"Imagine an eye free of the laws of perspective created by Man, an eye not influenced by composed logic, an eye that does not respond to the names of things, but that understands each new object it discovers in life through a perceptional adventure. How many colors are there in a field to a crawling child who is ignorant of Green? How many rainbows can light create for the untrained eye?"
Stan Brakhage, Metaphors on Vision
The folks at MACBA are taking those questions to heart. Their 'Short Histories of Cinema' is a programme geared towards the youngest audiences in which each episode is built around a central concept and explores material from different eras, genres and authors, emphasizing animated films and those which have used the media's illusionary aspects as an instrument of exploration. These histories are little in two ways; first, they offer a hypothesis about alternative histories of the 20th century that have only marginally existed. Secondly, they are directed to a "little" audience with the intention of explaining that film has been the most important artistic media in the 20th century.
Stan Brakhage "The Garden of Earthly Delights", 1981 (filmstill)
This session will cover the origins of abstract cinema pre-dating WWII. It will explore the hand that visual artists connected to avant-garde artistic movements such as Cubism or Dada played, focusing on abstraction and the possibilities that concrete forms have when projected on screen. These works show the importance of rhythm in films that can be understood almost as a musical score.
SATURDAY, 4 Nov, 5.30 pm:
Light Rhythms (1921-1937)
Walther Ruttman, Hans Richter, Fernand Léger and Dudley Murphy, Mary E. Utte and Melville Webber, Oskar Fischinger and Len Lye
Walther Ruttman
Opus I, 1947, 10'
Hans Richter
Rhythme 21, 1921, 3'
Viking Eggeling
Symphonie Diagonale, 1924, 6'
Fernand Léger and Dudley Murphy
Ballet mécanique, 1924, 16'
Mary Ellen Bute and Melville Webber,
Rhythm in Light, 1934, 5'
Oskar Fischinger
Komposition in Blau, 1935, 4'
Len Lye
Trade Tatoo, 1937, 5'
'SHORT HISTORIES OF CINEMA, II'
4 Nov 2006
MACBA Auditorium. Free admission. Limited seating.
MACBA
Plaça dels Àngels, 1
08001 Barcelona
T: +34 93 412 08 10
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Related activities
Cinemavision. Masterpieces of Experimental Film, 1956-2000
WEDNESDAY 15 NOVEMBER, AT 7.30 p.m.
TIME FUSION (90')
Zbigniew Rybczynski
Tango, 1981, 8' 10''
Werner Nekes
Diwan, 1973, 85'
WEDNESDAY 22 NOVEMBER, AT 7.30 p.m.
MOBILE PAINTING (70')
José Antonio Sistiaga
...ere erera baleibu icik subua aruaren... , 1968-1970, 75'
WEDNESDAY 29 NOVEMBER, AT 7.30 p.m.
THE PASSAGE OF TIME (81')
Hollis Frampton
Hapax Legomena I: (Nostalgia), 1971, 36'
Michael Snow
Wavelength, 1966-1967, 45' |
