The Square, The Line And The Light
9-11 April 2010
Tate Modern Starr Auditorium
Bankside, London, SE1 9TG
Examining connections between the vibrant modernity of Theo Van Doesburg, the De Stijl movement and experimental film, this programme offers work ranging from the early avant-garde to recent films by contemporary artists.
Filmmakers include James Benning, Robert Breer, Isabelle Cornaro, Georg Cup & Steve Elliott, Viking Eggeling, Hy Hirsh, Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack, Igor & Svetlana Kopystiansky, Christian Lebrat, Laslo Moholy-Nagy, Simon Payne, William Raban, Joost Rekveld, Hans Richter, Walther Ruttmann, Paul Sharits, Steina & Woody Vasulka and more. The programme is accompanied with a lecture by Philippe-Alain Michaud.
Curated by Marie Canet.
With support from the French Cultural Institute in the UK. Held in conjunction with the Tate Modern exhibition, Van Doesburg and the International Avant-Garde.
Friday 9 April 2010, at 7pm
Frame And Plane
In the 44th minute of James Benning’s film One Way Boogie Woogie / 27 years later, two workers cross the frame carrying a large reproduction of a painting by Mondrian. This is one of the film's series of 60 one-minute static shots presenting an inventory of the industrial decay of Milwaukee. Images and sounds gradually give way to rich colour and dynamic, abstract compositions.
- Diagonal Symphony (Viking Eggeling, 1921, 16mm, 8 min)
- Form Phases IV (Robert Breer, 1954, 16mm, 3 min)
- One Way Boogie Woogie / 27 Years Later (James Benning, 1977/2004, 16mm, 120 min)
Saturday 10 April 2010, at 3pm
Form And Frame: De Stijl And Cinema
Philippe-Alain Michaud, theorist and curator of film at Centre Pompidou, presents a talk on the De Stijl aesthetic and cinema. He discusses how Neo-plasticist cinema reconciled the strict anti-naturalism of De Stijl with the ‘atmospheric’ reality of film recording, and how this built a hypothesis for a ‘neo-reality’. The lecture will include a screening of Ernie Gehr’s seminal 1991 film Side/Walk/Shuttle.
- Side/Walk/Shuttle (Ernie Gehr, 1991, 16mm, 40 min)
Saturday 10 April 2010, at 7pm
Square And Vertical: Surface
The repetition and succession of coloured planes gives vibrant rhythm to surfaces. Featuring the reconstruction of a Bauhaus projection as well as work by Christian Lebrat, Simon Payne, William Raban, Hans Richter, Walter Ruttmann and Paul Sharits, this programme presents films in which the square becomes a surface of dynamic exploration.
- Rythmus 21 (Hans Richter, 1921, 16mm, 3 min)
- Diagonal (William Raban, 1973/2010, video, 6 min)
- Rythmus 23 (Hans Richter, 1923, 16mm, 3 min)
- Organisation II (Christian Lebrat, 1977, 16mm, 5 min)
- Opus II, III & IV (Walter Ruttmann, 1921-25, 35mm, 12 min)
- Reconstruction of Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack’s Sonatine I (ultramarine-grün) (Corinne Schweizer & Peter Bohm, 2000, video, 5 min)
- New Ratio (Simon Payne, 2007, video, 2 min)
- Analytical Studies II: Un-Frame-Lines (Paul Sharits, 1971-76, 16mm, 30 min)
Sunday 11 April 2010, at 3pm
Object, Line And Light
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy used light as primary factor in the creation of space and movement, much as Van Doesburg viewed film as a form of architecture with light. This screening examines games of light and form by Moholy-Nagy and other artists.
- The Connection Between Form and Sound #27 (Georg Cup & Steve Elliott, 1979, 8mm on video, 3 min)
- Calligrams (Steina & Woody Vasulka, 1970, video, 4 min)
- Filmkomposition I (Werner Graeff, 1922/77, 16mm, 2 min)
- Filmkomposition II (Werner Graeff, 1922/77, 16mm, 2 min)
- 16X (Svetlana and Igor Kopystiansky, 1979, 16mm on video, 6 min)
- Architectone (Svetlana & Igor Kopystiansky, 1979, 16mm on video, 1 min)
- Projection (Isabelle Cornaro, 2009, 16mm on video, 6 min)
- Lichtspiel schwarz-weiss-grau (Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, 1930, 16mm, 6 min)
- Gyromorphosis (Hy Hirsh, 1956, 16mm, 7 min)
- #11, Marey <-> Moire (Joost Rekveld, 1999, 35mm, 21 min)