PROJECTING SOUND PICTURES
INTRODUCTION THE OTHERED CINEMA 1 CHAPTER 1 ARCHITECTURES OF EXHIBITION 19 CHAPTER 2 FILMIC RUINS 57 CHAPTER 3 THE REMAKE OLD MOVIES NEW NARRATIVES 99 CHAPTER 4 THE FICTION OF TRUTH AND THE TRUTH OF FICTION 141 CONCLUSION CINEMA AND 177 NOTES 183 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION THE OTHERED CINEMA T HE NEED IS TO PROPOSE NEW ANSWERS TO THE QUESTION THAT IS NOW RAISED IN ALL INSTITU TIONS DEDICATED TO MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART HOW IS FILM TO BE EXHIBITED AND HOW IS FILM TO ATTAIN THE STATUS OF AN ARTWORK BRUNO RACINE PRESIDENT CENTRE GEORGES POMPIDOU TO OPEN AN OVERTURE IN STAN DOUGLAS PRODUCED A MM WORK THAT RE CYCLED SOME OF CINEMA S EARLIEST IMAGES AND ONE OF ITS EARLIEST GENRES THE PHAN TOM RIDE DOUGLAS PAIRED RECYCLED FOOTAGE FROM TWO EDISON FILMS SHOT IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES KICKING HORSE CANYON AND WHITE PASS BRITISH COLUMBIA WITH A SOUNDTRACK OF PASSAGES EXCERPTED FROM MARCEL PROUST S IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME OVERTURE CONSISTS OF THREE IMAGE SECTIONS EACH SEPARATED BY BLACK LEADER AND SIX PASSAGES OF TEXT THESE PASSAGES ARE READ BY A MALE VOICE OVER THROUGH TWO REPETITIONS OF THE IMAGE TRACK RESULTING IN THE SAME IMAGE BEING ACCOMPANIED BY DIFFERENT TEXT IN THE SECOND ITERATION OF THE SEVEN MINUTE LOOP THE PHANTOM RIDE CELEBRATES TECHNOLOGIZED PERCEPTION BRINGING TOGETHER TWO OF ITS MOST POWERFUL INCARNATIONS THE SPEED OF THE LOCO MOTIVE AND THE MECHANICAL EYE OF CINEMA AT A TIME WHEN IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE TO MOVE THE CAMERA THE GENRE FUNCTIONED AS ONE WAY OF ENABLING A MOBILE GAZE THE ICONOGRAPHY OF THE TRAIN MEANWHILE IS INEXTRICABLY LINKED TO THE BIRTH OF CINEMA THROUGH THE INAUGURAL RUSH OF THE LUMI RES L ARRIV E D UN TRAIN LA CIOTAT IN OVERTURE THE TRAIN WINDS AROUND THE MOUNTAINS SUPPLIES VIEWS OF THE LANDSCAPE AND TRAVELS THROUGH TUNNELS OF DARKNESS OFFERING THE SPECTATOR A GLIMPSE OF HOW TRAIN TRAVEL WOULD APPEAR FROM THE FRONT WINDOW OF THE CONDUC TOR S CAR ON THE SOUNDTRACK A MONOLOGUE UNFOLDS THAT IS DRAWN FROM THOSE FRAGILE MOMENTS BETWEEN SLEEPING AND WAKING SEEMINGLY OPPOSED TO THE FAST MOVING VIEWS OF FARAWAY LANDS SEEN ON THE IMAGE TRACK THE VOICEOVER SPEAKS OF PRIVATE INTERNAL EXPERIENCE AND YET AS MEMORIES RUSH IN AND SURROUND THE NARRATOR HE DESCRIBES THE EXPERIENCE IN DISTINCTLY CINEMATIC TERMS EVERYTHING REVOLVED AROUND ME THROUGH THE DARKNESS THINGS PLACES YEARS HE THEN GOES ON TO DISCUSS THE INABILITY TO SEPARATE ONE SENSATION FROM ANOTHER WITH REFERENCE TO THE ILLUSION OF MOVEMENT ACHIEVED BY THE PROTO CINEMATIC