Jürgen Reble in Person Co-sponsored by the Goethe Institute, S.F. We gather around the fire: Performance in MATRIX Gallery preceding films. A loop of film is treated with chemicals causing "the images to disintegrate and dissolve, and new colors and structures to develop." (1988, c. 20 mins, Super-8mm) The Bonn-based film/performance collective of Jochen Lampert, Jürgen Reble and Jochen Mueller took the name Schmelzdahin or "meltaway," suggesting their alchemistic transformation of film material into an organic, magical substance. Filmmaker Birgit Hein has described their concerns: "Trash seems to be the only true answer to the established perfection of High-Tech. Schmelzdahin has created a unique and unconventional form...They have developed special techniques to destroy, crumble or melt away images. Strips of film are treated with acid, color, brushes or tools. Films are stored in water for months till algae affects them or are dug into the earth so that bacteria can work on them. Later these films are dried, cleaned and copied on a machine of the artists' devising. Schmelzdahin's results are surprisingly new and beautiful." Organized in 1975, the collective was active through 1990. Founding member Jürgen Reble will introduce a program of his and the collective's Super-8mm films.