CVM Screenings, Exhibitions and Related Events
Top images from films by Oskar Fischinger, Robert Seidel, Scott Draves and Jordan Belson.
Upcoming Events and Screenings, 2024
Current and Future MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS with Films from CVM, 2024
Istanbul. 3 Oskar Fischinger films in "The Dynamic Eye: Op and Kinetic Art" exhibition, organized by Tate Modern, opened January 20, 2024 at ArtIstanbul Feshane. Through May 19.
New York. Mary Ellen Bute films in a Summer exhibition, opening in June, details soon.
Palm Springs, CA Oskar Fischinger, Radio Dynamics and a Charles Dockum film in Particles and Waves exhibition at Palm Springs Art Museum, opening Septembet 2024. Info to follow.
Los Angeles, CA Oskar Fischinger and Mary Ellen Bute films in several museum exhibitions opening later in 2024. Info to follow.
CVM's Virtual Visual Music Seminar, "Oskar Fischinger and Visual Music" next offered beginning June 13, 2024. This popular seminar is 6 weekly zoom sessions featuring illustrated talks, classic and rare films, archival materials and discussions. An in-depth look at Fischinger's career, infuence on, and place in Visual Music. Several other key filmmakers' works are also shown. Six Thursdays via zoom, 11am PST, fee is $200. Student discount may be available. Email for info and to be added to list for our upcoming Seminars.
CVM's Virtual Visual Music Seminars. CVM's popular seminar "Jordan Belson, Vortex Concerts and the Origins of Expanded Cinema" repeated in Feb-March. Five weekly zoom sessions with illustrated talks, films, rare material from CVM's archive, and discussions. Learn the real history of Vortex. Hosted by curator/archivist Cindy Keefer, who worked with Belson restoring and screening his films, producing his DVD and his last film Epilogue. Keefer has published on Belson and the Vortex Concerts after extensive interviews with Belson and others. More info at our Belson site or email CVM for info on the next scheduled Seminar, likely Fall 2024.
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Recent Screenings & Events, 2023
St. Louis, MO. Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis. Oskar Fischinger's Composition in Blue and Mary Ellen Bute's Color Rhapsodie. November 9.
New York. Rockaway Beach. Oskar Fischinger's Motion Painting no. 1 screened with live performance of its original Bach score, August 19. Opening night, Rockaway Film Festival, Also screened, Studie nr 8 (with original soundtrack, not live) and Fantasia.
New York. Metropolitan Museum. Mary Ellen Bute's Color Rhapsodie, Jordan Belson's Seance, from CVM, in a screening July 7 (with original music). "Short Films for Short Nights," a 3 night series, free, July 7, 8 and 9. Details here.
Los Angeles. REDCAT Theater John Stehura's Cibernetik 5.3 and Mary Ellen Bute's Abstronic, in Digital Infinities, a screening accompanying the LACMA "Coded" exhibition. July 1, free admission, details here (downtown LA).
From Music of the Spheres by Belson
Spain, Vilaseco na aldea, Chantada Lugo. Two Belson films screened April 15 (Music of the Spheres) and June 17 (Samadhi), 2023.
Paris, Scratch Projection at Hotel de Ville. 2 William Moritz films screened June 16 in "Vers la Lumière," Star Trick (1975) (double projection) and Michael Brod's Whoever - in Transit (1974), double projection
Rotterdam (WORM), Hong Kong (M+ Museum) - Bute and Fischinger films
Potsdam, Germany April 16 - John Cage and Richard Lippold, The Sun: Variations within a Sphere No. 10 (1956) and Jordan Belson's Samadhi (1967) screened at Filmmuseum Potsdam.
Recent Museum Exhibitions with Films from CVM
Melbourne, Australia. ACMI. Oskar Fischinger - Raumlichtkunst (1926/2012), CVM's 3-screen reconstruction. ACMI (formerly the Australian Centre for the Moving Image). Details on ACMI site. Looped installation, on view during museum opening hours. On view through May, 2023 CLOSED.
Shanghai. Museum of Art, Pudong, "The Dynamic Eye: Op and Kinetic Art." Group show includes 3 Oskar Fischinger films. September 28, 2022 - May, 2023. Co-organized with Tate Modern, London. CLOSED. Touring exhibition.
Los Angeles, CA. LA County Museum of Art, Richard Baily's Night Waves (1977) in "Coded: Art Enters the Computer Age, 1952-82," group show opened February 12, through July 2, 2023. CLOSED
Shenzhen, China. Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art, Bute's Abstronic, opened April. In collaboration with ZKM, Karlsruhe.
Sun Valley, Idaho (US). Sun Valley Museum of Art, "The Color of Sound: Art and Synesthesia" group show included 2 Mary Ellen Bute films. January-March, 2023.
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Recent Screenings 2022
Calgary, Canada. Nov. 20. Accident by Jules Engel (restored by CVM) screens in the Graphite! Animated Traces program, curated by Alla Gadassik, at GIRAF Festival. Also screening at the Len Lye Centre, New Plymouth, NZ, December 4.
Washington, DC. National Gallery of Art, Nov. 25. A new program Color Rhythms: Abstract Animation from Center for Visual Music featuring many preserved pre-digital films, curated by CVM. One screening, includes a 35mm print of Fischinger's Allegretto and a new 16mm preserved print of Belson's Allures, plus other films by Fischinger, Bute, Belson, Jules Engel, Norman McLaren, Baerbel Neubauer and more.
Recife, Brazil. Nov. 18 - ANIMAGE Festival screened Optical Poetry: Oskar Fischinger Retrospective from CVM.
Hiroshima, Japan. Hiroshima Animation Season Festival, included 3 films from CVM (Fischinger, Bute, Belson) in a special Visual Music screening, August 20.
Melbourne, Australia. ACMI, June 28 and July 5 (in person screenings). Optical Poetry: Oskar Fischinger Retrospective and our new companion program, Oskar's Legacy: Films Influenced by Fischinger.
Zurich. Collegium Helveticum, ETH Zurich, May 12. Wax Experiments screens in a conference, "More than 100 Years of Scientific Films."
Films in Recent Exhibitions, 2022
Graz, Austria. Halle Fur Kunst, "Systems of Belief" Group show included Chakra by Jordan Belson. September 24 - January 8, 2023.
Prague. Kunsthalle Prague. Mary Ellen Bute's Rhythm in Light, in Kinetismus: 100 Years of Electricity in Art exhibition. Opened February 22, to August.
Vienna, Austria. One Bute and one Fischinger film in Abstraction and Economy: Absolute Concrete at University of Applied Arts. Through April 9.
Zurich. suns.works Gallery. Jordan Belson's Allures in Salon Solaire exhibition, June 10 - July 31.
Bilbao, Spain. Guggenheim. 2 Mary Ellen Bute films in Women in Abstraction, opened October 2021, through February 27 (Abstronic and CVM's new 2K restoration of Tarantella)
London. Southbank Centre, November through January 9. Fischinger's Radio Dynamics on view nightly, looped, projected outside onto Royal Festival Hall. Part of the Winter Light Festival. Still courtesy Cedar Lewisohn.
Irvine, California. UCI Institute and Museum of California Art, The Resonant Surface, opened September 11, through Jan 2022. includes Fischinger's Radio Dynamics, plus a Fischinger painting from the Museum's collection. CLOSED.
Portugal. Centro de Arte Oliva, "Cruzamentos." Group show includes Parabola by Mary Ellen Bute. October 21 - December 22, 2022. CLOSED
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Films in Recent Museum Exhibitions, 2021
Paris, France. Centre Pompidou,Women in Abstraction, May - August 2021. Two Mary Ellen Bute films (Abstronic and a new 2K transfer of Tarantella) plus archival material from the CVM Collection. CVM thanks Brad and Mary Glanden for their support for the digitization of Tarantella.
Seoul, Korea. National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea. Movement Making Movement, April-August. Oskar Fischinger films, drawings, diagrams, and materials from the CVM Collection. The exhibition includes work by Len Lye, Norman McLaren, Lotte Reiniger and Karl Zeman. Through September. MMCA site.
RECENT Screenings, 2021
Mew York, New York. September, 3 Oskar Fischinger films at New York Film Festival. 35mm and 16mm prints from CVM.
Seoul, Korea. July, Optical Poetry: Oskar Fischinger Retrospective screenings at MMCA, Seoul.
Tokyo, February. Tokyo Museum of Photographic Art, Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions. A new program from CVM: Oskar Fischinger, early Motion Graphics and Visual Music, 3 screenings, February 6, 11 and 21. Including films by Oskar Fischinger, Mary Ellen Bute, Jordan Belson, Jules Engel, John Stehura, Baerbel Neubauer, Michel Gagne, Scott Draves, Bret Battey, Paul Fletcher, Sean Capone, Robert Seidel and more.
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RECENT EXHIBITIONS & SCREENINGS, 2020
Seoul, May 19-December. 12 films from CVM in a special Visual Music section of SoundMuseum exhibition at D Museum. Fischinger, Mary Ellen Bute, Jordan Belson and Jules Engel films. Through December 27, CLOSED. D Museum. Images from Bute, Engel, Belson. Artdaily review.
Lausanne, opened September 4 - Arts et Cinema exhibition at Hermitage Foundation, Lausanne, Switzerland, includes Fischinger's Spirals. Through January 2, 2021, CLOSED.
London, Camden Arts Centre, September - The Botanical Mind exhibition included a Belson film from CVM. Visit their online exhibition (see the As Within section for an essay on Belson by William Moritz, plus images). CLOSED.
Czech Republic (Liberac), ANIFILM Festival. CVM's Optical Poetry: Oskar Fischinger Retrospective screens, featuring Fischinger's classic Visual Musc films: Allegretto, Composition in Blue, Motion Painting no 1, Studies 5, 6, 7, 8, Radio Dynamics, Spirals, Walking from Munich to Berlin and more. Pus our new program Oskar's Legacy: Films Influenced by Fischinger, with films by Bute, Belson, Baerbel Neubauer, Robert Seidel, Michel Gagné, Chris Casady, Max Hattler, Jeff Scher, Steve Woloshen, Paul Fletcher, Oerd van Cuijlenborg, Bret Battey, Scott Draves. October 6-11, 2020.
Postponed. Santa Rosa, CA (Sonoma County). Glenn McKay: Light Show Pioneer. Paintings and Photography. Gallery exhibition of work by Glenn McKay, curated and co-presented by CVM, in association with Santa Rosa Center for the Arts. Opening night, light projections with new work and McKay's vintage mattes. Postponed from June, details when available.
New York, Museum of the Moving Image. Two restored Jordan Belson films from CVM screened at MOMI, January 18.
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Films from CVM in recent Museum exhibitions
Rouen, France. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Fischinger's Spirals in ARTS ET CINÉMA : LES LIAISONS. October 2019 through February 10
RECENT SCREENINGS & EVENTS, 2019
Geneva, December. Two Jordan Belson films from CVM screened at Spoutnik Cinema, Dec 20. Accompanying the exhibition "By repetition" at Bâtiment d’art contemporain. Included 16mm preservation print of Allures, and Samadhi.