DEVICE OF THE BIO SCOPE OVERTURE THUS BRINGS TOGETHER TWO CONCEPTIONS OF TIME THAT ARE CENTRAL TO LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY MODERNITY THE PUBLIC STANDARDIZED TIME THAT IS CLOSELY LINKED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RAILWAY AND THE SUBJECTIVE TIME OF IN 1 VOLUNTARY MEMORY AS ELABORATED BY PROUST SOMEWHERE BETWEEN THEM BE TWEEN REGULARITY AND CONTINGENCY PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LIES THE TIME OF CINEMA STAN DOUGLAS OVERTURE OVERTURE WOULD NOT BE OUT OF PLACE AMONGST THE MANY WORKS OF THE EXPERI MENTAL FILM TRADITION THAT HAVE DRAWN UPON THE PRECLASSICAL CINEMA SUCH AS ERNIE GEHR S EUREKA WHICH ALSO USES FOOTAGE OF A PHANTOM RIDE HOW EVER OVERTURE IS NOT AN EXPERIMENTAL FILM BUT A FILM INSTALLATION IT BELONGS NOT TO THE MOVIE THEATER BUT TO THE ART GALLERY IT IS AN EARLY EXAMPLE OF THE WAYS IN WHICH ARTISTS WOULD CLAIM THE GALLERY AS A SPACE TO INVESTIGATE FILM HISTORY IN THE S MOBILIZING TWO STRATEGIES THAT WOULD BECOME CENTRAL TO THIS UNDER TAKING THE REMAKE OF AN EXISTING FILM AND THE INVESTIGATION OF MM AS A ME DIUM ALIGNED WITH HISTORICITY OVERTURE IS THEN SOMETHING OF AN OVERTURE FOR THE EXPLOSION OF REFERENCES TO FILM HISTORY AND USES OF THE MOVING IMAGE THAT WOULD OCCUR IN ARTISTIC PRODUCTION FROM AROUND ONWARDS FROM ONE FIN DE SI CLE TO ANOTHER IT IS A RETURN TO THE SUBJECTIVE TRANSFORMATIONS BROUGHT ABOUT BY THE INVENTION OF CINEMA AT THE END OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY AMIDST THOSE INITIATED BY NEW ELECTRONIC MEDIA AT THE END OF THE TWENTIETH AS AN INDEX ICAL TRACE OF PASTNESS THE GRAINY FOOTAGE OF THE EDISON FILMS CONTAINS WITHIN IT PROJECTING SOUND PICTURES 2 THE VERY FORCE OF TIME THAT PROUST S NARRATOR SOUGHT TO RECOVER TESTIFYING TO THE WAY IN WHICH THE PAST CAN BE SUMMONED IN ALL ITS ANACHRONISM TO CHALLENGE THE PRESENT AS DOUGLAS HAS REMARKED WHEN THEY BECOME OBSOLETE FORMS OF COM MUNICATION BECOME AN INDEX OF AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD LOST TO US IN OVERTURE THE CINEMA EMERGES AS SUCH AN OBSOLETE FORM OF COMMUNICATION A SUPERANNUATED TECHNOLOGY THAT MIGHT POSSESS A REDEMPTIVE POWER DOUGLAS USE OF CINEMA CONCEIVES OF IT AS AN OLD MEDIUM BUT DOES SO ON THE HORIZON OF STAKING OUT A NEW MOVING IMAGE PRACTICE THAT MIGHT PROVIDE A REFLECTION ON THE ENCOUNTERS BETWEEN NOVELTY AND OBSOLESCENCE SUBJECTIVITY AND TECHNOLOGY THAT MARK OUR MOMENT IN THE DECADES FOLLOWING OVERTURE A WHOLE HOST OF ARTISTS RAISED PRECISELY THESE QUESTIONS AND IN THE PROCESS REINVENTED CINEMA WITHIN THE SPACES OF ART THOUGH LITTLE EXPLORED WITHIN THE DISCIPLINE OF FILM STUDIES THIS EXPLOSION OF THE MOVING