Chicago Filmmakers - Saturday, 8pm
As the third installment of the ongoing
retrospective series CRITICAL MASS: RE-VIEWING HOLLIS FRAMPTON, Chicago
Filmmakers will be presenting fragments of the artists' fabled MAGELLAN
CYCLE. Intended to consist of 1000 films totaling roughly 36 hours to
be viewed over 369 days, it is "like a tour of the possible principles
for forming an encyclopedia," according to Frampton. Seen outside
of their original context and because of their frequent structural density,
the individual pieces are sometimes challenging (though not always),
and one can only imagine what the experience of seeing them as short
shots of wisdom day after day after day would have been like. It is
likely that the casual viewer will have difficulty parsing the subtleties
of each piece, but that is only because it is easy to dig too deep to
find meaning. But they can be appreciated on many different levels.
The simplicity of the structure in CADENZAS I & XIV (1980, 11 min,
16mm) revolves around gentle juxtapositions of sound and image, and
a building of meaning from one visual to the next. The trick here is
that what looks like a bold sexual metaphor is really a joke about sexual
metaphors in poetic filmmaking, complete with laugh track. In MINDFALL
I & VII (1977-80, 36 min, 16mm) the visuals are more complex, with
groups being repeated and played like alternating chord structures.
As they build on one another, and refrains are recognized, the often
superimposed and out-of-synch imagery vibrates like a plucked string.
From my viewing notes: cactus, tropical plants, ping-pong, water, religious
symbols, Geiger counter, three kings, Frampton's shadow, applause. Also
screening: MATRIX (1977, 28 min, 16mm) JH - Cine-File.info
No comments:
Post a Comment