Vienna, Austria, November. Jules Engel, Accident at "Animating Truth(s)", part of Vienna Art Week, at University of Applied Arts.
Argentina, November. Two films from CVM (Belson and Bute) screened at Mar del Plato Festival, in a program curated by Harvard Film Archive.
Los Angeles, September 12, 7pm. CVM's Art/Film Fundraiser Party, with two screenings of 16mm films, and an art sale. Films by Oskar Fischinger, Jordan Belson, Mary Ellen Bute, Len Lye and others, on 16mm. There was a related online art sale, with some artwork still available, by Oskar Fischinger, Jules Engel, Edmund Teske, Glenn McKay and more.
Lenox, MA, Tanglewood Music Festival, August 25. CVM's Director gave a presentation on Cinema, Visual Music and Seeing Sound, at Tanglewood Music Center's Learning Institute, part of their Film and Music Weekend.
London, June 15. Two Fischinger films, Kreise and Muratti greift ein (digital), screened at Birkbeck Centre for the Moving Image.
Zagreb: Animafest World Festival of Animated Film included Fischinger's Allegretto, June 3 and 5.
Madrid, Spain, May 25: CVM's Seeing Sound: Mary Ellen Bute Retrospective program at Filmoteca Españole. 16mm program.
Brookyn, NY, May 21: Four Jordan Belson films, including 3 restored 16mm prints from CVM, screened at Light Industry.
New York, NY, April 15: Oskar Fischinger, Study no. 7 (35mm print) at MoMA. Restored by CVM.
Recent Museum Exhibitions with films from CVM, 2019
Mary Ellen Bute, Parabola in Negative Space at ZKM, Karlsruhe(April-August). Digital display.
Münster, Germany, at LWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur Bauhaus und Amerika included 1 Oskar Fischinger and 1 Mary Ellen Bute film. Nov 2018 through March 10, 2019 (digital display).
Karlsruhe, Germany, at ZKM: Two Mary Ellen Bute and one Charles Dockum film (Mobilcolor Performance at the Guggenheim 1952) included in Art in Motion, July 2018 through February 2019 (digital display)
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CVM Screenings, Events and Talks, 2018
Italy, Castle Rocco Sinibalda: Two Screenings, December 7 & 8, 2018. Music for the Eyes. Historical and Contemporary Visual Music from Fischinger to present day, a program from CVM. Website here. A program of Visual Music spanning eight decades, with films by Oskar Fischinger, Mary Ellen Bute, Jordan Belson, John Stehura, Baerbel Neubauer, Chris Casady, Robert Seidel, Max Hattler, Bret Battey, Paul Fletcher and more.
Davis, CA: Talk, December 7 at UC Davis, Design Department. "Fischinger, Expanded Cinema and Large Scale Installations," by CVM Director Cindy Keefer.
New Plymouth, NZ: Screening Series at Len Lye Centre, "Oskar Fischinger and Len Lye," Saturdays, December 2018 through Jan 26, 2019. Len Lye Centre Cinema.
Sonoma County, CA: Music for the Eyes, Visual Music Films from CVM. Screening of historic and contemporary visual music. October 5, repeated October 7, at Sonoma FIlm Institute, Rohnert Park, CA. Includes films by Oskar Fischinger, Mary Ellen Bute (Abstronic), Jordan Belson (Bop Scotch), Jules Engel, Barry Spinello, Steve Woloshen (1000 Plateaus), Max Hattler (Divisional Articulations), Bret Battey (Estuaries 3), Kathy Hinde, Baerbel Neubauer, Chris Harvey and Paul Fletcher. The Friday night screening was introduced by curator Cindy Keefer of CVM. Screened digitally.
Barcelona, CCCB: 3 Mary Ellen Bute films from CVM screened digitally in "Inner Screen" at CCCB, August 1-31.
Sonoma County, CA: CVM Symposium 2018: Exploring and Preserving Visual Music. August 14-16, 2018. 18 talks/presentations, 5 screenings, 2 wine receptions!
Presented in association with Sonoma State University. Symposium and screenings series (5 screenings curated by CVM) in Rohnert Park (Northern California), plus opening wine reception and special closing event & screening on Thursday August 16. The Symposium featured talks on audiovisual art, music visualization, color organs, Oskar Fischinger, James Whitney, Norman McLaren, John Cage, visual music and art history, live performance techniques (analog/digital), Teaching Visual Music, 1960s psychedelic light shows, mapping musical scores, sonification, oscilloscopes, preservation and more. Plus special video spotlights on Len Lye, Mary Ellen Bute and Fischinger's Lumigraph. Special Thursday Closing Event presented in collaboration with Sebastopol Center for the Arts: Film Screening, Panel Discussion and closing reception.
5 Screenings, part of the August Symposium: Restorations and Discoveries; Optical Poetry: Oskar Fischinger Retrospective; New Visual Music; Oskar's Legacy: Films Influenced by Fischinger (all 4 were digital); and Treasures from the CVM Archive (16mm). Program details here. Images above from Fischinger, Lye, Bute
OTHER 2018 Screenings and Exhibitions
Riverside, CA: May 18. Audiovisual Music V: Visual Music films from the Center for Visual Music Archive. Screening at UCR's ARTSblock, Culver Center, curated and introduced by curator/archivist Cindy Keefer. 7pm, 3834 Main Street, Riverside, CA. Digital formats. Features films by Oskar Fischinger, Mary Ellen Bute, Jordan Belson, Jules Engel, Barry Spinello and more. Details.
Films from CVM's archive screened recently at Block Cinema (Illinois); University of Wisconsin (Madison); SACO Festival (Spain) and at Borealis Festival, Norway
San Francisco: West Coast Premiere! Exhibition of Oskar Fischinger: Raumlichtkunst (1926/2012), HD Reconstruction by CVM. Weinstein Gallery, SOMA Location, 444 Clementina. A restoration and reconstruction of Fischinger's 1920s multiple-projector performances, presented as an HD three-channel installation. Plus animation artwork from Fischinger's film Radio Dynamics, ephemera and more. December 16 through February 10, 2018 CLOSED
January 31 - Talk and exhibition walkthrough by curator/archivist Cindy Keefer. 6-8 pm, details
Exhibition brochure here, featuring essays on Raumlichtkunst and a Fischinger biography. More on Raumlichtkunst here, including essays, press and credits. Raumlichtkunst has previously been exhibited at The Whitney Museum NY; Tate Modern, London; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Len Lye Centre, New Zealand, among other venues.
Houston, TX: February. CVM's Seeing Sound: Mary Ellen Bute Retrospective screened at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in association with Aurora Picture Show and CVM
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CVM Screenings and Events, Fall 2017
Princeton, NJ: October 19. CVM's Mary Ellen Bute Retrospective screened in Light Industry's series at Princeton University
Santa Rosa, CA (Sonoma County): September 29. Visual Music and Early Abstract Films, a CVM casual salon/screening at Chroma Gallery. An outdoor salon-style screening of abstract films from the CVM archive, exploring the relationships between images and music. Featuring historical films from the CVM archive and contemporary videos projected in the garden behind Chroma Gallery. Abstract films by Oskar Fischinger, Mary Ellen Bute, Jules Engel, John Stehura and others, plus contemporary work by Bret Battey, Chris Harvey, LIA, Robert Seidel, Steve Woloshen, Steve Wood and more. Curator/archivist Cindy Keefer of CVM introduced the films. 8 pm. Tickets at the door. Images above from Fischinger, Bute, Battey, LIA. DETAILS
Museum exhibitions, 2017: Films from CVM installed in recent museum/gallery exhibitions (digital display)
New York: February-September, two Fischinger films in The Guggenheim Museum's Visionaries exhibition. CLOSED
New Zealand: Oskar Fischinger: Raumlichtkunst (c. 1926/2012), April - August, 2017. Len Lye Centre/Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, NZ. DETAILS Talk on Fischinger by CVM's director on April 8.
Raumlichtkunst at Len Lye Centre, 2017, Image (c) CVM
France: Centre Pompidou, Metz - Musicircus, opened 2016, through July 2017, included Fischinger's Kreise.
Torino, Italy: Colori, opened March 13. Included one Fischinger and one Belson film. CLOSED
Berkeley, CA: February - May 2017. Hippie Modernism at Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA included Belson's Allures
New York: Oskar Fischinger: Raumlichtkunst (c. 1926/2012), CVM's reconstruction in the Whitney Museum's exhibition Dreamlands: Immersive Cinema and Art, 1905-2016. October 2016 through February 2017. Also in this exhibition were 5 Fantasia concept drawings by Fischinger from the CVM collection. More on Raumlichtkunst here, including essays, press and credits.
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Other Recent Screenings, Salons and Talks, 2016-17
Los Angeles: April 30, 2017. Seeing Sound: Mary Ellen Bute Retrospective at Cinefamily. One screening, featured 16mm prints from the Cecile Starr Collection at CVM.
March 3, 2017, Paris: Films Sacred and Profane: Jordan Belson Retrospective, at Centre Pompidou, 16mm prints, presented by CVM's Director Cindy Keefer. Above, still from Belson's Mandala
February 28, London: Films Sacred and Profane: Jordan Belson Retrospective, at BFI Southbank, 16mm prints.
February 7, 2017, Berkeley, CA: Films Sacred and Profane: Jordan Belson Retrospective, at BAM/Pacific Film Archive. 16mm prints. DETAILS
November 18, 2016, Los Angeles: A CVM Salon, in association with Blindspot Project. Featuring historical films from the archive (Belson, Lebrun, Stehura, Yalkut), contemporary films and videos, liquid lights and music. FB Event page. Images from Jud Yalkut, Turn, Turn, Turn and John Stehura, Cibernetik 5.3
October 29, 2016, New York: several Belson films including Music of the Spheres (preserved 16mm print, original long version) and Samadhi, plus John Stehura's Cibernetik 5.3, screening in a program at Whitney Museum, NY, curated by Chrissie Iles (one screening only).