IMAGE IN CONTEMPORARY ART CONSTITUTES A PRIMARY SITE AT WHICH NOTIONS OF CINEMA HAVE BEEN RENEGOTIATED AND REDEFINED IN RECENT DECADES CINEMA BE COMES A PREOCCUPATION OF CONTEMPORARY ART PRECISELY AT A TIME WHEN IT IS PER CEIVED TO BE IN CRISIS DUE TO THE INCREASINGLY CONSOLIDATED HEGEMONY OF NEW ELECTRONIC MEDIA MEDIA THAT WOULD BE DIGITIZED AND NETWORKED AS THE S PROGRESSED CINEMA ENTERS THE GALLERY ON THE TIDE OF A CULTURE CONVERGING UNDER THE SIGN OF THE DIGITAL APPEARING THERE AS SOMETHING OF AN OLD MEDIUM TO BE COMMEMORATED AND PROTECTED AS EXEMPLIFIED BY OVERTURE HOWEVER THOUGH THE CINEMA IS OLDER THAN NEW MEDIA IT IS ALSO NEWER THAN TRADITIONAL MEDIA SUCH AS PAINTING OR SCULPTURE IT IS A TECHNOLOGY ALIGNED WITH MASS CULTURE THAT MAY BE SUMMONED TO PROVIDE ENTERTAINMENT AND ACCESSIBILITY ENORMOUS CINEMA THEMED EXHIBITIONS AND PROJECTED IMAGE INSTALLATIONS OF HIGH GLOSS AND BOMBAST UNDERLINE CINEMA S NOVELTY IN AN ART INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT RATHER THAN STANDING AGAINST THE CONVERGENCE OF MEDIA BY COMMEMORATING A SENESCENT CINEMA THIS MOBILIZATION OF CINEMA IN CONTEMPORARY ART AS A NEW MEDIUM PARTICIPATES VERY MUCH IN ITS MOVEMENTS IT COMPROMISES WHAT WERE ONCE RELATIVELY RIGID BORDERS BETWEEN THE IMAGE REGIMES OF CINEMA AND ART AND EMBLEMATIZES THE NEW MUTABILITY AND TRANSPORTABILITY OF MOVING IMAGES AFTER DIGITIZATION IN THIS BOOK I WILL TRACE OUT THE WAYS IN WHICH THIS INTERPLAY OF OLD AND NEW MEDIA HAS UNFOLDED ACROSS THE MULTIFACETED EXPLOSION OF CINEMA IN THE GALLERY SINCE MOVING ACROSS THEORETICAL DEBATES CURATORIAL DECISIONS AND ARTISTIC PRACTICES I WILL BRING THE TOOLS OF FILM THEORY TO BEAR ON WHAT HAVE TRADITIONALLY BEEN CONSIDERED TO BE ART HISTORICAL OBJECTS BOTH TO SHED LIGHT ON A NEW SECTOR OF MOVING IMAGE PRACTICE AND TO CONCEPTUALIZE HOW THIS SECTOR RELATES TO BOTH CIN EMA AND CINEMA STUDIES FOLLOWING GIULIANA BRUNO S ASSERTION OF THE NECESSITY OF AN INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDY OF FILM AND ART I CONTEND THAT CINEMA STUDIES MUST RECKON WITH THE INCREASING PRESENCE OF MOVING IMAGES IN THE GALLERY FOR IT REP RESENTS A CRUCIAL SITE WHERE ONE GLIMPSES A SUSTAINED INQUIRY INTO THE CULTURAL PROJECTING SOUND PICTURES 3 MEANING AND HISTORY OF THE CINEMA OVER THE PAST TWENTY YEARS IN THE S WALTER BENJAMIN ARTICULATED THE PRESSING QUESTION OF HOW THE ADVENT OF ME CHANICAL REPRODUCTION MOST FORCEFULLY EMBODIED IN THE CINEMA MIGHT CHANGE OUR CONCEPTION OF ART WITHOUT ABANDONING THIS NOTION FOR IT IS BY NO MEANS SETTLED I WILL INVERT THIS QUERY FOR THE TWENTY FIRST CENTURY TO ASK HOW DOES THE PROGRESSIVE INTEGRATION OF CINEMA INTO THE GALLERY AND