Re: [Frameworks] Andy Warhol's SLEEP / Providence, RI / Feb 18 / Magic Lantern + RK Projects
ok, I see the problem about the projectors. Guess I am a bit out of
touch about that situation these days.
I guess I was thinking of that story about Stan Brakhage who
apparently did not at all like the film at 24fps, but when he saw it
over again at silent speed {presumably 16fps (?) } it was a
revelation. I would want to see what I think he saw, to see for
myself.
Granted, the difference between 16fps and 18fps would probably not
concern Warhol, but Brakhage may be a different matter. The
difference apparently was enough for the industry to eventually
change over the projectors, and I am sure I could tell the
difference because of the nature of the flicker, not to say it is all
that critical to the upcoming showing, however, the sound is another
issue because then it becomes an expression or aesthetic assertion of
someone other than the artist, unless we have it on record that the
artist said play my film with whatever sound you want as part of
his intentions.
Myron Ort
On Feb 12, 2012, at 10:04 PM, David Tetzlaff wrote:
But if one is going to the trouble of presenting actual film, why
not round up a couple of the correct projectors
Easier said than done. If you're screening with dual projectors for
reel changes, they ought to have the same brightness and CT lamps
and the same focal length lenses, no? The folks in Providence have
figured out their space calls for a 1lens and a bright (i.e.
halogen lamp). I'm pretty sure there aren't any projectors with
halogen lamps that run at 16fps. So where exactly would you go to
find two 16fps projectors equipped with brand new 1000W
incandescent lamps and 1 lenses? The Eiki slim-line with the 18/24
pulley is a rare beast as it is. Eiki SLs came with 50hz/60Hz
pulleys stock, and the 18/24 pulleys had to be custom ordered.
Josh Guilford put out a post on Frameworks asking to borrow a
silent speed projector so they could have two projectors for their
performance. AFAIK, I was the only person who answered the request.
It wasn't like anybody said, Hey, the 18fps on your Eiki is too
fast, but I've got two 16fps projectors you can use instead or
but I know where you can borrow two 16fps projectors. These folks
have done their best to arrange a screening at 'silent speed', and
it's just absurd fault them for that being 18fps since thats the
closest thing they can find.
I also notice that while Nicky vaguely remembers using a 16/24
projector in the distant past, not one post has identified a
specific make and model of a projector that will do so, or even a
specific make and model of projector that runs at 16fps period and
might be found floating around somewhere.
I have the feeling that a lot of people have projected films at the
'silent speed' of their projectors, thinking it was 16fps when it
was actually 18fps, and never knowing the difference. The
difference between 16fps and 24fps is a lot: 150%. Between 16 and
18 not so much, only an eighth faster.
Of course, if Warhol shot Sleep on his Auricon with the 1200' foot
mag, then he shot it at 24fps. And if he wanted to project it at
silent speed to stretch the duration, I'm guessing he was happy to
take whatever the projectors available to him offered, and he
wouldn't have given a rat's ass if that was 18fps or 16fps.
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Re: [Frameworks] Andy Warhol's SLEEP / Providence, RI / Feb 18 / Magic Lantern + RK Projects
Quoting Myron Ort z...@sonic.net:
ok, I see the problem about the projectors. Guess I am a bit out of
touch about that situation these days.
I guess I was thinking of that story about Stan Brakhage who
apparently did not at all like the film at 24fps, but when he saw it
over again at silent speed {presumably 16fps (?) } it was a
revelation.
As I wrote in another post in this very same thread, Brakhage always,
and often angrily, denied that there was any truth to this story. He
said it never happened.
Fred Camper
Chicago
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Re: [Frameworks] Andy Warhol's SLEEP / Providence, RI / Feb 18 / Magic Lantern + RK Projects
huh, guess I missed that yesterday when I was hurrying out of the house.
How and why do stories like that get started anyway?
On Feb 13, 2012, at 9:55 AM, Fred Camper wrote:
Quoting Myron Ort z...@sonic.net:
ok, I see the problem about the projectors. Guess I am a bit out of
touch about that situation these days.
I guess I was thinking of that story about Stan Brakhage who
apparently did not at all like the film at 24fps, but when he saw it
over again at silent speed {presumably 16fps (?) } it was a
revelation.
As I wrote in another post in this very same thread, Brakhage always,
and often angrily, denied that there was any truth to this story. He
said it never happened.
Fred Camper
Chicago
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Re: [Frameworks] Andy Warhol's SLEEP / Providence, RI / Feb 18 / Magic Lantern + RK Projects
Fred,
Is that erroneous story actually in print somewhere? I think that may
be how and why I even knew of it, and is this discrediting of the
story also in print somewhere? Probably should be.
Myron Ort
On Feb 13, 2012, at 9:55 AM, Fred Camper wrote:
Quoting Myron Ort z...@sonic.net:
ok, I see the problem about the projectors. Guess I am a bit out of
touch about that situation these days.
