Friday,
May 23 + Friday, May 30 at 7pm
Center
for Visual Music: Essential
Visual Music
 Center
for Visual Music is a nonprofit film archive dedicated
to visual music, experimental animation and abstract media. Based
in Los Angeles, CVM is dedicated to Visual Music, experimental
animation and avant-garde media. CVM is committed to preservation,
curation, education, scholarship and dissemination of the film,
performances and other media of this tradition - together with
related historical documentation and other material. CVM's talks, programs
and preserved films have been featured in museum exhibitions, cultural
centers, cinematheques and festivals worldwide.
Please
visit CVM at www.centerforvisualmusic.org.
Essential
Visual Music is presented in conjunction with Screening
at Vox
Populi Gallery, 319 N 11 Street, 3rd Floor, Philadelphia.
On view from June 6 to July 27, Screening dedicated
to the presentation of innovative, challenging and exciting
moving images and exhibits work exploring the ways moving image
culture influences how we see ourselves and others. Opening
reception Friday, June 6 from 6pm–11pm.
Friday,
May 23 at 7pm
Essential
Visual Music: Rare Classics from CVM Archive
From
German pioneers to Light Show psychedelia to Experimental Animation
classics, rare films and preserved prints from the Collection
of Center for Visual Music.
Approximate
running time 81 minutes
R-1
ein Formspiel (Single
Panel version)
dir.
Oskar Fischinger, Germany, c. 1926 - 1933, 16mm, 7 mins, b/w,
tinted and color, silent
A
selection of Fischinger’s abstract film experiments used in
his 1920’s multiple projector performances in Germany.
Tanz
der Farben (Dance of the Colors)
dir.
Hans Fischinger, Germany, 1939, 16mm, 6 mins, color, sound
This
rarely screened abstract animation is by Oskar's brother Hans.
Originally made in Gasparcolor.
Pastorale
dir.
Mary Ellen Bute, US, 1950, 16mm,
8 mins, color, sound
A
pictorial accompaniment in abstract forms, opening with scenes
of Leopold Stokowski conducting his own arrangement of Bach's
"Sheep May Safely Graze." Stokowski is well
known for his long collaboration with the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Dockum
Mobilcolor Performance at the Guggenheim
dir.
Charles Dockum, US, 1952, 16mm, 7 mins, color
 The
Mobilcolor, a large, complex mechanism, requires two people
to operate it for an elaborate composition – but the resultant
spectacle is definitely worth it. The imagery can be hard-edged
or amorphous, and can be programmed to move at specific speeds
in smooth, definite patterns. The wide range of controlled light
intensity, with several (overlapping) sources, offers a visual
delicacy that can not be reproduced on film or video. – Dr William
Moritz, "Towards a Visual Music," Cantrills Filmnotes,
1985
Demonstration
of Mobilcolor Projector and 1966 Performance Film
dir.
Charles Dockum, US, 1966, 16mm, 7 mins, color, sound and silent
Explaining
the operation and techniques behind Dockum’s Mobilcolor Projector,
his invention to compose and play colored light.
Early
Abstractions, Film No. 3 (Interwoven)
dir.
Harry Smith, US, 1949, 16mm, 3.5 mins, color, sound
…Harry
began painting directly on the film strip, thus avoiding the
cost of extra negatives and prints... On May 12, 1950, Art in
Cinema screened the premiere of four painted films by Harry
Smith. They were titled Strange Dream, Message
from the Sun, Interwoven and Circular Tensions
and the program notes [stated] that each one of the hundreds
of painted film frames is a work of art.. – Dr. William Moritz,
Harry Smith, Mythologist, presented at Harry
Smith Symposium, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles 2001
Muntz
TV Commercial
dir.
Oskar Fischinger, Germany, 1952, 16mm, 1 min, b/w, sound
The
Muntz TV Commercial was painted in the same technique
as Motion Painting No. 1 (but consciously limited
to shades of black, white and grey), and at its best moments,
with the same vigor and brilliance... – William Moritz, Optical
Poetry
Cibernetik
5.3
dir.
