017, USA, digital, 31 min.)

In Person: Madison Brookshire