December 7th 2014
VISUAL MUSIC
Five masterpieces of experimentation and investigation by three radical film makers.
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy (1895-1946) was a Hungarian painter and photographer and professor in the Bauhaus school. He was highly influenced by constructivism and a strong advocate of the integration of technology and industry into the arts.
Oscar Fischinger (1900-1967) developed a radical approach to abstraction working with light, space, time and movement. Using dazzling colour and experimental animation techniques, he strove to push aside narrative and reduce cinema to pure plane, scale, motion, rhythm and colour, in search of the absolute. We present 3 of his works in glorious 35mm.
Lis Rhodes (born 1942) is a major figure in the history of artists’ filmmaking in Britain and was a leading member of the influential London Filmmakers’ Co-op.
Lichtspiel Schwarz-Weiss-Grau Laszlo MOHOLY-NAGY /HUN/1930/ 35 mm /5′ 30
This film is based on the shadow patterns created by Moholy-Nagy’s famous kinetic sculpture- The Light-Space Modulator. Positive and negative images, light flashes, moving, blinding. Whirling spirals, which always return. All solid shapes dissolve into light
Spirals Oskar FISCHINGER /DE/1926/ 35 mm / 4′ 00
Visual patterns of extreme complexity, moving in hypnotic cycles and interrupted with radical editing of single frames of contrasting imagery.
Radio Dynamics Oskar FISCHINGER /DE/1942/ 35 mm / 4′ 00
A silent masterpiece with slow pulsating rhythms and astonishing single-frame flickers of painterly images.
Motion Painting No1 Oskar FISCHINGER /DE/1947 / 35 mm / 11′ 00
A film of extraordinary beauty and rhythmic power. An abstract work created by painting with oils on Plexiglas. The film’s unique combination of visual and aural tonalities never ceases to amaze and charm.
Notes from Light Music Lis Rhodes /25’00/16mm/ UK/ 1975-1977
A single-screen version of Light Music, Rhodes’ fusion of optical sound and image. This is a beautiful composed piece where the image creates the sound and the sound is the image. Bars of black and white in various width and frequency are the sole elements.
Greg Pope. 