John Stehura, US, 1960-65, DVD, 7 mins, color, sound
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
Turn,
Turn, Turn
dir.
Jud Yalkut, US, 1966, 16mm, 10 mins, color, sound
A
kinetic alchemy of the light and electronic works of Nicolas
Schoffer, Julio Le Parc, USCO and Nam June Paik.
Single
Wing Turquoise Bird Light Show Film
dir.
SWTB, US, 1971, 16mm, 5 mins, color, sound
Film
document of light show performance by Peter Mays, Jeffrey Perkins,
Michael Scroggins, Jon Greene, Larry Janss and Rol Murrow, including
film footage by David Lebrun, Pat O'Neill and John Stehura.
Tanka
dir.
David Lebrun, US, 1976, 16mm, 9.5 mins, color, sound
Tanka,
photographed from Tibetan scroll paintings of the sixteenth
to nineteenth centuries, is a cyclical vision of ancient gods
and demons, an animated journey though the image world of the
Tibetan Book of the Dead.
Celebration
dir.
Jules Engel, 1978, 16mm, 4 mins, color, sound
Engel
wrote of his films: "The emphasis, then, is on the development
of a visual dynamic language, independent of literature and
theatrical traditions, demonstrating that pure graphic choreography
is capable of its own wordless truth."
3
Arctic Flowers
dir.
Jules Engel, US, 1978, 16mm, 3 mins, color, sound
An
elegantly choreographed, early computer-generated film from
Engel’s experiments at California Institute of the Arts.
Mobiles
dir.
Jules Engel, US, 1978, 16mm, 3 mins, color, sound
All
prints are from the Collection of CVM; many have been preserved
by CVM. Engel films were preserved by CVM in association with
NOMI Group. Screening permissions courtesy Fischinger Archive,
Cecile Starr and the Women's Independent Film Exchange, Anthology
Film Archives, and the individual filmmakers and estates. Images
copyright Fischinger Trust, Greta Dockum and the individual
filmmakers. SWTB image courtesy Peter Mays. Thanks
to the National Film Preservation Foundation, The NEA, The Jules
Engel Preservation Project and private donors whose support
enabled the preservation of many of these films. Special thanks
to Matt Suib and Nadia Hironaka.
Friday,
May 30 at 7pm
Essential
Visual Music: New Visions
 Essential
Visual Music: New Visions are recent acquisitions and contemporary
works selected by the Center for Visual Music that delve even
deeper into the realm of visual music. With
new work by contemporary Visual Music artists Barbel Neubauer,
Scott Draves, George Stadnik, Steven Woloshen, Samantha Krukowski,
Robert Seidel, Bret Battey, Mondi, Jim Ellis, Scott Nyerges,
Devon Damonte, Richard Baily, Vivek Patel and more.
Approximate
running time 1 hour, 20 minutes
Opening
dir.
Devon Damonte, US, 2008, 16mm, 2 mins, color, handmade sound
Created especially for this Program.
xtacism
dir.
Richard Baily and John Buchanan, US, 2005, digital,
5 mins, color, sound
xtacism
was created with visual effects artist Richard Baily's software
invention SPORE. "There is no middle, beginning, end, it
is like the river, it just keeps on going..."
Hypnogogy/Drift
dir.
Jim Ellis, US, 2006, digital,
3.30 mins,
color, sound
The
state between being awake and asleep. An individual may feel
and appear to be fully awake, but has brain waves indicating
that they are technically asleep. Also, the individual may be
completely aware of their state, which enables lucid dreamers
to enter the dream state consciously directly from the waking
state. This has been proposed as an explanation of experiences
such things as alien abduction, apparitions, or visions. In
honor of Richard "Doc" Baily.
Miserlou
dir.
Vivek Patel, US, 2005, 3 mins, digital,
color, sound
Miserlou
uses abstract elements to create a sensual show. Visual elements
come to the screen and exist like actors in a play. Musical
parts are expressed visually to draw a stronger association
between what is seen and heard. Impeccable synchronization between
the two; creates a sweet show for the eyes and the
ears.