October 27, Cambridge, MA: Mood Contrasts and Tarantella by Mary Ellen Bute, at Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA. 16mm
October 12, Oxford: A CVM Salon at Oxford University, Wolfson College. Featuring historical films from the archive, contemporary videos and live light painting by Mark Rowan-Hull. Films by Jordan Belson, Mary Ellen Bute, Jules Engel, Barry Spinello presented by CVM's director Cindy Keefer, with contemporary work by Bret Battey, Scott Draves, Xarene Eskandar, Chris Harvey, Eric Leiser, Robert Seidel, Steve Woloshen and more. Artists in person: Mark Rowan-Hull and Bret Battey. Rowan-Hull performance accompanied by Christopher Redgate. Stills from Bute, Belson, Battey
October 11, London: A CVM Salon at Horse Hospital Arts Centre. Featuring historical films from the archive, contemporary work and live light painting by Mark Rowan-Hull. Films by Jordan Belson, Mary Ellen Bute, Jules Engel, John Stehura and others presented by CVM’s director Cindy Keefer, plus new work by Scott Draves, Xarene Eskandar, Christina McPhee, Robert Seidel, Steve Woloshen and more. Light/sound performance painting accompanied by Matt Wright, Roger Redgate and Portia Winters. Doors 7 pm. Horse Hospital, Colonnade, Bloomsbury, London. Still from Belson's Mandala
October 9, Landscape by Jules Engel and Samadhi by Jordan Belson, BFI, London Film Festival, London
October 8, Lisbon: Jordan Belson: Films Sacred and Profane, Retrospective film screening presented by CVM Director/Curator Cindy Keefer. 16mm and digital, includes new preserved 16mm prints (Chakra, Allures, Vortex V Presentation reel, Momentum) plus rarely screened films - Bop Scotch, Mandala, Seance, Cycles, Quartet and more. Part of Abstract Film Cycle at Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon. 5 pm. images from Samadhi, Cycles, Quartet
September 30, Paris: Belson's Bop Scotch and Chakra (16mm print) at Centre Pompidou, Paris
September 18, LA: Belson's Chakra (16mm print) screened at Cinefamily at Barnsdall Park, Los Angeles (outdoor screening)
April 30 - July 9, New Zealand: Films from CVM in Syncopated Cinema at the Len Lye Centre, in a program curated by Frank Stark. Includes films by Belson (Bop Scotch), Bute (Polka Graph) and Barry Spinello, plus others. Selected screening dates, in the Len Lye Centre Cinema. Image from Polka Graph courtesy CVM
May 9, Germany: Oberhausen International Short Film Festival, Archives Section. Talk and screening of restored films from CVM's archive, by filmmakers Jordan Belson (Chakra, Music of the Spheres, LSD), Fischinger, John Cage and Richard Lippold (The Sun Film), plus video documentation of Raumlichtkunst. Presented by CVM's director Cindy Keefer.
April 8, Hudson Valley, NY: 4 films from CVM (Fischinger, Bute), screened at EMPAC, Troy, NY. On Screen/Sound series. Image above from Bute's Tarantella.
Classroom screenings at Harvard, Colgate and UWM
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Recent Museum exhibitions: Films from CVM installed in recent museum/gallery exhibitions
São Paulo Art Biennial (Brazil) included Jordan Belson's Samadhi (digital, looped installation) plus selected artwork by Belson. September 5 through December 11, 2016
Switzerland: Charles Blanc-Gatti. Hypothèses d'une généalogie at Musée d’art de Pully, Switzerland. October 13 hrough Dec. 18, 2016. Included Fischinger's Swiss Trip (Rivers and Landscapes), digital display.
Los Angeles: Two Fischinger films (An American March, Radio Dynamics) and one Mary Ellen Bute film (Polka Graph) included in the Woody Woodpecker and the Avant-Garde exhibition at Laband Gallery, LMU, Los Angeles (digital display). Sept 22 through November. Cartoon Brew review
Ballroom Marfa (Texas) - After Effect, through September, 2016, included Fischinger's Radio Dynamics
San Diego Museum of Art (California) - The Art of Music, opened September 26, 2015, closed Feb. 7. Three Fischinger films (digital), from CVM, through February 2016. Plus one Fischinger painting, from the Museum's collection.
Walker Art Center (Minneapolis) - Hippie Modernism, opened October 24, closed February 28, 2016. Installation of Jordan Belson's Allures. This show travels to Berkeley Art Museum in February 2017.
Centre Pompidou, Metz (France) - Cosa mentale - Art et télépathie au XXe siècle. Opened October 25, through March 28, 2016. Installation of Jordan Belson's Samadhi.
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2015 Programs, Screenings and Events from CVM
October 24, Minneapolis: Films Sacred and Profane, Jordan Belson Retrospective screening. Walker Art Center, part of opening events for the exhibition Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia which opened Oct. 24. This specially curated show from CVM features 16mm preserved prints including Allures, Chakra, LSD (c. 1962), Vortex presentation reel (1959), Momentum and Music of the Spheres (original version!); plus Mandala, Seance, Samadhi, Quartet and more. Introduced by Cindy Keefer of CVM. Images from Momentum and Allures
Newark, NJ, October 17: Color in Visual Music. Film program from CVM during the Newark Museum's Festival of Color and Light, a Family Day all ages event. Featuring films by Oskar Fischinger, Jules Engel, Mary Ellen Bute (Polka Graph and Tarantella), Richard Baily, Robert Seidel, Steve Woloshen (1000 Plateaus), Barry Spinello and more. 16mm and digital. Afternoon screening, repeated once. Image from Bute's Tarantella.
London, Oct 4: Abstraction and Infinity: Visual Music Films, screening at Barbican Centre, London, related event for their Trancender festival. Transcender is the Barbican’s acclaimed annual series of transcendental and psychedelic music. This special screening of abstract Visual Music films was curated by Cindy Keefer, Director of Center for Visual Music. Featuring the transcendent visions of Jordan Belson, James & John Whitney, Jud Yalkut, Richard Baily, Bret Battey and other artists, with psychedelic-infused films, this program celebrates the exploration of absolute light and sound in Visual Music. 16mm and digital. Part of the Head Trips film series at Barbican.
New York, October 1: Cecile Starr Tribute Celebration. Center for Visual Music and The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, presented a Cecile Starr Tribute Celebration at Lincoln Center, New York. As a writer, educator, scholar, and film distributor, Cecile Starr (1921-2014) was a tireless champion of experimental animation and independent cinema, firmly dedicated to the belief that film was an art form. This tribute event salutes her life and work, with films by Bute, Fischinger, Lye (Colour Flight), Richter (Ghosts Before Breakfast), Spinello and others Cecile promoted; Starr's English language version of Alexeieff at the Pinboard (1960); video footage of Cecile; short testimonials by colleagues, family and friends, plus a new tribute film made for the event by Devon Damonte. Please join us in celebrating this remarkable woman’s life. Organized in association with Cecile's family. Reservations through NYPL, free admission. More details on the Facebook Event page. Image of young Cecile courtesy Boyajian family
Pamplona, Spain, September 22 and 29 - Oskar Fischinger: Visual Music. A selection of 35mm Oskar Fischinger prints from CVM, 2 screenings at Museo Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona. Part of Abstract Animation series including Len Lye and Norman McLaren programs.
Hamburg, Germany - June 4-8 Oskar Fischinger: Raumlichtkunst was presented in a special installation at klingt gut! Symposium June 4-6. HAW, Hamburg Arts & Media Campus. Curator/archivist Cindy Keefer of CVM spoke on Fischinger and Raumlichtkunst.
Brisbane, Australia - Installation: Oskar Fischinger's Raumlichtkunst - CVM's HD 3 screen reconstruction, at Brisbane's Museum of Modern Art - Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, in the exhibition Sublime: Contemporary Works from the Collection. August 2013 - May 2014.
New York, February - May: Two SUN films by John Cage and Richard Lippold (restored by CVM), displayed at Hunter College Art Galleries, CUNY, Park Avenue, New York, in the exhibition Robert Motherwell and The New York School at Hunter, Feb - May 2 (digital versions). Restored in association with The John Cage Trust, with support from the NFPF. More info
Lithuania, April 24: Jordan Belson and John Stehura films (one each) screened at CAC, Vilnius, Lithuania
Toronto, April: Bute's Synchromy No. 4: Escape screened at TIFF's Bell Light Box, Toronto
From Mood Contrasts, (c) CVM
Ann Arbor, March 25: Mary Ellen Bute's Mood Contrasts (16mm) and John Stehura's Cibernetik 5.3, at Ann Arbor Film Festival
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2014
Recent Museum Exhibitions with Films from CVM
Logan, Utah (US) : Enchanted Modernities: Mysticism, Landscape and the American West. Through Dec. 10, at Nora Eccles Harrison Museum. More info. Includes Fischinger's Radio Dynamics. CLOSED
Nashville (US): Watch Me Move: The Animation Show, on tour. The most extensive animation exhibition ever organized. Organized by Barbican Centre, London. June - Sept., 2014 in Nashville, Tennessee. Next venue, Monterrey, Mexico, opening Nov. 20 CLOSED
Dortmund, Germany: Moving Types - Lettern im Bewegung, exhibition opened September 26 at Dormunder-U. Includes Kreise by Oskar Fischinger. CLOSED. Currently touring other venues.
Scotland, UK: Living Colour exhibition at Pier Arts Centre, Orkney, including Fischinger's Radio Dynamics. May - June, 2014. CLOSED
Reykjavik, Iceland: Two Fischinger films in Cadences of Line and Color exhibition, opened February 1 at Reykjavik Art Museum. CLOSED
Winnipeg, Canada: March 7-May 11, Sensing the Future: Moholy-Nagy, Media and the Arts at Plug-In Institute of Contemporary Art. Includes Fischinger's Ornament Sound. CLOSED.
New Zealand: February - May 2014, 3 Fischinger films in Cinema & Painting exhibition at Adam Art Gallery, Wellington, NZ. CLOSED
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CVM Screenings and Events, 2014
New York, November 16: Four films from CVM screened at Museum of Modern Art, NY - To Save and Project: The 12th MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation, including the two newly discovered John Cage/Richard Lippold SUN films,Oskar Fischinger's Studie nr 5, and Jordan Belson's rarely screened LSD (c. 1962). 1:30 pm, Press Kit with press release and screening schedule.
Eindhoven, NL, November 8-15. GLOW Next at NATlab included Fischinger's Study nr 7
London, November 4: Three films from CVM screened at BFI Southbank, London. "Jet Propelled Cinema: How Psychedelia Infected Hollywood Sci-Fi" - included Jordan Belson's Momentum (new 16mm print) and Samadhi, and John Stehura's Cibernetik 5.3. More info
Cambridge, MA, September: CVM's Seeing Sound: Mary Ellen Bute Retrospective (Monday, Sept 29) and Optical Poetry: Oskar Fischinger Retrospective (Sunday, Sept 28, 7 pm) at Harvard Film Archive. Fischinger show, 35mm prints; Bute, 16mm prints. Introduced by Cindy Keefer of Center for Visual Music. Image from Bute's Tarantella, (c) CVM.
Philadelphia, October 2: Optical Poetry: Oskar Fischinger Retrospective at International House. 35mm prints
Brisbane, Australia - August 30 - a screening of Optical Poetry: Oskar Fischinger Retrospective, featuring 35mm restored prints. Queensland Art Gallery/GoMA, 2 pm, Cinema A. Preceded by a talk by Cindy Keefer of CVM at 1 pm, "Oskar Fischinger, Raumlichtkunst and Visual Music."
Stills from The Sun film, and Fischinger's Studie nr. 5
April 26, Bard College, NY: CVM's new program featuring the newly discovered John Cage films and rare Jordan Belson work. New Restorations and Discoveries from CVM, with newly preserved 35mm and 16mm prints. This screening is sponsored by The John Cage Trust and the Bard College Conservatory of Music, and introduced by curator/archivist Cindy Keefer and Laura Kuhn, Director, John Cage Trust. Program includes two newly preserved, "lost" John Cage/Richard Lippold Sun films, four rare Jordan Belson films (including LSD, Vortex presentation reel and the unfinished Quartet, c. 1983), Oskar Fischinger's Ornament Sound, Spirals and Studie nr. 5 (the latter two in newly preserved 35mm prints), Jud Yalkut's Turn, Turn, Turn, Charles Dockum's Mobilcolor Performance film and more. This program previously screened at Hammer Museum LA/UCLA and Tate Modern, London (see below). "An evening of magnificent audio-visual pleasure and knowledge." - Film Historian and Professor David James. Ottaway Theatre (Bard campus). More about The Sun films by Cage and Lippold. Link to full title list, details and film descriptions.
