Part 1: Rooms

Hall
Peter Gidal, 1968/9, UK, 16mm, sound, 10mins.

"Demystified reaction by the viewer to a demystified situation; a cut in space and an interruption of duration, through (obvious) jumpcut editing within a strictly defined space. Manipulation of response and awareness thereof: through repetition and duration of image. Film situation as structured, as recorrective mechanism" (Notes from 1969).
– Peter Gidal

a room
Phill Harding, 2008, UK, sound only, 7mins.

Much of Phill Harding’s work concentrates on the sounds we usually ignore or filter out, recontextualising and refocusing them to point out the beauty in the mundane. a room is one of an ongoing series of works listening to indoor spaces devoid of human presence, some virtually silent, others not so quiet. Commissioned specifically for Olsen.

Penumbra
Nicky Hamyin, UK, 16mm, b&w, silent, 9mins.

In Penumbra the camera strategy, and shooting scheme, are rigidly determined by the film’s subject, a grid of off-white bathroom tiles. The work is formed as a continuously evolving image. In other words it has neither cuts nor dissolves, both of which affect the transition from one shot to another, but exists as a single fixed shot made with a static camera. Penumbra’s spatio-temporal grid structure parallels the structure of the filmstrip, which is similarly grid-like: spatial in its actual physical form, spatio-temporal in its manner of operation. – Nicky Hamlyn

Production Stills
Morgan Fisher, 1970, USA, sound, 11mins.

The only images in Production Stills (1970) are a sequence of nine Polaroids placed in front of the camera. Taken and developed in real time, they show Fisher and the crew making the film itself. – Mark Webber

Part 2: Surface Tension

Angles of Incidence
William Raban, 1973, UK, 16mm double screen, silent, 10mins.

This film is the starting point of a continuous investigation into ways of presenting Cubist space in terms of the flat surface of the film screen. The film image is a view through a window, the window-frame providing a constant spatial reference point, as the view beyond is modified by a series of major and minor variations in camera viewpoint. The film is presented unedited - just as it was filmed in the camera. – William Raban

Astor Place
Eve Heller, 1997, USA, 16mm, silent 10mins.

A hidden camera was set up behind a mirror on a busy pedestrian intersection in New York City. This Goffmanesque study of how people perform their identities is an enactment of the urban ballet city theorists have described. Bodies are perfectly synchronized, crossing, turning, running, walking, skipping or slowly shuffling along to their unknown destinations. Quick glances followed by hands shuffling through hair or straightening jackets are consistent throughout the lengthy takes that make up this film.

The Subjectivisation of Repetition,
CV lll
Bernd Schurer, 2008, Switzerland, sound only, 6mins.

The Subjectivisation of Repetition, CV lll is a sound work specially commissioned for Olsen, which focusses on the subliminal convolution of spaces. Repeated sound events in the micro time domain leave trails in space, prolonging their life span. The order of events in time is reversed, from chorus texture to particle – a kind of reverse reverb convolution. Sublimation is hypothesised as a way to convey information that is not really present. Commissioned specifically for Olsen.

Bernd Schurer is a computer music composer from Switzerland. He has realised compositions and audio works for film and installation, as well as for the stage and opera, all of which cover a broad spectrum of distinct aesthethics. His main interest lies in conceiving systems that are autonomous, interactive or self-contained.

www.domizil.ch/schurer

His Favorite Wife Improved or,
The Virtue Of Bad Reception
Ken Jacobs, 2008, USA, video, sound, 3mins.

We keep a dish on our roof, not for luck: to pull in TV signals. Whenever a thunderstorm hits, reception whacks up. Lightning can really make a broadcast sizzle. The following is exactly as recorded one stormy New York day in February 2008. – Ken Jacobs

Adios, Arrivederci, Au Revoir, Auf Weidersehen
Katy Woods, 2005, video, silent, 2mins.

Photographic memories from a distant time and place are consumed by the light that created them.

Distant Things
Katy Woods, 2006, UK, video, sound, 10mins.

In her film Distant Things Katy Woods animates micro film by standing a video camera in front of the monitor and speedily flicking through thousands of images. She then pauses for a few seconds resting on an image she likes the look of. Woods has an eye for a satisfying image. She loves a bird. Images of birds are paused at frequently. In a world saturated with visual images How does one make a choice? Ones own intuition seems as successful as any.

Part 3: From the Inside - Out

Take Measure
William Raban, 1973, UK, 16mm, silent, Xmins.

For this short film event, the film is removed from the film feed reel, and is unwound, to span the space between the projector and screen. The projector starts, and the film snakes back through the audience, as it is consumed by the projector. The screen image is a film footage counter which measures the 'throw' of the cinema. – William Raban

Condensed Milk
Helena Gough, 2007, UK, sound only, 6mins.

The music of Helena Gough involves the manipulation of 'real-world' sound material and the exploration of its abstract properties. Her sound pieces are created using a minimum of raw material, usually derived from recordings of small sounds and domestic noises, taking everything possible from the tiniest element - working to create something from nearly nothing. Condensed Milk appears on her CD 'With What Remains', released on Entr'acte.

Initially trained in violin and composition at the Royal Academy of Music, Junior Academy, Helena went on to complete a BMus at Birmingham University.

www.helenagough.net
www.entracte.co.uk

II. Grinder (From the Three Leadersongs series)
Bruce McClure, 1998–1999, USA, 16mm, sound, 13mins.

Six passes over blue library leader using two bits; a 1/2" diameter sanding drum and a large engraving cutter, at speeds jumping from 5,000 rpm to 30,000 rpm. The rate of the film passing under the Dremel was regulated by the beat of a metronome.
– Bruce McClure

An anti-film, where the film strip itself is used only for its optical sound-track area which is off screen. By attacking the film with a Dremel hand-grinder, a sound work was created – the image is a by-product of the process – occasionally revealing the source of the sound.

Projection Instructions
Morgan Fisher, 1976, USA, 16mm, sound, 4mins.

A transitional work, Projection Instructions (1976), calls for the intervention of a projectionist (following printed instructions) in the screening of an otherwise conventionally exhibited film.

Drawing Attention
Emma Hart, 2005, UK, video, silent, 2mins.

A sketch of the film as it is being made.

Walk (in progress)
Emily Wilczek, 2008, UK, 8mm/MiniDV, b/w, sound, 2mins.

Walk (in progress) documents four people on a walk in the French countryside, filmed on out-of-date black and white filmstock with the audio captured on MiniDisc. Emily relinquishes control of the camera, suggesting to the others that they film. The sound and image are edited in sync, with periods of black when the camera isn't running. Depending on the proximity of the camera operator to "the filmmaker" the mechanised whirr of the camera may be audible.