Odds and Ends: Tests, Experiments and Fragments

"I'm a film-thinker, otherwise uncultured."-Len LyeAfter Len Lye's death in 1980, his personal collection of film tests and experiments was donated to The Museum of Modern Art's Film Department, where it has been preserved. Tonight's exciting program of discovery includes a selection of these experiments; fragments of films, some of which no longer exist in finished form; as well as a number of recently discovered films not on Lye's official filmography, preserved by the New Zealand Film Archive.We also present Bell of Atlantis, based on an Anaïs Nin poem, with abstract color effects by Ian Hugo and Lye. Preceded by Shirley Horrocks's Flip and Two Twisters which includes footage of Len Lye talking about his art and explores Lye's dynamic kinetic sculptures. Attempts to realize Lye's sculptures at the gigantic scale he imagined, using modern technology and materials, are also chronicled.Flip and Two Twisters (Shirley Horrocks, 1995, 48 mins, Color/B&W, 16mm, From the artist). Bell of Atlantis (Ian Hugo, 1952, 6 mins, Color, 16mm, From MoMA Circulating Film Library). Tests, Experiments, and Fragments (c. 50 mins, Color, B&W, 16mm, Courtesy MOMA). Full Fathom Five, Life's Musical Minute (1951), All Souls Carnival (1935), TV Prime Time, Pictures for Percussion (c. 25 mins): (Color, B&W, 16mm, Courtesy New Zealand Film Archive).

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