Date/Time: Sunday 03 June, 12.30-4pm (Screening inc break); 4-5pm (reception)
Venue details: Curzon Soho - 99 Shaftesbury Avenue London W1D 5DY
Tube: Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus. Buses: 14,19, 38.

SCHEDULE

Part 1 (12.30pm - 1.30pm)

A SHORT FINNISH EXPERIMENTAL SELECTION

JUHAVAN INGEN - (dis)integrator (1992) - 4' [SYNOPSIS]
SWISSAIR - Hermafrodiitit (1979-1984, double projection / super8 transferred to DVD, 20')
MIKA TAANILA - 'Optical Sound' (music by The User) - 2005, 5' [SYNOPSIS]
SAMI SAMPAKILA - film works selection (super8 and 16mm transferred to DVD, 15'

Total running time: ca 55 minutes

Part 2 (2.00pm - 4.00pm)

TONY CONRAD's selection with Talk and Presentation

THREE FILMS MADE IN THE 1960s TO DISRUPT EXPECTATIONS OF VISUAL EXPERIENCE

The Flicker (1966, 16mm B&W, 30') [SYNOPSIS]
Straight and Narrow (1970, 16mm B&W, 10')
The Eye of Count Flickerstein (1967 - revised 1975, 16mm B&W, silent, 7')

THREE FILMS MADE IN THE 1970s TO DISRUPT EXPECTATIONS OF STRUCTURE

Articulation of Boolean Algebra for Film Opticals (1975, 16mm B&W, optical sound, 10' excerpt)
4-X Attack (1973, 16mm B&W, silent, 1')
Cycles of 3's and 7's (1977, NTSC video on mini-DV, 12' excerpt)

THREE RECENT VIDEO CARTOONS

Tony's Oscular Pets (2001, NTSC video on mini-DV, 7')
Grading Tips for Teachers (2003, NTSC video on mini-DV, 13')
Conversation II (2005, NTSC video on DVD, 5'40'')

OVERVIEW

To coincide with the live live music event taking place on Friday June 01 at St Giles in the field (w/ TONY CONRAD feat. PAAVOHARJU, RICHARD YOUNGS and ISLAJA), the London based experimental music production [no.signal] - in collaboration with the Curzon Soho, the Finnish Institute and the LUX centre - is presenting a special screening of Tony Conrad's films along with a selected few Experimental Finnish films.     TONY CONRAD (b. 1940, living in New York) is a giant in the American soundscape, avant-garde video artist, experimental filmmaker, musician/composer, sound artist, painter, teacher and writer. A contemporary living legend of avant-garde music and films - he will be showing and commenting a personal selection of his film works broken down in 3 categories, from his most groundbreaking experimental work in the late 60s to his more recent cartoon-based work. The screening will start with The Flicker (1966) a key early work of the structural film movement consisting of alternating black-and-white film images producing stroboscopic and flickering effects causing optic impressions which simulate colors and forms. Straight and Narrow (1970) is the second ‘flicker’ film with the rock-jam collaborative work of Terry Riley and John Cale, later released as the track 'Church of Anthrax'.     The first part of the event will be 'A short Finnish experimental selection' will be showing two UK premiers: Swissair's Hermafrodiitit originally - a double super8 projection - and a selection of Sami Sampakila, Fonal Records founder, of early film works. The other films have been rarely shown and only at limited festivals. Taanila's 'Optical Sound' is based on the live performance of the Symphony for 12 Dot Matrix Printers by the Canadian artist duo [The User]. This screening has been programmed by Tony Conrad and Eric Namour with the kind support of Curzon Soho, the Finnish Institute in London and LUX.

SYNOPSIS

TONY CONRAD - THE FLICKER

[TOP]

USA, 1966, B&W, sound on tape*, 30 mins, 16mm

'The ultimate to date in the nonobjective film is Tony Conrad's The Flicker. It has only black and white frames... and the resulting strobe effect can cause the illusion of colour, of a spreading of light, and of lacy patterns. Seeing The Flicker will cause one person in every fifteen thousand to have an epileptic seizure.' - Sheldon Reynon, An Introduction To The American Underground Film.

'Right from the top a warning appears on the screen. The spectator is advised that he views what is coming at his own risk. that certain 'hypnotic' and 'psychotic' symptoms may appear...the shocker from producer Tony Conrad is called The Flicker. And then it flickers endlessly. Now black, now white...'-Der Kurier, Vienna.

'The Flicker has been called a sort of visual LSD, including hallucinations...You know a man can be called a bald faced liar simply by being an honest reporter. Some of these cats were sitting staring...as if watching and hearing Beethoven himself play his fifth piano concerto.'- The Evening Star, Washington.

JUHA VAN INGEN - (DIS)INTEGRATOR

[TOP]

Finland, 1992, 4 mins, video

A looped extract from the science fiction film The Fly in which 50s man explains the principle of broadcast to 50s woman, becomes a comment upon itself as the medium begins to imitate the messge. What happens when you endlessly reproduce a section of time?

MIKA TAANILA - OPTICAL SOUND

[TOP]

2005, 5 mins, Format: 35mm cinemascope

Taanila's film is based on the live performance of the Symphony for 12 Dot Matrix Printers by the Canadian artist duo [The User]. The film intercuts close-ups of the mechanical parts of the printers performing the piece, taken from surveillance cameras placed inside the machines, with images of the ASCII files' score being played, which has been photocopied straight onto clear film without the use of a camera. These live images are contrasted with time-lapse footage of large modern office blocks shot from the streets, at dawn and dusk, in Helsinki.