Tony Conrad: DreaMinimalist
October 30, 2008
This year's Wien Modern Music Festival has a special focus on the American composer, musician, filmmaker and video artist, Tony Conrad. From October 26 to 31 Conrad will present his pioneering creations in all those fields at various venues throughout Vienna.
With his very first film, The Flicker (1966), the 26-year-old artist produced one of the major works in the New American cinema. In it, he focusses entirely on the film material and the specifics of the film apparatus and puts the viewer's perceptions at the centre. The pulsating frames of black and transparent film create stroboscopic flashes of light which conjure up (imagined) colours and shapes on the retina. In some of his other works, Conrad boiled the celluloid according to various recipes, producing culinary cascades of colour in the process. Humour is also a major element in his later video works which aim at deconstructing the discourses of power. Conrad’s oeuvre employs the extremes of excess and reduction to generate ecstatic visual and aural experiences. Dare to dream minimalist! (Michaela Grill).
The programme has been curated by Michaela Grill. A joint project of Sixpack Film, the Austrian Film Museum, Wien Modern and Brut. Tony Conrad will be present at the screenings.
Further events with Tony Conrad:
Oct 26 at brut Künstlerhaus (Live Performance)
Oct 27 at the Semperdepot (Lecture & Discussion)
Oct 28 at Fluc Wanne (Live Performance)
Oct 31 at brut Konzerthaus (Live Performance)
Further informations: www.wienmodern.at
Related materials
Photos 2008 - Tony Conrad
