Stop Calling Them Dangerous:
Cinema Has Power vol. 9
PHILL NIBLOCK
The School of Hard Knocks
Curated by Sarah Möller / POOL – MOVEMENT ART FILM Festival Berlin
Presented by Yoshiko Chuma
Part of La MaMa Moves! Festival
In partnership with CRS (Center for Remembering & Sharing)
May 25, 2024
Saturday from 2–4:30PM
CRS (Center for Remembering & Sharing)
41 E 11st St. 11th Fl.
New York, NY 10003
Movement played a pivotal role in the visual work of the intermedia artist and composer Phill Niblock. His films are characterized by textures of rhythms, pulsations, vibrant imagery, and masterful play with light and time. Niblock’s work with numerous choreographers, visual artists and musicians, including Elaine Summers, Yvonne Rainer, Steve Paxton and Becky Arnold, Meredith Monk, Ann Danoff, Barbara Dilley, Dana Reitz, Sun Ra, Max Neuhaus, Arthur Russell, and Katherine Liberovskaya showcased his dedication to exploring the intersection of movement, visual expression, and music. On January 8, 2024, at the age of 90, Phill Niblock bid farewell to the world. We invite the audience to join us for a curated selection of his films, to celebrate his legacy and the profound influence and deep inspiration he had on the artistic landscape.
Since 2016, films by Phill Niblock have regularly been featured in the program of POOL Shine. We are grateful for the opportunity to showcase his work, for Phill’s openness and generosity, and for the shared time.
In relation to the screening, we would like to thank Katherine Liberovskaya, Nicky Paraiso, and the team of La MaMa, as well as Yasuko Kasaki and Christopher Pelham from CRS.
Note: The opening and closing credits of the film Max contain a strobe effect.
https://www.lamama.org/shows/cinema-has-power-vol-9
https://crsny.org/
-DE-
Bewegung spielte eine entscheidende Rolle in der visuellen Arbeit des Intermedia-Künstlers und Komponisten Phill Niblock. Sein Interesse für Rhythmus, Licht und Zeit prägen auch die Filme, die er gemeinsam mit Choreograph*innen, Musiker*innen und visuellen Künstler*innen wie Elaine Summers, Yvonne Rainer, Steve Paxton und Becky Arnold, Meredith Monk, Ann Danoff, Barbara Dilley, Dana Reitz, Sun Ra, Max Neuhaus, Arthur Russell, Katherine Liberovskaya und weiteren schuf. Am 8. Januar 2024 verstarb Phill Niblock im Alter von 90 Jahren. Im Rahmen des Festivals La MaMa Moves! präsentieren wir am 25. Mai im Center for Remembering and Sharing in New York eine Auswahl seiner Filmen.
In Dankbarkeit für die tiefe Inspiration, die Phills Arbeiten hinterlassen haben, für seine Offenheit und die gemeinsame Zeit.
Program
The Magic Sun (1966-68) – 17 minutes
Filmed by Phill Niblock, with members of the Sun Ra Arkestra, music by Sun ra and Arkestra.
Filmed with a high contrast Black and White 16mm film, transferred to video.
Trio Film (1968) – 14 minutes
A film by Yvonne Rainer, Cinematography by Phill Niblock, Performance by Becky Arnold and Steve Paxton.
Black and white 16mm film transferred to video, no sound.
Annie (1968) – 8 minutes
A film by Phill Niblock. A portrait of the dancer Ann Danoff, with a sound collage sound track.
Color 16mm film, transferred to video.
Max (1966 – 68) – 7 minutes
Filmed by Phill Niblock, edited by Dave Gearey. An image collage film / portrait of Max Neuhaus, with a collage sound track by Max Neuhaus.
Black and White 16mm film, transferred to video.
Note: The opening and closing credits of the film contain a strobe effect.
3 Locations (1974) – 7 minutes
Film by Phill Niblock, dance by Dana Reitz.
3 Locations, 3 perspectives, 3 intensities – Dana Reitz explores three different environments: brick patio (jumping), hillside (crawling/rolling) and tree trunk (balancing).
Color 16mm film, transferred to video, no sound.
Terrace Of Unintelligibility (1985) – 20 minutes
Filmed by Phill Niblock. Composition, Performance and Lighting Design by Arthur Russell.
Recorded at Experimental Intermedia Foundation September 22, and October 27, 1985.
Photo by Barbara Dietl
Phill Niblock (1933-2024, USA) was an artist whose fifty-year career spans minimalist and experimental music, film and photography. Since 1985, he has served as director of Experimental Intermedia, a foundation for avant-garde music based in New York with a branch in Ghent, and curator of the foundation’s record label XI. Known for his thick, loud drones of music, Niblock’s signature sound is filled with microtones of instrumental timbres that generate many other tones in the performance space. In 2013, his diverse artistic career was the subject of a retrospective realised in partnership between Circuit (Contemporary Art Centre Lausanne) and Musée de l’Elysée. The following year Niblock was honored with the prestigious Foundation for Contemporary Arts John Cage award.
Yoshiko Chuma (conceptual artist, choreographer/artistic director of The School of Hard Knocks) has been a firebrand in the post-modern dance scene of New York City since the 1980s, has been consistently producing thought-provoking work that is neither dance nor theater nor film nor any other predetermined category. She is an artist on her own journey. A path that has taken her to over 40 “out of the way” countries and collected over 2000 artists, thinkers and collaborators of every genre since establishing her company The School of Hard Knocks in New York City in 1980.
www.phillniblock.com
www.experimentalintermedia.org
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