Category Archives: historical

László Moholy-Nagy

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moholy_nagy
Lichtspiel Schwarz, Weiss, Grau (clip) (1932, 12MB, 1:39 min.)

“Lichtspiel Schwarz, Weiss, Grau”, a doc concerning Moholy-Nagy’s kinetic sculpture,
the Light Space-Modulator. Moholy-Nagy believed the motion picture played a significant
role as both art & investigative tool.
‘Painting, photography, and film are parts of one problem although their techniques
may be entirely different. They belong to the same realm; that is, to visual expression,
where cross-fertilizations are possible.’
László Moholy-Nagy

Edward Hopper at the National Gallery of Art

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Edward Hopper at NGA (2007, 37MB, 3:36 min.)

In conjunction with the exhibition Edward Hopper, the National Gallery of Art
has released a new video podcast about the artist and his work and influence.
Narrated by actor and art collector Steve Martin.

Captain Beefheart / Don Van Vliet

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I'm Gonna to Booglarize You Baby
‘I’m Gonna Booglarize You Baby’ (197?, 42 MB, 4:57 min.)

Lick My Decals Off, Baby

I’m as astonished & excited today when I listen to the music of Captain Beefheart
as I was in 1970, when someone loaned me a copy of ‘Strictly Personal’ &
shivers ran up & down my 13 year old spine.
He was, & is, one of a kind & today music’s loss is visual art’s gain.

Mark E Smith Reads the Football Results

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Mark E Smith
Mark E Smith Reads the Football Results (2005, 12.7MB, 7:14 min.)

God-like genius & professional curmudgeon Mark E Smith
of The Fall reads the football (OK – soccer to
about two thirds of you) results on the BBC in 2005.
The full glory of this possibly only totally comprehensible to
Brits of a certain age but stay with it – the last third is
a hoot.

Primo Levi – Return to Auschwitz

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Primo Levi
Return to Auschwitz – clip (1982, 1.95MB, 18 secs)

A tiny fragment today, but oh what a fragment.
An extract from an Italian television documentary
about a visit to the site of the Auschwitz extermination camp,
where he had previously been incarcerated for a year,
by the great Italian writer Primo Levi, who died 20 years ago this last April.
Levi wrote the indispensable memoir of the Holocaust,
‘If This is a Man’ ( in the US called ‘Survival in Auschwitz’).
Apparently this documentary used to be available on the net in its entirety.
If anyone can point us to a copy we’ll post the whole thing.
This tiny clip is nonetheless a key one. NEVER AGAIN!

More Scritti Politti

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Boom There She Was
Boom There She Was (1988, 19.6MB, 4:12 min)

Hypnotize
Hypnotize (1985, 7.91MB, 3:26 min)

More stuff, both wonderful & ineffably strange, from the great Scritti Politti.
I defy you not to be utterly exhilirated ( at the same time as hating yourself a little bit)
by premise & execution both of BTSW…and…
what is going on with the see-saw stuff at the end of the
Hypnotize vid!?
Video makers of the world, the race is on to rehabilitate & assimilate this move
into our vocabulary..

A Fluxus Re-enactment: A Walk Into the Sea

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A Walk Into the Sea
A Walk Into the Sea (2006, 21.3MB, 3:55 min.)

Re-enactment by Zach Layton of Ben Vautier’s 1963
performance a walk into the sea.
Great!

Tevye – glimpse of a lost world

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Tevye
Tevye – clip (1939, 32.1MB, 1:27 min)

Prior to WW2 there were between 10 & 13 million speakers
of Yiddish. Today there are probably less than 2 million.
Here is an image of a lost world, the flowering of Yiddish culture
in the years of the twentieth century before the Holocaust.
This is a clip from the 1939 film Tevye by Maurice Schwartz based on
the work of the great Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem
The film has recently been restored and is available for .

Vlog History 1: Changed My Life

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vlog_history1
VlogHistory1 (2007, 15.5MB, 4:07 min.)

from the excellent Richard Show.

They’re back!

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The Postman walks with a spring in his step –They’re back!–
The little girl with freckles & pigtails tumbles joyfully headlong
down the street –They’re back!–
Even Fr. Pinault seems to twinkle ever so slightly..
Now, old Cottard stumbles cantankerously into the boulangerie.
-I don’t understand why everyone’s so damned cheerful today-
-Why, M’sieu, haven’t you heard? They’re back!
The FluxFilms are back on UbuWeb! –

#7
#7 (1966, 5.7MB, 34 sec.)

George Maciunas: ‘Ten Feet’

#25
#25 (1966, 3.5MB, 21 sec.)

George Landow/Owen Land: ‘The Evil Faerie’ (although
Landow/Land denies authorship – it has been suggested
this piece was actually made by John Cavanaugh)

#26
#26 (1965, 7.8MB, 47 sec.)

Paul Sharits: ‘Sears Catalogue 1-3′