Essentials: Play honours the irreverent, impudent, subversive and fun in artists’ film. Ranging from Dada to Postmodernism this programme is a playground for unconventional ideas and approaches, with work that mocks and parodies a cinema that takes itself seriously for all the wrong reasons. These playful works cast aside pretensions and freely celebrate life and art in all its forms. Featuring work by Hans Richter, John Smith and George Kuchar.
Programme curated by James Harding.
Films
Filmstudie
Hans Richter | Germany | 1926 | 3min 30sec
Richter’s pioneering Dada work Filmstudie is a seminal piece of early avant-garde cinema.
Ent'racte
René Clair | France | 1924 | 22min
Originally conceived to be shown in the interval of Francis Picabia’s radical Dadaist ballet Relâche.
Associations
John Smith | UK | 1975 | 7min
Combining a wry sense of humour with word and visual games.
Hold Me While I'm Naked
George Kuchar | USA | 1966 | 15min
A film seen through the eyes of a frustrated director who is attempting to realise his ‘vision’.
Alone. Life Wastes Andy Hardy
Martin Arnold | Austria | 1998 | 15min
A radical example of found footage filmmaking, Alone is a meticulously re-edited compilation of scenes from the Andy Hardy series of MGM Hollywood Musical Comedies.
Little Stabs At Happiness
Ken Jacobs | USA | 1963 | 15min
Six short episodes, loosely linked by Brooklyn slum locations and the intermittent presence of Jack Smith.
Sacrificial Mutilation And Death In Modern Art
Dinos Chapman & Jake Chapman | UK | 1999 | 5min
The mythology of modern art reenacted through puppets.