Artists discovering animation in the mid-1960s and early 1970s did so in a culture of pop art and psychedelia and a discursive field strongly shaped by Marshall McLuhan’s media theory. They responded by creating overwhelming works of graphic collage, violent flickering colours and sensory overload. Exploded View begins with a look at several foundational works from animators whose explorations of radical form and content stood out in the 1960s, from established figures like Stan Vanderbeek and Disney animator Ward Kimball to lesser-known, underground artists such as Fred Mogubgub and Irene Duga. It continues with several visually-kinetic works by young animators in the mid-1970s, a rarely-seen experiment in three-dimensionality by Paul Sharits, and concludes with Bill Brand’s stroboscopic colourfield film Circles of Confusion.
The screening is followed by a discussion and Q&A with curator Herb Shellenberger.
Please note that this programme contains stroboscopic images.
Ward Kimball Escalation 1968, film still. Courtesy Oddball Films
Bill Brand Circles of Confusion 1974, film still. Courtesy the artist and LUX, London
Programme:
Francis Lee/Fred von Bernewitz, Film-Makers’ Showcase, USA 1963, 16mm, colour, sound, 3 min
Print courtesy the Film-Makers’ Cooperative, New York
Bruce Conner, Cosmic Ray, USA 1961, 16mm, colour, sound, 4 min
Print courtesy the Conner Family Trust and Kohn Gallery, © Conner Family Trust
Ward Kimball, Escalation, USA 1968, digital, colour, sound, 3 min
Provided by Oddball Films
Frank Mouris, You’re Not Real Pretty But You’re Mine…, USA 1968, 16mm, colour, sound, 6 min
Print courtesy the artist and the Yale Film Study Center
Fred Mogubgub, The Pop Show, USA 1966, 16mm, colour, sound, 7 min
Print courtesy the Sights and Sounds Department, Enoch Pratt Free Library/Maryland’s State Library Resource Center
Stan Vanderbeek, Oh, USA 1968, 16mm, colour, sound, 9 min
Print courtesy the Film-Makers’ Cooperative, New York
Irene Duga, Pesca Pisca, USA 1968, 16mm, colour, sound, 3 min
Print courtesy the Film-Makers’ Cooperative, New York
Paul Glabicki, Scanning, USA 1976, 16mm, colour, sound, 3 min
Print courtesy Canyon Cinema
Frank and Caroline Mouris, Coney, USA 1975, 16mm, colour, sound, 5 min
Print preserved by the Academy Film Archive, courtesy the artists
Adam Beckett, Evolution of the Red Star, USA 1973, 16mm, colour, sound, 7 min
Print courtesy Canyon Cinema
Paul Sharits, 3D Movie, USA 1975, 16mm (with anaglyph 3D glasses), colour, sound, 8 min
Print preserved by Anthology Film Archives, New York
Bill Brand, Circles of Confusion, USA 1974, 16 mm, colour, sound, 15 min
Print courtesy LUX, London