16MM RUN
Bruce Conner
#Agora
16MM RUN, the ongoing experimental film programme organized in collaboration with Villa Lontana continues on Wednesday 15 May, at 7 pm, with the screening of a series of works by the American painter, sculptor and filmmaker Bruce Conner (1933-2008), pioneer of found footage and master of assemblage: Looking for Mushrooms (1956-67/1996, 14’), Cosmic Ray (1961, 4’), Breakaway (1966, 5’), The White Rose (1967, 7’), Valse triste (1978, 5’), America is waiting (1981, 3’) and A Movie (1958, 12’).
Looking for Mushrooms, 1956-67/1996, 14’
Courtesy of the Conner Family Trust / © Conner Family Trust.
Cosmic Ray, 1961, 4’
Courtesy of the Conner Family Trust / © Conner Family Trust.
Breakaway, 1966, 5’
Courtesy of the Conner Family Trust / © Conner Family Trust.
The White Rose, 1967, 7’
Courtesy of the Conner Family Trust / © Conner Family Trust.
Valse triste, 1978, 5’
Courtesy of the Conner Family Trust / © Conner Family Trust.
America is waiting, 1981, 3’
Courtesy of the Conner Family Trust / © Conner Family Trust.
A Movie, 1958, 12’
Courtesy of the Conner Family Trust / © Conner Family Trust.
The screening will take place in the sala cinema.
BRUCE CONNER (1933 – July 7, 2008) is today recognized as one of the most important American artists of the 20th century, renowned for his work in film, assemblage, drawing, sculpture, painting, collage, photography, and conceptual pranks. Born in McPherson, Kansas and raised in Wichita, he attended Wichita State and got his BFA from Nebraska University in 1956, before transplanting to San Francisco. Initially known for his assemblage, Conner turned to film with A MOVIE in 1958, and other media soon after, with a freewheeling curiosity and resistance to pigeonholing that would last throughout his lifetime. In San Francisco, Conner and friends including Joan Brown, Jay De Feo, Manuel Neri, and Wallace Berman were associated with Beat and post-Beat movements, but also formed their own collective, the Rat-Bastard Protective Association. His contributions to cinema stand among his greatest achievements. Many attribute the birth of the music video to his 1961 film COSMIC RAY, as well as his more direct forays into the form in AMERICA IS WAITING (for David Byrne and Brian Eno) and MEA CULPA (with Devo). Key exhibitions include the seminal 2000 BC: The Bruce Conner Story Part II retrospective at the Walker Art Center, which was expanded upon in the highly lauded BRUCE CONNER: IT’S ALL TRUE, organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). The survey opened at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in July 2016 and traveled to SFMOMA and the Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid.