thursday 8 june | 7 p.m. | filmmuseum munich
Programm folder (German) (PDF)
Michael Snow (10.12.1928–05.01.2023) became one of the most influential avant-garde artists of the 20th century and a central figure in the Canadian-American art scene with “Wavelength” (1967). While creating groundbreaking works as a painter, photographer, video and film artist, he worked part-time as a jazz pianist. In 1961, he moved to New York with his wife, the artist Joyce Wieland. At the Film-Makers’ Cinematheque (later Anthology Film Archives) he met Jonas Mekas, Peter Kubelka, Stan Brakhage, composer Steve Reich and others.
During his visit to UNDERDOX halftime 2014, Snow personally presented his work during four intense days, including the groundbreaking “La Région Centrale” (1971).
In memory of his visit and an avant-garde film master who brought comedy to experimental film, UNDERDOX presents “Seated Figures” (1988), another of Snow’s central cinematography films, and “Sshtoorrty” (2005), a testament to his lucid and sparkling humour. And, of course, “Wavelength” is not to be missed.
programm
WAVELENGTH | Grand Prix Knokke
USA / Kanada 1967 | 16mm | 45 min
Mit Hollis Frampton, Naoto Nakagawa, Roswell Rudd, Amy Taubin, Joyce Wieland
„A summation of my nervous system, religious inklings and aestetic ideas.“ (Michael Snow)
A zoom brings a wall in a flat closer and closer to the viewer’s eye. Initially unrecognisable details become clear, a graphic with the silhouette of the “Walking Woman”, which had become Snow’s trademark. And a photograph of a wave-broken sea.
SEATED FIGURES
USA 1988 | 16mm | 40 min
„A history of roads.“ (Michael Snow)
A road movie in the truest sense of the word. A camera at the rear of a pickup films the road vertically. Asphalt, gravel, sand, grass and flowers fly by, between abstraction and representation. Different driving speeds affect the legibility of the footage. Little by little, the asphalt of the road gives way to a wild Garden of Eden.
SSHTOORRTY
USA 2005 | 35mm | 20 min
“The title is of course the word SHORT printed right on top of the word STORY.” (Michael Snow)
The image of a staged event divided into two halves, each superimposed on the other (sound and image). A “painting” about a painting in which before and after become a transparent now. Arrival and departure are united.
