From: Myron Ort (email suppressed)
Date: Tue Apr 28 2009 - 13:45:20 PDT
Thanks for the information. I will look forward to visiting the Iota
center on my next trip to Southern California this summer.
Myron Ort
www.zeno-okeanos.com
On Apr 28, 2009, at 1:11 PM, Stephanie Sapienza wrote:
> I think this discussion is valuable, albeit indicative of the
> inherent problems in trying to sit and draw out definitions of and
> proposed limitations on a genre that has carried with it SO many
> names and definitions over the years. iotaCenter tries as part of
> its current mission statement to draw out the history and varied
> definitions and concepts of these over the years - "the artistic
> exploration of abstraction in the moving image has taken on many
> forms with a wide variety of names such as “Lumia,” “Color Music,”
> “Mobilcolor,” “MusiColor,” “Absolute Film,” “Video Synthesis,”
> “Rhythmic Light,” “Abstract Animation,” and more..."
>
> I do think it is important to keep the fact that scholars have
> never fallen on one of these terms as "the" defining genre term.
> And although the clear forerunner in this instance is in fact
> "visual music" - many scholars have taken issue with this term as
> well. The fact of the matter is that the various forms of
> experimental and abstract animation resist such limitations and
> definitions - which I believe is a healthy thing.
>
> I have written Leo back individually, but I also wanted to
> reiterate a fact that several Frameworkers already know - the
> iotaCenter has a research and study center in Culver City with
> hundreds of DVDs that explore various examples and incarnations of
> this genre over almost 100 years. Some of these are commercial
> releases (like the complete NFB box set of Norman McLaren work),
> and others are video transfers of films in iota's collection that
> have never been released on video.
>
> So I encourage many of you to take a lunch break or a couple of
> hours to come in and look at some of these and draw your own
> conclusions. Write me at email suppressed and I'll set you
> up a research appointment. I can either send you our video catalog
> via email (soon to be online!) or I can pull a representative
> sampling of animation for you to look at. OR you can peruse our
> ever-expanding Artist Profiles section on our site to see what you
> might be interested in: http://www.iotacenter.org/.
>
> Lastly, for those researchers that come in wanting a primer on
> visual music, I typically show them the 1993 documentary by Keith
> Griffiths entitled Abstract Cinema: http://www.imdb.com/title/
> tt0340505/. It includes interviews with Stan Brakhage, William
> Moritz, Len Lye, James Whitney, Malcolm LeGrice and many more, with
> clips from many classics of the genre as well.
>
> Best Regards,
> Stephanie Sapienza
> Assistant Director
> iotaCenter
> email suppressed
>
> From: Myron Ort <email suppressed>
> To: email suppressed
> Sent: Monday, April 27, 2009 5:59:08 PM
> Subject: Re: Definition of Visual Music
>
> Another aspect of the term "Visual Music" is that the imagery be as
> non-referential (abstract) as possible ("absolute cinema"), only
> referring to the "abstract" movements and changes that would occur
> in music, whether the film be with sound or silent. To get a
> handle on the term "abstraction" as applied to things visual I
> would recommend the writings of Mondrian. Diagonals and Horizons
> are still referential. For me, in this rigorous sense, mandalas
> and abstract forms that mimic dancing creatures of any kind or
> behave and move like familiar animate things would still also be
> referential. I am afraid that images produced from lens light
> flares ultimately stemming from reflections of light in the real
> world are still referential. Think later Ad Rheinhardt or Russian
> Supremetism + electronic sounds. Now we are talking "visual
> music"........
>
> Myron Ort
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.