This book examines a range of structures, systems and strategies that film and video artists have developed in works spanning the late 1960s to the present, often in response to the changing technologies and medium of cinema. Several chapters also consider the affinities that artist's films and videos share with aspects of painting, sculpture and music.
The evolution of methodical strategies in experimental cinema can be traced back to the first avant-garde films made a century ago, in the 1920s. Key figures internationally have formed part of the picture since then, but the most thorough formal exploration of cinema can be credited to a generation of artists that began making films in Britain in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Simon Payne analyses the work of numerous influential artists including Peter Gidal, David Hall, Malcolm Le Grice, Annabel Nicolson, Jayne Parker and Guy Sherwin. He discusses recent and lesser-known work as well as canonical films, videos and expanded cinema. Crucially, he also pays close attention to a range of younger artists including Jenny Baines, Neil Henderson, Jennifer Nightingale and Samantha Rebello.
Experimental Cinema: Structures, Systems and Strategies traces a unique and influential lineage that has defined some of the central preoccupations of artists' film and video, which continue to test our expectations of cinema, television and the moving image.
An in depth analysis of aesthetic systems and structures developed by several British experimental film and videomakers from the late 1960s to the present day.
Arvustused
Simons book is that rare thing, a work of serious scholarship that is also a joy to read. Reviewing the work of many of the UKs major film and video artists, he draws on his deep knowledge of the arts to make new connections and question many long-held assumptions. A superb achievement. * David Curtis, author of Experimental Cinema (1971) and Artists' Film (2021) * This is one of the most accessible texts on experimental cinema, written in a lively and highly engaging style. Paynes unique perspective as a filmmaker, curator and scholar brings historical depth and analytical precision to key works of the British avant-garde. * Kim Knowles, Senior Lecturer in Alternative and Experimental Film, Aberystwyth University, UK *
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An in depth analysis of aesthetic systems and structures developed by several British experimental film and videomakers from the late 1960s to the present day.
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Three Ss
After Duchamp: William Raban
By candlelight: Elemental cinema and flicker
Constructivism into film: Systems art and Guy Sherwin
Dark from light: Nick Collins films
Film music: Jayne Parker and John Cage
Games and challenges in artists films and videos
In search of a sensual philosophy: Malcolm Le Grice
Knitting patterns in Jennifer Nightingales films
Lengths and lines: Artists filmstrips
Matches: Responses to Annabel Nicolsons expanded cinema
Not far at all: Peter Gidal
Object no.1: Montage in Samantha Rebellos films
Primary structures: David Halls sculpture of the screen
Quartet and quadrants: Nicky Hamlyn
Signals: Teaching, learning and positive feedback
Tree Again: Chris Welsby
Vide0void: David Larcher and Anthony McCall
Words: John Smith and Lis Rhodes
Zeros and ones: Abstract digital cinema
Conclusion: History and criticism
Simon Payne is an experimental video maker whose work has shown in numerous venues including Tate Modern; the Serpentine Gallery; The Hermitage, St Petersburg and the London, Edinburgh and Rotterdam Film Festivals. He has written widely on experimental film and video, and recently co-edited the book Kurt Kren: Structural Film with Nicky Hamlyn and A.L. Rees. He is Reader in Film and Media Studies at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK.