Laguna Beach CA, January 30: Book signing for new Fischinger book, and Oskar Fischinger talk, by CVM Director Cindy Keefer at Laguna Art Museum.
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Recent CVM Screenings, Events and Presentations, 2013:
Los Angeles, December 14: New CVM program, New Restorations and Discoveries from CVM at UCLA Film & TV Archive's Billy Wilder Theatre, Hammer Museum, Westwood. Program includes 4 rare Jordan Belson films (including LSD, Vortex presentation reel and the unfinished Quartet, c. 1983), two newly preserved, "lost" John Cage/Richard Lippold Sun films, Fischinger's Ornament Sound and Studie nr. 5 (35mm prints), a newly preserved Charles Dockum 1970 Mobilcolor performance film, Jud Yalkut's Turn, Turn, Turn, Richard Baily's Night Waves, and more. Featuring restored 16mm and 35mm prints. Introduced by curator/archivist Cindy Keefer; Cage scholar Richard Brown, Ph.D. introduced the Cage/Lippold films. A Los Angeles Times Critic's Pick
Santa Barbara, CA, Nov. 16: Exploring Visual Music, a special one-day Symposium at UC Santa Barbara, organized by CVM with UCSB Media Arts and Technology. The event features talks by invited presenters, plus short screenings of historical and contemporary visual music films. Presenters include Jack Ox, Cindy Keefer, Casey Mongoven, and special guest Barbara Fischinger. Film and video by Oskar Fischinger, Jordan Belson, Mary Ellen Bute, Norman McLaren, Walther Ruttmann, Harry Smith, Kurt Laurenz Theinert, Bret Battey, Robert Seidel, Scott Draves, Steve Woloshen and more. CNSI, Elings Hall.
Brooklyn, NY, Nov. 5: Light Industry presentes CVM's Mary Ellen Bute Retrospective. Light Industry, Brooklyn. Prints from the Cecile Starr Collection at CVM. Image courtesy EM Arts
Ireland, October 2 - 3: "Preserving Visual Music: The Archives of Center for Visual Music," illustrated lectures at National University of Ireland, Galway and Trinity College Dublin, by Cindy Keefer of CVM
London, September 26, Tate Modern: Premiere of a new CVM program, "Found: New Restorations and Discoveries from Center for Visual Music" including rare Jordan Belson films (including LSD and the unfinished Quartet), the newly preserved, "lost" John Cage/Richard Lippold SUN film, Fischinger's Ornament Sound and Studie nr 5 (35mm prints) and more.
Bristol, UK, September 21: Two CVM Events: Lecture, "Pioneers of Pre-Digital Cinema and Kinetic Art: The Archives of Center for Visual Music" followed by a screening of:
Jordan Belson: Films Sacred and Profane (Retrospective, 16mm), both events at Arnolfini Centre for Contemporary Arts
US, September: Doug Aitken's Station to Station. Touring art project, included Fischinger's Spirals.
Oskar Fischinger's Raumlichtkunst - 2013 exhibitions
Palais de Tokyo, Paris, in the exhibition La Fin de la Nuit, June - Sept. 2013
Tate Modern, London, June 2012 to March, 2013, 5th Floor Collection Displays
CVM's Film preservation supported by the Avant-Garde Masters Program, funded by The Film Foundation, administered by The National Film Preservation Foundation.
Los Angeles: June 10, 2013, three Hans Richter prints from CVM screen at LACMA, Bing Theatre (Ghosts Before Breakfast, Inflation and Filmstudie). Prints from the Cecile Starr Collection at CVM.
May 16, Los Angeles: CVM Presents an Evening with Barry Spinello - Salon-style screening, Artists' Talk and reception. Four of Spinello's classic 16mm cameraless films with hand-drawn sound, plus the premiere of his new digital work TOWARDS (work in progress, 2013). Echo Park Film Center. 8 pm, $5. 16mm and digital. Spinello in OffScreen magazine, 2007 (PDF). Press release. Strips from Soundtrack (1969), courtesy the artist. Link to image of one 10 second loop, shown with an offset, sound is shown here next to corresponding picture (offset in photoshop). Scroll from top to bottom.
Bristol, UK: April screening with Cibernetik 5.3 by John Stehura, at Arnolfini Centre for Contemporary Arts
St. Louis, MO, April 5: Seeing Sound: Visual Music Films at New Music Circle of St. Louis, MO. A new program from CVM, featuring films by Fischinger, Ruttmann (Opus IV), Bute (Abstronic), Lye, McLaren (Dots and Loops), VanDerBeek, Belson (World), Harry Smith, Barry Spinello (Six Loop Paintings) and more. A program especially for musicians and concert/music audiences, featuring a variety of historical musical approaches to VM. 35mm/16mm/digital. Images from Ruttmann, Bute, Fischinger and Belson films; Bute image courtesy EM Arts, others (c) Center for Visual Music. St. Louis magazine press & interview including title list.
Recent Museum Exhibitions with Films from CVM, 2013:
London: Three Jordan Belson films, including World and Chakra, in Reflections from Damaged Life: an exhibition on psychedelia, at Raven Row, London, September 25-December 15. Digital versions. Closed.
Berlin, April -July: Belson's Re-entry in "The Whole Earth. California and the Disapppearance of the Outside" exhibition at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin. Closed July 7.
Mexico City, March - May: Fischinger's Spiritual Constructions in Arte y Animacion exhibition at Museo Universitario El Chopo, Mexico City. CLOSED
Brazil: Watch Me Move: The Animation Show, on tour. The most extensive animation exhibition ever organized, includes Fischinger's Radio Dynamics. Organized by Barbican Centre, London. At CCBB Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 4 Feb - 7 April, then CCBB Brasilia, Brazil: 29 April - 7 July.
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2012
Recent Screenings, 2012:
Optical Poetry: Oskar Fischinger Retrospective (2 programs), at EYE Filmmuseum, Amsterdam, Dec. 15-16, 2012. Featuring two programs of 35mm preserved prints of classic and rarely-screened films, curated by CVM, from our collection.
Fall 2012, Northeast US tour for Jordan Belson: Films Sacred and Profane
November 8 Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH
October 24: TIFF Light Box, Toronto
Optical Poetry: Program features restored 35mm prints including Spirals, Walking from Munich to Berlin, Spiritual Constructions, Studies 2, 5, 6, 7 and 8; Kreise, Muratti Greift Ein, Allegretto (two versions), An American March, Radio Dynamics, Motion Painting no. 1 and more.
October 16: Jordan Belson, Films Sacred and Profane at Colgate University, Hamilton, NY
October 14: Jordan Belson, Films Sacred and Profane at Harvard Film Archive, Cambridge, MA
July 6: Jordan Belson, Films Sacred and Profane at International House, Philadelphia
June 1: Optical Poetry, Oskar Fischinger Retrospective at Tate Modern, London. Starr Auditorium, 7 pm. Featuring 35mm preserved prints of his classic visual music films. Introduced by Cindy Keefer of Center for Visual Music.
April 27, LACMA, Los Angeles: TWO Programs: Optical Poetry: Oskar Fischinger Retrospective. Program features restored 35mm prints including Spirals, Walking from Munich to Berlin, Spiritual Constructions, R-1 ein Formspiel, Studies 5, 6, 7 and 8; Kreise (two versions), Muratti Greift Ein, Allegretto (two versions) American March, Radio Dynamics, Motion Painting no. 1 and more. Prints preserved by Center for Visual Music, Academy Film Archive, EYE Film Institute Netherlands and Fischinger Archive, with the support of Film Foundation, Sony, Cinémathèque québécoise, Deutsches Filmmuseum. Bing Theatre, LACMA. Program introduced by Cindy Keefer of CVM. Bing Theatre, 7:30. Ticketing through LACMA; first of 2 programs this evening. Introduced by curator/archivist Cindy Keefer. Image from Fischinger's Motion Painting no. 1, (c) Fischinger Trust. More about this program on the LACMA Unframed Blog, and in the LA Weekly
Plus Color and Form: California Modernist Animation and Abstraction, a special program of abstract film from CVM, including Mandala by Jordan Belson, jazz films by Belson (Caravan) and Harry Smith (Films number 1,2,3 with restored Gillespie tracks), Fischinger's Muntz TV ad, Bruce Conner's Cosmic Ray, Jules Engel's Mobiles, Play Pen and his color field film Landscape, John Stehura's Cibernetik 5.3, Charles Dockum's 1969 Mobilcolor Film and more. Bing Theatre, LACMA. Details tba. These programs presented accompanying LACMA's California Design exhibition. Images from Mandala, Muntz TV and Mobiles (c) Jordan Belson, Fischinger Trust and CVM. LA County Museum of Art, Bing Theatre, April 27.
March 4, San Francisco. Two daytime programs of Visual Music for children and families, at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Free admission. Films by Oskar Fischinger, Norman McLaren (Dots and Loops), Jules Engel (Mobiles), Baerbel Neubauer (Holiday), Steve Woloshen (Shimmer Box Drive) and David Ehrlich. Part of Back to Basics, more details soon. 35mm/16mm and Beta SP video. Images from Oskar Fischinger and David Ehrlich.
February 24, Amsterdam. 2 prints from CVM (Fischinger's R-1 ein Formspiel, the 1993 Cinemascope recreation by William Moritz, plus Charles Dockum, 1969 Mobilcolor Performance film) screened in Colour Music Recollections program at Sonic Acts festival, Amsterdam. Curated by Joost Rekveld, at De Balie.
Scott Draves and the Electric Sheep
July 2011 - February 2012, Los Angeles: Expanded Abstraction: A special 3-screen HD program from CVM featuring Generation 244 (2010) by Scott Draves and The Electric Sheep, plus HD 3-screen work by Robert Seidel, Baerbel Neubauer, Christina McPhee, Maura McDonnell and Charles Dockum (1969 Mobilcolor Performance in 3 movements, reformatted for 3 screens). Curated by Cindy Keefer. LA County Museum of Art, central plaza, Stark Bar. Through January 31, 2012. Documentation of the program at LACMA with Mobilcolor film; Preview of McPhee's Bird of Paradise video triptych. Preview, Draves' Generation 244. Preview, Robert Seidel's vellum in Seoul. On view: July 2011 through February 16, 2012. Images courtesy the artists. On top postcard: top row, Draves, McDonnell, Neubauer. Bottom row: Dockum, McPhee, Seidel. Read about the program on UNFRAMED, the LACMA Blog.
