Report (1963-67) by Bruce Conner
Saturday, June 15, 1985, 8:00 pm
Chances in Time: Random Operations in Film
The artists in this exhibition are working at the edge of the invisible, elusive border of cause and effect. Chance as a process is crucial to 20th century art, but its role in cinema has been under-appreciated. The purposeful uses of chance lay bare the construction of a medium most people prefer when it is seamlessly illusionistic. This three-part series examines random operations in the creation of film, video, music, performance, slide projection, poetry, and installation. It is the first of its kind. Dice-throwing, performance-games, found objects, randomly-determined structure, uncontrollable events, and indeterminate consequences are the tools that construct these works, many of which are having their public or San Francisco premieres. Conceived and curated by James Irwin.
June 15, Saturday, 8:00 P.M.
Charles Lovell, O O-A (1982, slide projection) — Accidental images at the ends of film rolls from ten years of still photography.
Michael Rudnick, Mold FX (1980, film)
Scott Stark, Learning to Breathe Above Ground (1982-84, film & performance)
Kathleen Laughlin, Collection (1982, double-projection film) – Concerns a popular chance operation: collecting things, including shells, ideas, and acquaintances.
Larry Price, Dragon Vortex (1984, music and projected slides) — The music is produced on a handmade aeolian harp; the images are independent of the music.
Bruce Conner, Report (1963-67, film)
Robert Breer, Fist Fight (1964, film) — First screened as a part of Stockhausen’s concert/happening Originale, and a classic of stream-of-consciousness editing.
Michael Shemchuk’s installation will be on view in the window of the New College Gallery during the length of the exhibition series. A camera obscura exposing a constantly changing photograph, it will be freshly installed several times.