John Latham (1921 - 2006) was one of the most important British artists of the post-war period, best remembered for his painting and sculptural works which incorporated materials such as glass, canvas and books. Less well-known, but now restored after several decades out of circulation, are the six films which Latham made during the 1960s and early 1970s. These films developed Latham’s concepts of ‘time-base’ and ‘structure in events’ through playful and varied use of stop-frame animation, from the stroboscopic collage Speak (1960) to the cosmological meditation Erth (1971)

Contents of the DVD:
The DVD includes all of Latham’s completed film works:
• Unclassified Material (1960, 5’20”)
• Unedited Material from the Star (1960, 11’30”)
• Talk Mr Bard (1961, 3’50”)
• Speak (1962, 10’)
• Encyclopedia Britannica (1971, 6’10”)
• Erth (1971, 24’20”)
In addition it includes a number of extras:
• Three short films made as part of Latham’s 1970 exhibition at Lisson
Gallery
• Footage shot and edited by Latham of the events Book Plumbing (1967)
and Big Breather (1973)
• Audio commentaries by Latham’s sons Noa Latham and John-Paul
Latham, Lisson Gallery director Nicholas Logsdail, multimedia artist
Jeffrey Shaw and sound artist David Toop