January 7, 2012, Washington DC: Optical Poetry: Oskar Fischinger Retrospective. Double feature, two programs: "Classics of Visual Music," and "Rarely Screened Work." National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, 3 pm. Classics program (35mm) includes Spirals, Walking from Munich to Berlin, Spiritual Constructions, Studies 6, 7 and 8; Kreise (two versions), Allegretto (two versions) American March, Radio Dynamics, Motion Painting no 1 and more. The new Rarely-Seen Works program (35mm/16mm) includes Swiss Trip, Ornament Sound, 1920s tests and experiments, Pierette I, Studies 3 and 9; Euthymol ad, Oklahoma Gas, "Motion Painting 2" fragments, Berlin Home Movies and much more. Prints preserved by Center for Visual Music, Academy Film Archive, EYE Film Institute Netherlands and Fischinger Archive, with the support of Film Foundation, Sony, Cinémathèque québécoise, Deutsches Filmmuseum and The National Film Preservation Foundation. NGA, 4th & Constitution, East Building Concourse, Auditorium, 3pm.
Recent Museum Exhibitions with Films from CVM:
Venice, Italy, through Nov. 25: The Small Utopia, at Fondazione Prada's Ca’ Corner della Regina. Two Fischinger films, including Ornament Sound.
New York, July through Sept 2012.: Ghosts in the Machine, at New Museum. Included John Stehura's Cibernetik 5.3. NY Times Review. CLOSED
Mainz, Germany. Moving Types - Lettern in Bewegung, The Gutenberg Museum. Included Fischinger's Kreise. Closed.
Watch Me Move- The Animation Exhibition, Barbican Centre, London. Opened June 2011 (London show has closed). At Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Canada through Dec. 24, then touring in Asia. Fischinger's Radio Dynamics is in a black box room.
October 2011 - January 2012: Ritmi Visivi: Luigi Veronisi nell'astrattismo europeo exhibition, Fondazione Ragghianti, Lucca, Italy, included 2 Fischinger films. Closed.
2011
Recent Screenings and Events, 2011:
November 1, Oxford, UK- "Preserving Visual Music: The Archives of Center for Visual Music." Lecture with films by Cindy Keefer of CVM, at University of Oxford, Wolfson College. Also Nov. 3 at Goldsmiths College, University of London.
October 29-30, Bath, UK - "Fischinger's Ornament Sound experiments and Visual Music" presentation by Cindy Keefer of CVM, at Seeing Sound 2 symposium, Bath Spa University, Bath, UK.
October 29-30, Bath, UK Direct/Handmade Films program featuring films by Oskar Fischinger, Barry Spinello, Lis Rhodes, Guy Sherwin, Devon Damonte, Richard Reeves and Steven Woloshen, at Seeing Sound 2 symposium, Bath Spa University, Bath, UK. Co-Curated by CVM and Bath Spa University's Centre for Musical Research. 16mm/digital.
October 19, Berkeley, CA: Jordan Belson: Films Sacred and Profane, at Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley. A special Memorial and Retrospective presented by CVM with rarely screened films including Caravan (1952), Seance (1959), Re-Entry (1964), Momentum (1968), Chakra (1972), and Light (1973), plus Allures (1961), Cycles (made with Stephen Beck), Music of the Spheres (1977/2002), Epilogue (2005) and a never-released film Quartet. Program features many preserved 16mm prints. Ticketing through PFA. Image from Music of the Spheres artwork storyboard (c) Jordan Belson. We are all saddened by Belson's recent death. This show will travel to additional venues soon; for more details please return soon. September 27, UCSB, Santa Barbara, CA: Preserving Visual Music: The Archives of Center for Visual Music. Illustrated lecture
June 10 - Annecy, France. Optical Poetry: Oskar Fischinger Retrospective at Annecy Festival. One screening. 35mm prints, Classics program.
May 16 - London. "Jordan Belson: Films Sacred and Profane" at Tate Modern Museum. Starr Auditorium, 6:30 pm. 16mm and video.
May 15 - Amsterdam. EYE Film Institute, Vondelpark - 2 shows from CVM:
Jordan Belson: Films Sacred and Profane. 4 pm. Ticketing through EYE. 16mm and video.
Optical Poetry: Oskar Fischinger Retrospective. 6:15 pm. Ticketing through EYE. 35mm prints, Classics program.May 11 - Special CVM presentation at ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany. Lecture and film screening (including the Jordan Belson program), 6 pm
May 7-8 - Stuttgart, Germany. Optical Poetry: Oskar Fischinger Retrospective. 2 special Fischinger programs screen at Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film, May 7-8. "Classics of Visual Music" (May 7, 3 pm), plus a new program of "Rare Works" (May 8, 3 pm, Metropol 3). 35mm prints. Ticketing, maps, directions, etc. through Festival website. Classics program includes Spirals, Walking from Munich to Berlin, Spiritual Constructions, Studies 6, 7 and 8; Kreise (two versions), Allegretto (two versions) American March, Radio Dynamics, Motion Painting no 1 and more. The new Rare Works program includes Swiss Trip, Ornament Sound, 1920s tests and experiments, Pierette I, Studies 3, 9 and 12; Euthymol ad, Oklahoma Gas, Home Movies, Lumigraph film, and much more. Prints preserved by Center for Visual Music, Academy Film Archive, EYE Film Institute Netherlands and Fischinger Archive, with the support of Film Foundation, Sony, Cinémathèque québécoise, Deutsches Filmmuseum and The National Film Preservation Foundation.
March 26 - LOS ANGELES: Jordan Belson: Films Sacred and Profane, a special Retrospective presented by CVM at Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Featuring rarely screened films including Caravan (1952), Seance (1959), Chakra (1972), Light (1973), and Belson's latest film Epilogue (2005). Plus Allures (1961), Cycles (made with Stephen Beck), Music of the Spheres, and more. Program featured many preserved 16mm prints. Ticketing through LACMA. 7:30 pm, Bing Theatre.
March 9 - TORONTO: Two 35mm Fischinger films from CVM screened in "MANTLER’S VISUAL MUSIC," at TIFF Bell Lightbox/TIFF Cinematheque, Toronto, Canada.
Recent Exhibitions with Films and Artwork from CVM (2011):
NEW YORK : The Unfinished Film, Gladstone Gallery, New York, NY. June 24 - July (CLOSED). Exhibition curated by Thomas Beard includes unshot Fischinger animation from his Ornament Sound experiments, c. 1932, series of 5. Village Voice review. Review at "Opening Ceremony" with installation shot.
TOKYO: Fischinger films in Tokyo exhibition, Vibration of Entities at NTT InterCommunication Center (ICC), Tokyo. Oct. 30, 2010 through February 27, 2011.
Recent Screenings and Events, 2010:
In 2010, films from CVM screened in programs and exhibitions in New York, San Francisco, Berkeley, Seattle, Los Angeles; Basel, Switzerland; Granada, Spain; Sydney, Australia; Paris, Tokyo and Tanger, Morocco.
TANGER: Fischinger and Visual Music films - 2 screenings Nov. 19-20 in Tanger, Morocco. Presented at Cinémathèque de Tanger, in association with Tate Modern, London. Curated by Stuart Comer; includes 35mm Fischinger prints plus other films from CVM: Mary Ellen Bute's Abstronic, Charles Dockum's Mobilcolor 1952 Performance, John Stehura's Cibernetik 5.3.
October 14 - SAN FRANCISCO: Jordan Belson: Films Sacred and Profane, a special Retrospective presented by CVM at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 151 3rd Street, San Francisco CA 94103. Featuring rarely screened films including Caravan (1952), Seance (1959), Chakra (1972), Light (1973), Allures (1961), Music of the Spheres, Cycles (1975), the Bay Area premiere of Epilogue, and more. Featuring many preserved 16mm prints. Ticketing through SF MoMA. Blog piece about Belson and the show on SF MOMA's Open Space.
September 23, LOS ANGELES: An Exhibition and Benefit Reception for Fischinger Preservation and Digitization. Celebrating Elfriede Fischinger on her 100th Birthday. Hosted by CVM in collaboration with The Goethe-Institut Los Angeles and The Fischinger Trust. Join us for a very special evening, featuring an Exhibition of selected photographs, artifacts and Paintings by Oskar Fischinger, a Wine Reception, and a Screening of Home Movies and Videos of Oskar and Elfriede, some never before seen. Highlights include Oskar’s first Stereo Painting (1949), The Lumigraph film (1970) by Elfriede, and unshot animation drawings by Oskar. Proceeds from the evening, which includes a silent auction, will benefit CVM's Fischinger Preservation and Conservation Project. Ticketing through eventbrite or through CVM directly. 7pm at Goethe-Institut, 5750 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036. Images from oil paintings by Oskar Fischinger, (c) Fischinger Trust.
September 1, BERKELEY, CA: Optical Poetry: Oskar Fischinger Retrospective at Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley. Featuring 35mm restored prints.
SERIES: March 12 - May 21, NEW YORK- Nonobjective Film Series, 1920s-1960s. A program of Artists Supported by Hilla Rebay, a second Series organized by CVM, at Guggenheim Museum, New York, selected Fridays through May. Accompanying "Hilla Rebay: Art Educator" exhibition. On film: 35mm/16mm. CVM's second series here at The Guggenheim; full details.
In the 1940s, curator and founding director Hilla Rebay planned to establish a Film Center at the Museum of Non-Objective Painting to collect and promote nonobjective films. She awarded grants to filmmakers/painters and presented film concerts of short experimental and avant-garde films. With the help of Oskar Fischinger, an elaborate Film Center was planned to include studios, workspace and planetarium-style projection capability. Although unrealized, Rebay's support enabled many film artists to continue their work in abstract film. This program presents short films by film artists whose work was screened and/or supported by Rebay. Films by Fischinger, McLaren, Bute, Richter, Dockum and Dwinell Grant, 35mm/16mm. New Media Theatre. Images above from Fischinger (2 images), Bute and Dockum.
April 9-11, SEATTLE - 3 CVM programs screened in Visual Music : Sensory Cinema 1920s-70, a Special Series at Northwest Film Forum, Seattle. Optical Poetry: Oskar Fischinger Retrospective; Jordan Belson: Films Sacred and Profane and Mary Ellen Bute: Seeing Sound. Series runs April 9 - 14 and included two other programs curated by NWFF. Cindy Keefer of CVM presented Fischinger, Belson and Bute; programs feature many new preserved film prints from CVM. Fischinger program Friday April 9; Bute Saturday April 10; Belson Sunday April 11. 8 pm shows. Bute program presented in association with Cecile Starr and The Women's Independent Film Exchange. Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Avenue, Seattle, Washington 98122. Series website here. Review of Series in Capitol Hill Times, Seattle. Images from Fischinger, Belson and Bute.