THE MUSEUM CHANGE OUR CONCEPTION OF IT AND HOW MIGHT THE PRESENCE OF MOVING IMAGES IN THE GALLERY FUNCTION AS A MICROCOSM IN WHICH TO EXAMINE THE TRANSFORMATIONS CINEMA IS UN DERGOING TODAY IN THE BROADER CULTURAL FIELD CERTAINLY USES OF FILM AND VIDEO HAVE BEEN CENTRAL COMPONENTS OF ARTISTIC PRAC TICE SINCE AT LEAST THE S OR EVEN REACHING BACK TO THE CINEMATIC EXPERIMENTS OF THE HISTORICAL AVANT GARDE THROUGHOUT MOST OF THE LAST CENTURY HOWEVER MANY ARTISTS UNDERTOOK A DETERMINED EFFORT TO DISARTICULATE ANY RELATIONSHIP BE TWEEN THEIR EMPLOYMENTS OF THE MOVING IMAGE AND THE MASS CULTURAL INSTITUTION OF CINEMA ARTISTS WORKING WITH FILM AND VIDEO TENDED TO REFUSE ILLUSIONISM AND NARRATIVE AND INSTEAD CULTIVATED ALLIANCES WITH OTHER MEDIA SUCH AS SCULPTURE AND PERFORMANCE GALLERY BASED USES OF FILM VIRTUALLY DISAPPEARED WITH THE PO PULARIZATION OF VIDEO WHILE VIDEO ART DEVELOPED A HISTORY OF ITS OWN FUNDAMEN TALLY APART FROM INTERACTIONS WITH CINEMA IN SOMETHING OF A PARADIGM SHIFT SINCE THERE HAS BEEN A MARKED EMERGENCE OF MOVING IMAGE ART VERY MUCH UNDER THE SIGN OF CINEMA IF VIDEO ART HAD ALIGNED ITSELF FOR DECADES WITH OTHER MEDIA SUCH AS SCULPTURE PERFORMANCE OR EVEN THE DEMOCRATIC IMPULSE OF TELEVI SION IN AN EFFORT TO DISTANCE ITSELF FROM CINEMA SINCE ONE WITNESSES A MARKED CULTIVATION OF CINEMATIC TROPES AND CONVENTIONS SUCH AS MISE EN SC NE MONTAGE SPECTACLE NARRATIVE ILLUSIONISM AND PROJECTION JEAN CHRISTOPHE ROY OUX HAS TERMED THESE DEVELOPMENTS THE CIN MA D EXPOSITION CINEMA OF EXHIBI TION WHILE CATHERINE FOWLER HAS COINED THE TERM GALLERY FILM CHRISSIE ILES HAS REFERRED TO THIS AS THE NEW CINEMATIC AESTHETIC IN VIDEO WRITING THAT IN FORM AND CONTENT VIDEO IS NOW MIMICKING THE QUALITIES THAT HAD ALWAYS PER TAINED EXCLUSIVELY TO FILM THE USE OF THE WORD VIDEO AS A DEFINING TERM FOR A PARTICULAR AREA OF CONTEMPORARY ART NO LONGER APPEARS TO BE EITHER NECESSARY OR RELEVANT IN PLACE OF VIDEO ART ARTISTS CINEMA HAS EMERGED FAR FROM REDUCIBLE TO A SINGLE POSTULATE THIS CINEMA IS MULTIFACETED IT ENCOMPASSES SINGLE CHANNEL WORKS ALONGSIDE MULTISCREEN PROJECTION FILM AS WELL AS VIDEO LOOPED EXHIBITION AND SCHEDULED SCREENING TIMES AN INTEREST IN THE VIRTUALITY OF A REPRESENTED WORLD OR IN THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF SPECTATORSHIP AN ESPOUSAL OR A REJECTION OF NARRATIVE AND WORKS MADE EXPRESSLY FOR A GALLERY CONTEXT AND THOSE MADE FOR TRADITIONAL CINEMATIC EXHIBITION BUT NOW TRANSPORTED INTO THE WHITE CUBE SOME ARTISTS TAKE UP THE HISTORY OF CINEMA AS FERTILE GROUND FOR ARTISTIC INQUIRY WHILE OTHERS AVOID SPECIFIC REFERENCES TO FILM HISTORY IN FAVOR OF AN EMPLOYMENT PROJECTING SOUND PICTURES 4