Music
composed by Aaron Kula, performed by Klezmer Company Orchestra.
POLAR
dir.
Scott Nyerges, US,
2007, digital, 1.35 mins, color,
silent
POLAR
presents apocalyptic inner visions of the polar ice caps’
demise, using the Arctic as metaphor for a body out of balance.
Fissures emerge. Mass transforms. The sea falls into itself.
This silent film was created with handpainted 35mm film strips
and digital video.
artreading
v1
dir.
Samantha Krukowski, US, 2008, digital,
4.5 mins, color and b/w, sound
artreading
is a response to image saturation in contemporary culture, a
critique of image excess as it relates to cultural memory, and
a personal attempt to remember images from the multitude presented
in the art, architecture and film magazines that appear monthly
on my doorstep.
The
Firebird
dir.
Scott Draves, US, 2007, digital,
4.15 mins, color, sound
An
homage to Igor Stravinsky's 1910 Symphony, "The Firebird"
is itself an excerpt from "Dreams in High Fidelity #2",
rerendered at 2400x2400 resolution for full-dome projection.
The graphics were created by the Electric Sheep, a cyborg mind
consisting of 60,000 computers and people communicating with
a genetic algorithm.
All
Over
dir.
Emmanual Lefrant, France,
2001, 16mm, 6:15 mins,
color, sound
Whilst All
Over is a film made without "instrumentation"
(like a camera), it also differs from direct films in that the
film remains untouched by any tool (not even the hand). As in
dripping, materials and color are spontaneously laid down on
the film in semi-controlled gestures, which create a shower
of colored dots. The soundtrack functions according to the same
principle: the sound, in all its expressions, is formed using
one single formal element.
A
Sense of Wonder
dir.
Devon Damonte, US, 16mm, 2.30 mins, color, silent
A
transformative exploration into the nature of wonder in our
collective pop cultural consciousness. Made entirely by hand
directly onto clear film leader.
Shimmer
Box Drive
dir.
Steve Woloshen, Canada, 2007, video, 3.5 mins, color, sound
Reflections,
recollections and thoughts from the front seat of an automobile.
futures
dir.
Robert Seidel, Germany, 2006, digital,
4 mins, color, sound
In
Futures you will see crushed things, completely abstracted…
finding together and building up to something we all have seen
before… Like our true wishes and desires they shape over time
and get clearer… followed by the next longing… Innuendos, artifacts
and the rough synchronisation add subtle emotions to the uncertain
process that build the morbid tableaux of all possible futures…
Music
- "zero 7 feat" by Jose Gonzalez, Courtesy Atlantic
Records
Kronos
dir.
Mondi, US, 2005, digital,
4.20 mins, b/w, sound
Mercurius
dir.
Bret Battey, UK, 2007, digital,
6 mins, color, sound
Mercurius
expands algorithmic animation techniques I developed for cMatrix10
(2004) and Autarkeia Aggregatum (2005), while also
being my first work in which the audio is constructed entirely
using modulated-feedback techniques I have been developing since
the late 1990’s. Both the audio and visual components of the
work have no cuts or edits. What we hear is a continual transformation
of one synthesis process, just as what we see is the continuous
animation of nearly 12,000 individual points.
Digital
Lumia Composition 01 - World Premiere
dir.
George Stadnik, US, 2008, digital,
8.5 mins, color and b/w, sound
A
collaboration with the composer, a pioneer in electronic music.
The visuals amplify the feelings borne by the music, and are
computer simulations of optical phenomena. The juxtaposition
of motion, color and music is intended to create a very personal
experience for the viewer.
Music - "Elegy
for Iraq" composed and performed by Dr Franklin Morris
Morphs
of Pegasus
dir.
Barbel Neubauer, Germany, 2004-08, digital,
10 mins, color, sound
A computer
3D "motion painting in image and sound." Morphs of
Pegasus is about an inner way, expressed through a journey in
the universe. The film has no cuts and moves all the time.
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