FILMAKTION: Expanded Cinema and Film Performance

4 March, 2017
– 5 March, 2017
Raven Row
London
Filmaktion performance at Gallery House, London, March 1973. At the projectors: Malcolm Le Grice, Gill Eatherley, William Raban. Photograph by David Crosswaite.

For this special event at Raven Row, Malcolm Le Grice, Gill Eatherley and William Raban will reconvene as the Filmaktion group to animate the gallery using an array of 8mm, 16mm and slide projectors. A shifting programme of installations by Eatherley and Le Grice will run throughout the weekend. These pieces for itinerant viewers will be interrupted twice daily for the presentation of mixed programmes of multi-screen films and live performances.
In reaching out beyond the frame of conventional filmmaking and film presentation, many artists engaged with ‘expanded cinema’. The term came to encompass works that made use of multiple screens, live performance and film installations, emphasising the primacy of the projection event and questioning the role of the spectator.
It was a field richly explored by those associated with the London Film-Makers’ Co-operative, and amongst its key practitioners were Malcolm Le Grice, Gill Eatherley, William Raban and Annabel Nicolson. The radical formalism of the rough, artisanal qualities of work made in the LFMC workshop was further enriched in unique ‘film actions’ that employed performance and improvisation.
Expanded cinema took these filmmakers beyond the auditorium and into art spaces. A weekend of projections at Gallery House in March 1973 was the first of a sequence of events at venues including the Scottish Arts Council Gallery, Walker Art Gallery, The Place and the ICA. The flexibility of open exhibition spaces prompted the development of installations in which film loops could be orchestrated over extended time periods, and projected works that eschewed cinematic conventions.
During this weekend programme, Malcolm Le Grice’s shadow play Horror Film 2 will be staged in public for the first time since 1973. Referencing the pre-history of cinema, actors and objects cast shadows that are viewed in 3D by an audience wearing red/green anamorphic spectacles. His performance Pre-Production will also be revived alongside a three-screen version of Whitchurch Down (Duration).
Gill Eatherley will present the film environments Sicherheits and Chair Installation and perform Aperture Sweep, whilst William Raban’s dynamic multi-screen projections include Diagonal and Surface Tension. His Filmaktion Timelapse (documentation of a week of events at the Walker Art Gallery in 1973) will be shown continuously in the entrance hall.
Annabel Nicolson’s work will be represented by two rarely-seen 16mm films, Shapes and Frames. The latter was created from fragments of a Gallery House performance in which the artist dissected her earlier film Flavia by manipulating it manually with a slide projector and a hand-held condenser lens.
Please see below for the complete schedule and list of works. Admission is free, but arrive early for the screening programmes to avoid disappointment.
Filmaktion is curated for Raven Row by Mark Webber.
All timings approximate, will the exceptions of the programmes that will begin at 2pm & 7pm on Saturday and 2pm & 6pm on Sunday.


In the context of This Way Out of England. Gallery House in Retrospect (10 February to 26 March 2017), curated by Alex Sainsbury and Antony Hudek. The film programme is presented with the support of LUX.

Futher details on the Raven Row website here.

11am
Gill Eatherley, Chair Installation, 1972, loops
 
12pm
Malcolm Le Grice, Gross Fog, 1973, loops
 
1pm
Gill Eatherley, Clod Argument, 1973, loops
 
2pm
William Raban, Take Measure, 1973, 2 min
Gill Eatherley, Aperture Sweep, 1973, c. 6 min
Gill Eatherley, Pan Film, 1972, 8 min
Gill Eatherley. Hand Grenade, 1971, 8 min
William Raban, 2’45” (Bristol 1975), 1973, 8 min
William Raban, Surface Tension, 1974-76, 14 min
William Raban, Angles of Incidence, 1973, 8 min
William Raban, Diagonal, 1973, 6 min
 
4pm
Gill Eatherley, Sicherheits, 1973, loops
 
5pm
Malcolm Le Grice, Four Wall Duration, 1973, loops
 
6pm
intermission
 
7pm
Malcolm Le Grice, Horror Film 2, 1972, c. 25 min
Annabel Nicolson, Shapes, 1970, 7 min
Annabel Nicolson, Frames, 1973, 8 min
Malcolm Le Grice, Pre-Production, 1973, c. 15 min
Malcolm Le Grice, Blue Field Duration, 1972, 6 min
Malcolm Le Grice, Whitchurch Down (Duration), 1972, 9 min
Malcolm Le Grice, Horror Film 1, 1971, 14 min
 
11am-8pm (entrance hall monitor)
William Raban, Filmaktion Timelapse, 1973, 7 min (loop)

11am
Gill Eatherley, Sicherheits, 1973, loops
 
12pm
Malcolm Le Grice, Four Wall Duration, 1973, loops
 
1pm
intermission
 
2pm
Malcolm Le Grice, Horror Film 2, 1972, c. 25 min
Annabel Nicolson, Shapes, 1970, 7 min
Annabel Nicolson, Frames, 1973, 8 min
Malcolm Le Grice, Pre-Production, 1973, c. 15 min
Malcolm Le Grice, Blue Field Duration, 1972, 6 min
Malcolm Le Grice, Whitchurch Down (Duration), 1972, 9 min
Malcolm Le Grice, Horror Film 1, 1971, 14 min
 
4pm
Gill Eatherley, Chair Installation, 1972, loops
 
5pm
Malcolm Le Grice, Gross Fog, 1973, loops
 
6pm
William Raban, Take Measure, 1973, 2 min
Gill Eatherley, Aperture Sweep, 1973, c. 6 min
Gill Eatherley, Pan Film, 1972, 8 min
Gill Eatherley. Hand Grenade, 1971, 8 min
William Raban, 2’45” (Bristol 1975), 1973, 8 min
William Raban, Surface Tension, 1974-76, 14 min
William Raban, Angles of Incidence, 1973, 8 min
William Raban, Diagonal, 1973, 6 min
 
11am-7pm (entrance hall monitor)
William Raban, Filmaktion Timelapse, 1973, 7 min (loop)

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