From: 40 Frames (email suppressed)
Date: Tue Sep 06 2005 - 12:30:05 PDT
> The Pompidou Center is organizing a Dada show October 4th. I was in
> touch with them to provide a Richter film. I tried to convince them
> to show the film on 16mm on a looper. They said they already decided
> to make a DVD from their 16mm print (not a new print). I said, "By
> the way, are you planning to hang any photocopies of paintings in the
> exhibit?" They said "No, I don't think so." I said, "So why are you
> showing DVD of a film?" They got the point and I have a meeting with
> them on Wednesday.
> -Pip
I think more of these types of discussion need to take place. The point
seems obvious, but is missed by so many. Why does the material specificity
matter for photography (which has its own history of struggle for being
considered an artform), or painting or sculpture, but somehow becomes
irrelevant when we talk about presenting works on 16mm (as opposed to
video xfers of those works on various formats).
Some of this has to do with current labor practices (the perceived ease of
use with setting up video compared to use of a film looper, and the lose
of A/V departments specializing in the maintenance, repair and
modification of film projection equipment), but it also appears to be a
matter of priority and what is deemed valuable enough to make an effort
for.
As a side note, I went to see an exhibit of Rodney Graham's work at the
Vancouver Art Gallery back in April of this year. There was both 35mm and
16mm loopers set-up by Robert Film Services (out of Toronto). The work
itself is another conversation, but RFS did a great technical job with the
set-up. The loopers where running non-stop, and the prints look good, esp
the 16mm which seemed to sustain very little signs of wear (but some of
this is owing to the nature of what was photographed which was very dark;
not much in the way of white parts of the frame).
--Alain
================
40 FRAMES
Alain LeTourneau
Pamela Minty
425 SE 3rd, #400
Portland, OR 97214
United States
+1 503 231 6548
email suppressed
http://www.40frames.org
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For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.