February 11, SAN FRANCISCO - Oskar Fischinger's Komposition in Blau (1935), 35mm, and
February 25, SAN FRANCISCO- Jordan Belson's Mandala (1953), 16mm, screened at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, in a 3 part series curated by Scott MacDonald, 75 years in the Dark. Mandala image above (c) Jordan Belson
SERIES extended - final playdate February 19, 2010 - NEW YORK: A special ongoing film series from CVM at The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, selected Fridays - Non-Objective Films, 1920s-1950s. A Program of Artists Supported by Hilla Rebay, Organized by Center for Visual Music. 35mm/16mm. An accompanying program to the Kandinsky exhibition at The Guggenheim, NY. Screened Oct 30, Nov 6, Nov 20, Dec 4 and Dec 18, 2009 at 2 pm, also at the Guggenheim's The Universe Resounds - Kandinsky Symposium in January 2010. On film, 35mm/16mm. ."In the 1940s, curator and founding director Hilla Rebay planned to establish a Film Center at the Museum of Non-Objective Painting to collect and promote nonobjective films. She awarded grants to filmmakers/painters and presented film concerts of short experimental and avant-garde films. With the help of Oskar Fischinger, an elaborate Film Center was planned to include studios, workspace and planetarium-style projection capability. Although unrealized, Rebay's support enabled many film artists to continue their work in abstract film. This program presents short films by film artists whose work was screened and/or supported by Rebay, including Jordan Belson (Seance), Mary Ellen Bute (Tarantella), Charles Dockum (1952 Mobilcolor Performance), Oskar Fischinger (Studie nr 7, Allegretto and Radio Dynamics), Norman McLaren (Loops), Hans Richter (Film Studie), Harry Smith (#7) and Viking Eggeling (Symphonie Diagonale). Many of these artists were sympathetic with Vasily Kandinsky's art, writing, and theories, having seen his paintings at the Museum of Non-Objective Painting." Images from Fischinger, Dockum and McLaren courtesy Fischinger Trust, Greta Dockum and National Film Board of Canada.
January 31 - Optical Poetry: Oskar Fischinger Retrospective at UW Madison Cinematheque.
January, NEW YORK - The Guggenheim Museum's The Universe Resounds - Kandinsky Symposium. CVM's Nonobjective Films, 1920-1950s program screened at this symposium. New York. This program also screened Feb. 5 at the Museum's New Media Theatre.
Recent Museum Exhibitions with CVM Films, 2010:
February 10 – May 16, BASEL - Le Mouvement. From Cinema to Kinetics exhibition at Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland. Includedtwo Fischinger films. Press release here: Museum Tinguely Recreates Legenday "Le Mouvement" Exhibition
February 25 - May 2 , GRANADA, SPAIN - Chromochronies. The Poetics of Colour in Image-Time exhibition at Centro José Guerrero, Granada, Spain.
2009
Recent Screenings and Events, 2009:
NEW YORK: October through December, 2009 - A special film series from CVM at The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, selected Fridays - Non-Objective Films, 1920s-1950s. A Program of Artists Supported by Hilla Rebay, Organized by Center for Visual Music. 35mm/16mm. An accompanying program to the Kandinsky exhibition at The Guggenheim, NY.
December 3, Los Angeles: - Immersive & Expanded Cinema of Visual Music. Co-presented with SCI-Arc's MediaSCAPES program. Features Cindy Keefer's illustrated presentation "Raumlichtkunst to Vortex: Early Expanded Cinema Experiments of Oskar Fischinger and Jordan Belson," followed by a screening of contemporary work from CVM's archive. Thursday, Dec. 3, 7-8:30pm, Free admission. W.M. Keck Lecture Hall, Southern California Institute of Architecture, Los Angeles. SCI-arc Website. Images above from Oskar Fischinger's Spirals (c. 1926), Single Wing Turquoise Bird film (1970), Robert Seidel's _grau (2004), Spot Drave's Firebird (2007). Also screening, works by John Stehura, Richard Baily, Baerbel Neubauer, Bret Battey, Scott Nyerges. Images from films by Oskar Fischinger, Single Wing Turquoise Bird, Robert Seidel and Scott Draves.
November 3 - Lichtspiel: Contemporary Abstract Animation and Visual Music, at Redcat Theatre (Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles). "In his ongoing quest for the ultimate visual music for the eye, Joost Rekveld has provided an undeniable masterpiece" - International Film Festival Rotterdam, 2009. This ravishing “play of light” explores rhythmic abstractions in the cinematic tradition of Oskar Fischinger and visual music animation. The centerpiece of the program is the Los Angeles debut of Joost Rekveld’s #37 (Netherlands, 2009, 31 min., 35mm CinemaScope), a stunningly beautiful study of the propagation and diffraction of light through crystalline structures. Sure to bend more than a few minds, the lineup also offers award-winning animated shorts from around the world, most of which are screening in L.A. for the first time. Featured artists include Scott Draves (The Firebird), Robert Seidel (futures), Steven Woloshen (Shimmer Box Drive), Bärbel Neubauer (Morphs of Pegasus), Thorsten Fleisch (Energie!), Bret Battey, Michael Scroggins, Samantha Krukowski, Mondi, Devon Damonte, Scott Nyerges, Vivek Patel, Yusuke Nakajima and more. Plus the final film by the late CGI wizard Richard “Doc” Baily. With Joost Rekveld in person. Images courtesy Joost Rekveld (left 2), Scott Draves and Mondi. 8:30 pm. REDCAT is at 631 W. 2nd Street, downtown Los Angeles. Ticketing, directions, through REDCAT website SOLD OUT! Full Program Details Advance Curator's Notes - (PDF) - Oct 28
November 8 - Light Matters: Joost Rekveld Retrospective at UCLA Film and Television Archive's Billy Wilder Theatre, at The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. CVM and UCLA present the first West Coast retrospective of films by celebrated Dutch filmmaker and installation artist Joost Rekveld. Rekveld, who will appear in person, started making abstract films in 1991 after he invited Bill Moritz and Elfriede Fischinger to come to the Netherlands to present a day-long survey of abstract cinema. Almost twenty years later, Rekveld pursues his fascination with human perception and the history of optics and perspective with the aim of creating a "music for the eyes." An important part of his filmmaking is to develop his own tools, often inspired by the less frequented by-ways in the history of science and technology. Films featured: #3 (1994), #23.2 Book of Mirrors (2002), #7 (1996), and #11 Marey <-> Moiré (1999). TRT 69 minutes. In person: Joost Rekveld. Images courtesy and copyright Joost Rekveld. With thanks to Celia Mercer/UCLA Animation Workshop.35mm/16mm. 7 pm. Tickets are $10 online, $9 general, $8 student and seniors; available through UCLA Film & TV archive online. The Billy Wilder Theatre is at The Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA.
Recent Museum Exhibitions with CVM Films:
August 28, 2009 - Jan 10, 2010 - See This Sound: Promises in Sound and Vision at Lentos Kuntsmuseum, Linz, Austria; Exhibition, Symposium and Webarchive - includes films from CVM's Collections, including a newly preserved 35mm print of Radio Dynamics, screened in film; plus Ornament Sound and Belson's Samadhi (latter two screened digitally). The exhibition presents not only technical, perceptional and media-reflexive aspects of the coupling of image and sound from the beginning up to the present, but also poetic conceptual aspects that are important to contemporary visual artists today. Realized in collaboration with the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute Media.Art.Research
Plus a special October 1 illustrated talk: Raumlichtkunst to Vortex: Early Expanded Cinema Experiments of Oskar Fischinger and Jordan Belson (1926-1959) by C. Keefer of CVM. On October 8, lecture by David James.
September - December 31, 2009 - Lisbon, Portugal: It's About Time - ExperimentaDesign '09. International Biennale dedicated to design, architecture and creativity. The extensive programme includes Quick, Quick, Slow, an exhibition that explores the dimension of time in graphic design, and features early experimental films including Study nr. 7 by Oskar Fischinger. Through November 29. MUSEU COLECÇÃO BERARDO, Lisbon, Portugal.
Other recent Screenings and Events (2009):
October 3 - Mary Ellen Bute Retrospective - Deutsches Filmmuseum, Frankfurt, Germany. 16mm. (Presented in association with Cecile Starr and Women's Independent Film Exchange)
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October 1 illustrated talk: Raumlichtkunst to Vortex: Early Expanded Cinema Experiments of Oskar Fischinger and Jordan Belson (1926-1959) by C. Keefer of CVM, Lentos Kuntsmuseum, Linz, Austria. Accompanying event to the See This Sound exhibition (see Museum section below). Presented in English. Cindy Keefer's illustrierte Präsentation stellt die Pioniere des Expanded Cinema Oskar Fischinger und Jordan Belson vor. Von Fischingers Mehrfachprojektionen in den 20er-Jahren in Deutschland bis zu Belsons Vortex-Konzerten in den 1950er-Jahren in San Francisco haben diese Filmkünstler neue kinematografische Erfahrungsräume geschaffen, die weit über das hinausgehen, was ihre Zeitgenossen oder Vorläufer verwirklicht haben. Sie haben die Grenzen von Kino, Projektion und Wahrnehmung während ihres gesamten Schaffens erweitert, indem sie Film mit anderen künstlerischen Ausdrucksformen kombinierten, um eine neue Kunstform hervorzubringen.
October 8 - CVM Board Member David James, Professor, School of Cinematic Arts, USC, presents illustrated talk: Light Shows and Their Cinematic Representations at Lentos Kuntsmuseum, Linz, Austria. Accompanying event to the See This Sound exhibition (see Museum section below). Presented in English. Light Shows als improvisierte Performances aus Film-, Dia- und Lichtprojektionen erlebten als Begleitung von Rockkonzerten Mitte der 1960er-Jahre ihren Höhepunkt; einmalig und ephemer in ihrer Natur, sind sie jedoch nur in wenigen filmischen Aufnahmen festgehalten. Der Abend stellt einige der wichtigsten Light Shows wie Single Wing Turquoise Bird (SWTB), Monterey Pop (D. A. Pennebaker, 1968), The Trip (Roger Corman, 1967) und Andy Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable (Ronald Nameth, 1967)
.
September 1 - Essential Visual Music: Rare Classics - Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA (US). This evening features a range of works, from 1920s German film experiments to light show psychedelia, and highlights the evolving technology and artistic sophistication of visual music and experimental animation. Several of the works in the show were designed to be used in performance contexts, light shows and other expanded forms of cinema, often with independent musical accompaniment. Accordingly, one of the themes that emerges from this program is a dialogue between structure and spontaneity in visual music. Many of the prints in this show represent recent preservation work by CVM. Includes films by Oskar Fischinger (incl. William Moritz's 35mm Cinemascope R-1 recreation version), Charles Dockum (3 new preservation prints!), Mary Ellen Bute, Jules Engel, John Stehura, David Lebrun, and Sixties Light Show films by Jud Yalkut/USCO and The Single Wing Turquoise Bird. Curated by CVM. Film notes and full show description.
April 24-25, 2009 - 2 programs at European Media Art Festival, Osnabrueck, Germany. Jordan Belson: Films Sacred and Profane (Fri 24 April, Lagerhalle) and Mary Ellen Bute Retrospective (Sat Apr 25, Lagerhalle). Belson program featured a new preservation print of Chakra. Bute program presented in association with Cecile Starr and Women's Independent Film Exchange
.
Reviews of this Expanded Cinema Symposium: Define Intervention on artforum.com and Cinema out of Bounds at Lux.org
March 6, 2009 - Music for the Eyes: Visual Music Films presented by CVM at Sound and Science Symposium, organized by UCLA Art Sci Center + Lab and University of California Digital Arts Research Network. Free admission. Two day symposium at California NanoSystems Institute Auditorium at UCLA. CVM screened work by Sylvia Pengilly, Semiconductor, Bret Battey, Mary Ellen Bute, Oskar Fischinger and more.
