The 1970s Project

• Conference 2008
• Registration
• Seminar Series
  • Malcolm Le Grice
  • Dr Andrew Spicer
  • Prof James Chapman
  • Dr Dominic Symonds
  • BBFC
  • David Curtis
• Call for Papers
• Reports

Le Grice spoke of his background as a painter and jazz musician and that his practice came out of the context of art not cinema. He was also involved in computer work from 1968.

With film the source of the language was the medium itself. Meanings came out of process: the process was key. Exploration with film involved the use of found footage, loops, material etc. The work had a transient quality, especially as performance. Performances were events where the artwork (film) was not a commercial product which could be sold. This was in keeping with notions of anti-commodity and film as experience not as object. Film doesn't fit into collecting art in the same way.

Digital: the digital itself isn't a medium although there are characteristics that are specific to it. It is non-linear, can only work with a programme and is dependent on an output system eg it becomes film because it is programmed to do so. (Le Grice wrote his own programmes). The digital is an interface taking up the condition of the medium. He asks: is there a paradigm shift that comes from the digital technology equal to where moving image first appeared?

Till 1974 the 70s was a time of political idealism. This was a component of the art avant-garde: avant-garde film shared the ideological thrust with politics.