It’s that time again – what do you get for the artists’ moving image fan in your family? Let our annual pick of the best artists’ moving image books and DVD be your guide.
Books
Here Is Information. Mobilise. Selected writings by Ian White published by LUX. Edited by Mike Sperlinger with an afterword by Josephine Pryde. OK, this is one of ours, but its something we are really proud of: the collected writings of dear colleague the artist, curator and teacher Ian White (1971-2013), one of the great theorisers and advocates of twenty-first century artists’ moving image.
Shoot Shoot Shoot: The First Decade of the London Film-Makers’ Co-operative 1966-76. Book published by LUX. Edited by Mark Webber. Sorry another of our publications, but it is the 50th anniversary of our founder organisation the LFMC, and this lovingly edited book is a rich polyphonic portrait of its early years.
Peter Gidal / Flare Out: Aesthetics 1966–2016. Edited by Mark Webber and Peter Gidal. Published by The Visible Press. Mark Webber’s second book of the year, this time for his own imprint – a beautifully produced collection of selected writings by one of the most significant British filmmaker/ theorists of the past 50 years.
I Have a Friend Who Knows Someone Who Bought a Video, Once, On Collecting Video Art. Book published by Mousse/ LOOP Barcelona. A timely collection reflecting on the material economies around the circulation of artists’ moving image from some of its key figures.
Stan Brakhage – Catalogue Raisonne. Compiled by Emilie Vergé. Bilingual French/ English. Published by Paris Expérimental. The definitive catalogue of Brakhage’s work clocking in at over 300 films.
It’s All True, Bruce Conner Edited by Rudolf Frieling Catalogue published by University of California Press. Accompanying recent exhibitions, a major overview of the work of Bruce Conner including films, paintings and more.
Paul Sharits: Catalogue Raisonné 1962–1992, Edited by Susanne Pfeffer. Published by Walther König, Koln. Another significant cataloguing project with a number of texts by Paul Chan, Tony Conrad, Birgit Hein, Bruce Jenkins, Branden W. Joseph, Helen Marten, Jonas Mekas, Melissa Ragona, and Paul Sharits.
Requests and Antisongs, edited by Mason Leaver-Yap and James Richards. Book published by Sternberg Press. First significant publication dedicated to the great work of young British artist James Richards.
Amateur, Wendelien van Oldenborgh, Edited by Emily Pethick and Wendelien van Oldenborgh with David Morris. Book published by Sternberg Press. First publication on the moving image work of Dutch artist Wendelien van Oldenborgh.
Kurt Kren: Structural Films. Edited by Nicky Hamlyn, Simon Payne, and A. L. Rees. Published by Intellect Books. Excellent reader on the work of Austrian filmmaker Kurt Kren, including historic and contemporary texts.
Hamilton Babylon A History of the McMaster Film Board by Stephen Broomer. Book published by University of Toronto Press. Fascinating history of the McMaster Film Board and its evolution from experimental film advocacy to show business management (co-founded by frat comedy impresario, Ivan Reitman!)
The Autobiography of Video, The Life and Times of a Memory Technology, Ina Blom. Book published by Sternberg Press. Unique study of the early years of video technology and its implications for memory and social ontology.
Documentary Across Disciplines. Edited by Erika Balsom and Hila Peleg. Copublished by MIT Press and the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), Berlin. Great eclectic reader on the rich hybridity that exists between art and documentary.
DVDs
Colour Box: 19 Films by Len Lye DVD published by Govett-Brewster Art Gallery/Len Lye Centre, Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision and the Len Lye Foundation. While most of Len Lye’s films have been available in the past this is the complete definitive collection produced by the Len Lye Centre.
Condition of Illusion: 11 films by Peter Gidal from 1967 to 2013. DVD published by Re:Voir Paris. A new collection of seminal works by Peter Gidal, lovingly produced by the world’s number one publisher of artists’ film DVDs Re:Voir.
Underground New York, Gideon Bachmann. DVD published by Re:Voir Paris. Rare entertaining documentary on the underground film scene of late ‘60s New York including most of the key filmmakers of the time.
Studio één – Experimental Films from the Lowlands. DVD published by Re:Voir. Collection from influential Dutch lab and workshop Studio één founded by Karel Doing.