January 21, 2009 - CVM's new Essential Visual Music: Rare Classics program at UCLA Film and Television Archive's Billy Wilder Theatre, at The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. 35mm/16mm. UCLA Film & TV Archive Calendar. The theatre is at The Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA UCLA Film and Television Archive and the Center for Visual Music (CVM) are pleased to present this program of rarely screened films from the CVM collection. This evening features a range of works, from experiments by German film pioneers to light show psychedelia, and highlights the evolving technology and artistic sophistication of visual music and experimental animation. Several of the works in the show were designed to be used in performance contexts, light shows and other expanded forms of cinema, often with independent musical accompaniment. Accordingly, one of the themes that emerges from this program is a dialogue between structure and spontaneity in visual music. A number of the films were made in Southern California, and include early experiments in computer graphics from UCLA in the 1960s and Cal Arts in the 1970s. Many of the prints in this show represent recent preservation work by CVM. Includes films by Oskar Fischinger, Jules Engel, Charles Dockum, Mary Ellen Bute, John Stehura, David Lebrun, and Sixties Light Show films by Jud Yalkut/USCO and The Single Wing Turquoise Bird. Program presented by archivist/curator Cindy Keefer; a Q & A with filmmakers Michael Scroggins, David Lebrun and Peter Mays follows the screening. (Full program info and film notes).Stills above, from left, from Fischinger, Yalkut, Dockum, Stehura films.
Other 2009 Museum Exhibitions with films from CVM's Collection:
March - July - "Notation: Kalkül und Form in den Künsten," ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany. Fischinger's Studie nr 6 and some of his original animation drawings.
2008
November 21, Tate Modern, London - Oskar Fischinger's Motion Painting No. 1 screens in Colour Field Film and Video: Kinetic Colour, Tate Modern Starr Auditorium.
November 25-30, Tel Aviv, Israel - John Stehura's Cibernetik 5.3 screens at VideoZone 4 – The International Video Art Biennial in Israel. One screening in the Particles in Space program.
October 2008 - Four CVM Programs at Cornell Cinema, Ithaca, New York:
Oct. 15 - Oskar Fischinger Retrospective: Optical Poetry. 35mm.
Oct. 22 - Mary Ellen Bute Program (Presented in association with Cecile Starr and Women's Independent Film Exchange). 16mm. About the Films
Oct. 29 - Essential Visual Music: Rare Classics from CVM's Collections (Full program info). 16mm. Stills above, from left, from Fischinger, Yalkut, Dockum, Stehura films.
Nov. 5 - Legendary Light Shows. Beta SP and 16mm.
These programs screened at the Willard Straight Theatre. Further info at Cornell Cinema site. Flyer by Cornell Cinema, designer Ross Haarstad. Flyer images copyright and courtesy individual artists and estates.August 21 - Legendary Light Shows - Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA. A program of rarely-seen, stunning film and video by legendary light show artists from San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and London. The program showcases light, color and liquid projections layered with film and handmade slides, from multimedia shows originally performed live at rock concerts with the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and many others. (1966-1970, 70 min, 16mm and video).
Part of the YBCA series The Stoned Apocalypse - "A look at different approaches to extreme states of consciousness through experiments with light, music, drugs or even filmmaking." 7:30 pm, 701 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA. 94103. Venue info and tickets here, and Flavorpill listing here
May 2008 - Two new Essential Visual Music programs curated by CVM
Rare Classics ProgramEssential Visual Music: Rare Classics from CVM's Collections includes films by Oskar Fischinger, Hans Fischinger, Mary Ellen Bute, Charles Dockum, John Stehura, Jules Engel, Single Wing Turquoise Bird, Jud Yalkut and more (16mm, most are preserved prints).
May 4 - Australian Cinematheque, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane
May 23 - International House, Philadelphia, PA
October 15 - University of Southern California, Dept. of Digital Arts & AnimationFull program info. Inquire for booking information - cvmaccess (at) gmail.com
Essential Visual Music: New Visions. New Work by Contemporary Artists including Baerbel Neubauer, George Stadnik, Samantha Krukowski, Robert Seidel, Spot Draves, Richard Baily/John Buchanan, Steven Woloshen, Bret Battey, Vivek Patel, Mondi, Scott Nyerges, Jim Ellis and more.
May 30 at International House, Philadelphia, PA. Images, from left, courtesy Draves, Neubauer, Seidel, Stadnik, Woloshen, Ellis, Battey. Full program info - see Program 2 on this page.
May 2008- CVM in Australia! Visual Music Series at Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Queensland. Full Program Info CVM Programs include:-- May 2 - Mary Ellen Bute Program (presented in association with Cecile Starr and Women's Independent Film Exchange)
-- May 3 - Jordan Belson: Films Sacred and Profane
-- May 4 - Essential Visual Music: Rare Classics Premiere of New CVM Program
-- May 25 - Oskar Fischinger: Optical Poetry
-- May 31 - Time and Tides: Music Paintings by Baerbel Neubauer Full Program Info This Series beginning in April also included other programs of films by Len Lye, Norman McLaren, Stan Brakhage, Hans Richter and Walther Ruttman, Disney's Silly Symphonies, and New Visual Music from the Netherlands. Australian Cinematheque, Brisbane.Recent Exhibitions with films from CVM's Collection:
September 20 - Nov. 16, 2008, Berlin - Oskar Fischinger's Studie nr. 6, in "Notation: Kalkül und Form in den Künsten" exhibition, Akademie der Künst, Berlin. More information
May 2008 - Two Baerbel Neubauer films in Exhibition at The Drawing Center (Soho), New York, NY. Throughout the summer.
Other 2008 Screenings
April 11-13, 2008 - Oskar Fischinger: Optical Poetry. The Oskar Fischinger Retrospective screens at Southwest Film Center, UNM, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 35mm. Featuring his classic Visual Music films Allegretto, Radio Dynamics, Motion Painting No. 1, Composition in Blue, Kreise, Study nr. 6, Study nr. 7, Spiritual Constructions, Spirals, Walking from Munich to Berlin and many more. 35mm prints, preserved by Academy Film Archive, Center for Visual Music and Fischinger Archive; presented in association with The Fischinger Archive. Thanks to the Film Foundation, Sony and Cinematheque quebecois for their support of the preservation of these films. For directions, please visit Southwest Film Center website. Download a Flyer. Visit CVM's Fischinger Research Site
March 11 - A Special program of Visual Music films from CVM was presented during LA County Museum of Art's Evening for Educators Music + Art workshop for K-12 teachers. Program included films by Fischinger, Belson, Engel, Neubauer and others.
Feb 6- John Stehura's Cibernetik 5.3 and Jules Engel's 3 Arctic Flowers (preserved print) in Imaging by Numbers, An Evening of Early Computer Animation at Block Cinema, Block Museum of Art, Northwestern U, Evanston, IL (US)
January 5 - Jordan Belson's Light at The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Special screening accompanying the Turner exhibition.
2007
Recent Exhibitions and Festivals with films from CVM's Collections:
Zagreb: 25 FPS Festival's "Visual Music" program included a new preservation print of Charles Dockum's 1952 Mobilcolor Performance at the Guggenheim, preserved by CVM. (See Schedule, then click Sept 28)Milwaukee International Film Festival: Moonlicht by Baerbel Neubauer
New York: Summer of Love at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (included Jordan Belson's Samadhi, John Stehura's Cibernetik 5.3 plus other films preserved by CVM including Jud Yalkut's Turn, Turn, Turn). May 24 - Sept. 16, 2007.
Recent CVM Programs:
March 18, 2007 (London) - CVM presented a Visual Music talk and screening: Projected Light and Color: Early Visual Music Color Organs and Light Shows, presented by Cindy Keefer of CVM, at the Optronica Festival - "Visual Music on the Big Screen" - in conjunction with the British Film Institute, National Film Theatre, South Bank, London, UK. Program details here. Illustrated Lecture and Screening. Films & videos include work by Oskar Fischinger, Kurt Schwerdtfeger and Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack, Thomas Wilfred, Charles Dockum, Jordan Belson, Jud Yalkut, Joshua White and Single Wing Turquoise Bird. Program is 35mm, 16mm, and DVD. Image: Kastner's "Pyrophone", 1872
March 15 (Chicago), 6 pm - Mary Ellen Bute Centennial Program at Gene Siskel Film Theatre, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (Illinois, US). Program organized by CVM in association with Cecile Starr and the Women's Independent Film Exchange. Program info here. 16mm. About the Films
February 2 (Frankfurt) - A Tribute to Oskar Fischinger: A performance of Oskar Fischinger's original Lumigraph by Barbara Fischinger was held at the Deutsches Filmmuseum, Frankfurt, Germany, plus a screening of Fischinger films from the collections of CVM, The Fischinger Archive and the Deutsches Filmmuseum. Program notes here (pdf, in German) from DFM Kino Calendar. Lumigraph Image courtesy Fischinger Trust
January 28 & 31 (Rotterdam, Netherlands): Charles Dockum's 1952 Mobilcolor Performance at the Guggenheim Museum film document, a new 16mm preservation print, screened at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Part of Exploding Cinema: Speed of Light programme. This is the first completed film in CVM's current preservation project for the films of Charles Dockum and his Mobilcolor Projector. Image courtesy Greta Dockum
2006
Screening series: Celebrating Two Pioneer Women Animators: Mary Ellen Bute and Claire Parker
On the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of their Births - 3 separate programs, 16mm, November 16-18, 2006, Los Angeles. Presented at Los Angeles Filmforum and University of Southern California. Organized by CVM, in association with Cecile Starr and Women's Independent Film Exchange. A celebration of the lives and accomplishments of pioneer experimental animators Mary Ellen Bute and Clare Parker, both born in 1906. Three separate programs. Programs introduced by Cindy Keefer, CVM.
Friday, November 17, 2006, 7:30 pm at LA Filmforum (Hollywood CA), Alexandre Alexeieff/Claire Parker Program. Program features a series of their experimental animation shorts (including all of their pinboard films), all 16mm, plus a short documentary, Alexeieff at the Pinboard (1960).
Saturday, November 18, 7:30 pm at LA Filmforum, Mary Ellen Bute Program. Bute is known for her pioneering early abstract films (some of which were screened regularly at Radio City Music Hall, NY in the 1930s). Program features all of her short abstract films. 16mm prints. Rhythm in Light, 1934; Synchromy No. 2, 1935; Dada, 1936; Parabola, 1937; Escape, 1937; Spook Sport (animated by Norman McLaren), 1939; Tarantella, 1940; Polka Graph, 1947; Color Rhapsody, 1948; Imagination, 1948; New Sensations in Sound, 1949 (RCA Commercial); Pastorale, 1950; Abstronic, 1952 and Mood Contrasts. About the Films
Plus: Thursday, November 16, 7 pm at USC School of Cinema-Television, Cinematheque 108. Mary Ellen Bute's rarely-screened feature film, Passages from Finnegans Wake. 1965-67, 97 mins, 16mm, b/w. SPECIAL GUEST: Cast member Peter Haskell ("Shem") speaks about the film and working with Bute. For information on booking these programs, please contact CVM or Cecile Starr (email for contact info). Review in LA Weekly.
