La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival & CRS present Stop Calling Them Dangerous: Cinema Has Power vol. 9 with Sarah Möller. This program will celebrate the artistic legacy and profound influence of the intermedia artist and composer Phill Niblock (1933-2024, USA), who was an artist whose fifty-year career spans minimalist and experimental music, film and photography. The foundation for avant-garde music based in New York with a branch in Ghent. Niblock’s signature sound is filled with microtones of instrumental timbres that generate many other tones in the performance space. 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. The event will be moderated by Yoshiko Chuma with Sarah Möller, Christopher McIntyre and David Gearey.
Doors open at 1:45pm. No admission after 2:20pm. Admission is $10 – $30 at the door.
La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival continues to support La MaMa’s commitment to presenting diverse performance styles that challenge audience’s perception of dance by featuring performance/installations, experimental film screenings & public symposiums which address dance artists’ engagement with the current political climate, as well as honoring diasporic histories and legacy, ancestral inspirations and inter-generational dialogue.
Sarah Möller, one of the artistic directors of the Berlin dance film festival POOL – MOVEMENT ART FILM. Since 2016, under the name SHINE – NEW YORK TRACES, the festival has been featuring films from the New York dance and experimental film scene of the 60s, 70s, and 80s.
Sarah Möller is an artist-curator based in Berlin. She is one of the co-directors of the international dance film festival POOL – MOVEMENT ART FILM. Especially interested in the various ways of interweaving cinematic and physical movement, she regularly offers workshops and training in the field. Additionally, she has been invited as a film programmer, lecturer, and jury member for several international dance film festivals and exhibitions. In 2021, she founded the Shine Collection which represents 16-mm films by artist Yoshiko Chuma created between 1979 and 1983.
www.sarahmoeller.de
www.shine-collection.de
www.pool-festival.de
www.shine-collection.de
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.
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 and dancers, including Elaine Summers, Yvonne Rainer, Steve Paxton and Becky Arnold, Meredith Monk, Ann Danoff, Barbara Dilley, and Dana Reitz, 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. The event is initiated by Yoshiko Chuma, Conceptual Artist, Choreographer, and Director of The School of Hard Knocks, and curated by Sarah Möller, artistic co-director of the Berlin dance film festival POOL – MOVEMENT ART FILM.Since 2016, under the name SHINE – NEW YORK TRACES, the festival has been featuring films from the New York dance and experimental film scene of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. www.pool-festival.de
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.
www.phillniblock.com
www.experimentalintermedia.org
THE 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.
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.
Note: The opening and closing credits of the film Max contain a strobe effect.
More details:
https://pool-festival.de/2024/05/14/cinema-has-power-phill-niblock
https://www.lamama.org/shows/cinema-has-power-vol-9