Prints courtesy Cecile Starr, The Women's Film Preservation Fund, and Yale University Film Study Center.
More about Mary Ellen Bute and her films
Legendary Light Shows - San Francisco,
CA. May 11-13, 2006, at Yerba
Buena Center for the Arts
Flashback to the 60s with a program of rarely-seen film and video by legendary light show artists from San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and London. Trip out with light, color and liquid projections layered with film and handmade slides, from multimedia shows originally performed live at rock concerts. Featuring 1960's light show work on film and video by Elias Romero, Joshua White, Tony Martin, Glenn McKay, Boyle/Hills, Single Wing Turquoise Bird, Jud Yalkut, David Lebrun and others. Image from Single Wing Turquoise Bird Film, Courtesy Peter Mays
March 24: Oskar Fischinger Retrospective
at George
Eastman House, Rochester, New York. Billed as Visual Music: The Animation
of Oskar Fischinger. Image
from Allegretto
courtesy Elfriede Fischinger Trust
Jan 27 and 29: CVM presented two programs at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, Netherlands:
"Jordan
Belson: Epilogue and Other Films,"
featuring the European premiere of Belson's new videofilm Epilogue,
a preserved print of Allures, plus
Samadhi, Music of the Spheres, Northern Lights
and other work. Image
from Samadhi, (c) Jordan Belson
"Legendary
Light Shows," featuring 1960's light show work of Elias Romero,
Joshua White, Tony Martin, Glenn McKay, Boyle/Hills, Single Wing Turquoise
Bird, Judd Yalkut, David Lebrun and others. Premiere of program curated and
presented by CVM, part of the "White Light" series at RIFF 2006.
Image courtesy
Joshua WhiteJan 2, 2006 - The Film Society of Lincoln Center in association with Center for Visual Music presented Oskar Fischinger: Optical Etudes. The Oskar Fischinger Retrospective at Lincoln Center, New York, 5 and 9 pm. Featuring 35mm preserved prints. An IB Technicolor print of An Optical Poem was screened thanks to Warner Brothers. CVM Press Release
Other 2006 exhibitions and programs including films provided by CVM:
Exhibition: Two Jordan Belson films (Allures, Samadhi) installed on DVD, at Kunsthalle Zurich's Expanded Eye exhibition (Switzerland). Closed.
Exhibition: Belson (Samadhi) and Stehura (Cibernetik 5.3) films (on DVD) in the Summer of Love exhibition, organized by the Tate Liverpool. The show was at Kunsthalle Wien (Vienna) from May 5–September 3, 2006.
July 6, 7, 8: Visual
Effects Society's 2006 Festival
of Visual Effects, Egyptian Theatre, Hollywood CA: Xtacism
by Richard 'doc' Baily and John Buchanan, and John
Stehura's Cibernetik 5.3 - Experimental Animation Program, repeats each
day.
June 18: Jules Engel's Accident screened at Los Angeles Filmforum.
May 10: Three Jules Engel films from CVM's colletions were presented at UCLA Film and Television Archive, Los Angeles, as part of their "Out of the Past" preservation series: Accident, Celebration and Three Arctic Flowers.
April: George Stadnik's Flame installed at LACMA Artwalk, Spring Arts Tower, Create:Fixate Multimedia Gallery
March 4: John Stehura's Cibernetik 5.3 at National Film Theatre, British Film Institute, London, in their Early American Computer Animation program.
February: Jules Engel's Mobiles screened at The Barry Schrader Retrospective, Redcat Theatre, Los Angeles, CA.
Exhibition: Three Fischinger films (Radio Dynamics, Study no. 6 and Ornament Sound) were included in the ZKM exhibition Light Art From Artificial Light. ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany, through August, 2006. Review of exhibition: Blinded by the Light (in German).
2005
Events and Screenings
"Visual Music" Exhibition - Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (February 13-May 23, 2005) and Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC (June 23 - Sept. 11, 2005). The exhibition featured paintings, installations, and films, videos, color organ and light projections by artists including Stephen Beck, Jordan Belson (Allures, Samadhi, and his new film Epilogue), Mark Boyle and Joan Hills, Charles Dockum, Oskar Fischinger (Study No. 7, Allegretto, Radio Dynamics, Lumigraph film, Ornament Sound), Viking Eggeling, Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack, Hy Hirsh (Eneri), Len Lye (A Colour Box), Stanton MacDonald-Wright, Elias Romero, Hans Richter, Walter Ruttmann, Dan Sandin, Single Wing Turquoise Bird, Harry Smith (Film No. 3), James Whitney (Yantra, Lapis, Film Exercise No. 4), John Whitney Sr. (Permutations), John Whitney, Jr., Thomas Wilfred, and Joshua White. Exhibition catalog available through amazon.com. Image from Thomas Wilfred, "Study in Depth, Opus 152," 1959, courtesy Hirshhorn Museum. CVM provided the majority of the films and videos, plus research and consulting for this exhibition.
More about the Visual Music films
Radio
Dynamics by Oskar Fischinger at "Visual Music," MOCA
Press on the Visual Music exhibition: Los Angeles Times, L.A. Weekly, Artforum (Summer 05 issue), Washington Post (Review #1), Washington Post (#2), New York Times (July 1, 2005), Washington Post (#3), Wall Street Journal, Artforum (October issue), Modern Painters (UK, Jan 06), Symphony Magazine (PDF, Jan/Feb 06 issue).
Hirshhorn/Smithsonian Press ReleaseMore information about the films in the exhibition
CVM's Visual Music Screenings accompanying the exhibition:
Epilogue
by Jordan Belson (2005)
Saturday,
May 14, 2005. CVM and The Museum of Contemporary
Art, Los Angeles, are pleased to present the world
premiere of Jordan Belson's new videofilm, Epilogue
(2005). Epilogue
was commissioned by The Hirshhorn Museum
for the Visual Music exhibition, produced by CVM, and supported by The
NASA Art Program. Belson has distilled 60 years of visionary sound and images
into a 12 minute film, synchronized to a symphonic tone poem by the great lyric
composer Sergei Rachmaninoff. Epilogue will be presented in a short program
with several of Belson's earlier films, including Light and Music
of the Spheres. Introduced by Cindy Keefer, Director, CVM. Free with museum
admission. (MOCA Grand Ave, Ahmanson Auditorium). Image copyright Jordan Belson,
2005. Epilogue (digital version) screened throughout the Hirshhorn Museum's
Visual Music exhibition, June-Sept 2005.
Sunday, May 1, 7 pm. CVM presents Visual Music Films, at Filmforum LA, Egyptian Theatre complex, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood CA. $8. From German pioneers to new work in visual music, including film and video by artists including Oskar Fischinger, Hans Fischinger, Guido Seeber, Storm de Hirsch, John Stehura, Michael Scroggins, Jordan Belson and Stephen Beck, Adam Beckett, Baerbel Neubauer, and new work (2005) by Chris Casady, Richard Baily, Mondi, George Stadnik and others. (More about this show)
Thursday March 24 - An Evening of Visual Music Films curated by CVM, Presented by CVM and MOCA. Museum of Contemporary Art, Ahmanson Auditorium, Grand Avenue, Los Angeles. 6:30 pm. Revelatory moments from the history of visual music, an exploration into the true lives of the kinetochromatic scientists, and a breathtaking leap into the now-and-beyond of an art form passionately devoted to purified sound and light. This event includes film and video by Fischinger, Belson, Bute, Brakhage, McLaren, Dwinnell Grant, Dockum, Neubauer, Baily, Ellis, and others. Opening remarks by Cindy Keefer, Director, CVM. (More about this show) Additional screenings and events related to the exhibition included: Art Talk by David James (March 31); performance of Stanton MacDonald-Wright's "Kineidoscope" color organ by Randy Sprout.
Other 2005 screenings (films provided by CVM):
Three Fischinger films (Radio Dynamics, Study no. 6 and Ornament Sound) are included in the ZKM exhibition Light Art From Artificial Light. ZKM, Karlsruhe Germany, Nov. 19 2005 to May 1, 2006
Belson (Samadhi) and Stehura (Cibernetik 5.3) films screened in Tate's Summer of Love exhibition, Liverpool, U.K. (May 27 - Sept 25, 2005). The exhibition travelled to Kunsthalle Schirn Frankfurt from November 2, 2005 – February 12, 2006 and then to Kunsthalle Wien from May 5–September 3, 2006. Related article: Tune In, Turn On, Light Up (Tate Online)
June 8: Dockum's 1952 Mobilcolor Performance film screened at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, in the program "The Non-Objective Moving Image: Reflections on the Art of Film" accompanying the current Hilla Rebay exhibition. May: Fischinger Retrospective screened at Cinematheque Quebecoise, Montreal (program provided in association with Fischinger Archive and Academy Film Archive). 35mm film.
April 23: Fischinger films at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
2004
Sons et Lumieres: A History of Sound in the Art of the 20th Century. Centre Pompidou, Paris exhibition Sept 2004-January 2005. CVM provided films on dvd (Fischinger, Harry Smith, John and James Whitney) for the "film rooms" on the exhibition floor, and for the accompanying evening film screenings.
June 10-20, 2004, Musee de Louvre, Paris: Du Muet au parlant. Expérimentations sonores au cinéma. Recommended: June 19, "Les pionniers de la synthèse optique" included films by Fischinger and The Whitneys, and June 20, "Expériences sonores et films expérimentaux." CVM is proud to have been one of the co-sponsoring organizations for this film exhibition at The Louvre, along with Archives françaises du film, AFRHC, BNF, Cinémathèque française, CNAM, le CNRS, Gaumont-Pathé-Archives, Gosfilmofond, Library of Congress, ONF, and Radio France.
CVM presents an evening of Visual Music, Experimental Animation and Digital Diversions. Part of The Gallery Row Unveiling Event.
Saturday May 15, 2004, 7:30, 600 South Spring Street, Los Angeles. Gallery Row Event sponsored by the Art, Aesthetics and Culture Committee of the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council
"Oskar Fischinger Retrospective" and Moritz Book Release Event, in association with California Institute of the Arts, Filmforum and The Fischinger Archive, Los Angeles, CA, March 14 (at Filmforum, American Cinematheque, Hollywood) and March 17 (Cal Arts, Bijou Theatre). Copies of Dr. Moritz's new Fischinger biography will be available for purchase (screenings feature prints preserved by The Academy Film Archive).
2003
A Tribute to Jules Engel - Redcat Theatre in Disney Hall, Los Angeles, November 23, presented in association with California Institute of the Arts and curated by CVM. Program included new prints preserved by Center for Visual Music (Coaraze, Accident, 3 Arctic Flowers, Celebration, others) with the support of the NFPF and NEA.
Oskar
Fischinger Retrospective
- London, Glasgow and Dundee, UK, December
Presented by CVM and The Fischinger
Archive in association with Goethe Institute, Lux Cinema and CVM (featuring
prints preserved by The Academy Film Archive)
Images (c) Fischinger Trust, CVM, Estate of Jordan Belson, Greta Dockum, Epstein Collection, Kevin Baily, and the individual artists. SWTB image courtesy Peter Mays. Top image from Kreise (Circles) by Oskar Fischinger, (c) Center for Visual Music
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