I guess I was thinking of that story about Stan Brakhage who
apparently did not at all like the film at 24fps, but when he saw it
over again at silent speed {presumably 16fps (?) } it was a
revelation.
As I wrote in another post in this very same thread, Brakhage always,
and often angrily, denied that there was any truth to this story. He
said it never happened.
Fred Camper
Chicago
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Re: [Frameworks] Andy Warhol's SLEEP / Providence, RI / Feb 18 / Magic Lantern + RK Projects
On Mon, Feb 13, 2012 at 10:21 AM, Myron Ort z...@sonic.net wrote: How and why do stories like that get started anyway? That particular story got started because Jonas Mekas told it. It continues to be told because it's a good story, and it's lodged in the collective memory due to the problematic but always cited early literature on Warhol's filmmaking. --Eric ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] Andy Warhol's SLEEP / Providence, RI / Feb 18 / Magic Lantern + RK Projects
In which of the many books scattered around my house did I surely encounter that story? Myron Ort On Feb 13, 2012, at 10:30 AM, Eric Theise wrote: On Mon, Feb 13, 2012 at 10:21 AM, Myron Ort z...@sonic.net wrote: How and why do stories like that get started anyway? That particular story got started because Jonas Mekas told it. It continues to be told because it's a good story, and it's lodged in the collective memory due to the problematic but always cited early literature on Warhol's filmmaking. --Eric ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] Andy Warhol's SLEEP / Providence, RI / Feb 18 / Magic Lantern + RK Projects
Only you can answer that... On 2/13/12 10:35 AM, Myron Ort z...@sonic.net wrote: In which of the many books scattered around my house did I surely encounter that story? Myron Ort On Feb 13, 2012, at 10:30 AM, Eric Theise wrote: On Mon, Feb 13, 2012 at 10:21 AM, Myron Ort z...@sonic.net wrote: How and why do stories like that get started anyway? That particular story got started because Jonas Mekas told it. It continues to be told because it's a good story, and it's lodged in the collective memory due to the problematic but always cited early literature on Warhol's filmmaking. ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] Andy Warhol's SLEEP / Providence, RI / Feb 18 / Magic Lantern + RK Projects
The essay with the apocryphal story is in Notes After Reseeing the Films of Andy Warhol by Jonas Mekas. First published in Andy Warhol by John Coplans in 1970. Reprinted in Andy Warhol Film Factory by Michael O'Pray in 1989. ~ Greg ps: More later. : the warhol: Greg Pierce Assistant Curator of Film and Video 117 Sandusky Street Pittsburgh, PA 15212 T 412.237.8332 F 412.237.8340 E pier...@warhol.org W www.warhol.org W http://members.carnegiemuseums.org The Andy Warhol Museum One of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh : -Original Message- From: frameworks-boun...@jonasmekasfilms.com [mailto:frameworks-boun...@jonasmekasfilms.com] On Behalf Of Adam Hyman Sent: Monday, February 13, 2012 1:43 PM To: Experimental Film Discussion List Subject: Re: [Frameworks] Andy Warhol's SLEEP / Providence, RI / Feb 18 / Magic Lantern + RK Projects Only you can answer that... On 2/13/12 10:35 AM, Myron Ort z...@sonic.net wrote: In which of the many books scattered around my house did I surely encounter that story? Myron Ort On Feb 13, 2012, at 10:30 AM, Eric Theise wrote: On Mon, Feb 13, 2012 at 10:21 AM, Myron Ort z...@sonic.net wrote: How and why do stories like that get started anyway? That particular story got started because Jonas Mekas told it. It continues to be told because it's a good story, and it's lodged in the collective memory due to the problematic but always cited early literature on Warhol's filmmaking. ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks The information contained in this message and/or attachments is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any system and destroy any copies. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender. ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] Andy Warhol's SLEEP / Providence, RI / Feb 18 / Magic Lantern + RK Projects
Delete in after is as you read. Thanks -Original Message- From: frameworks-boun...@jonasmekasfilms.com [mailto:frameworks-boun...@jonasmekasfilms.com] On Behalf Of Pierce, Greg Sent: Monday, February 13, 2012 2:05 PM To: Experimental Film Discussion List Subject: Re: [Frameworks] Andy Warhol's SLEEP / Providence, RI / Feb 18 / Magic Lantern + RK Projects The essay with the apocryphal story is in Notes After Reseeing the Films of Andy Warhol by Jonas Mekas. First published in Andy Warhol by John Coplans in 1970. Reprinted in Andy Warhol Film Factory by Michael O'Pray in 1989. ~ Greg ps: More later. : the warhol: Greg Pierce Assistant Curator of Film and Video 117 Sandusky Street Pittsburgh, PA 15212 T 412.237.8332 F 412.237.8340 E pier...@warhol.org W www.warhol.org W http://members.carnegiemuseums.org The Andy Warhol Museum One of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh : -Original Message- From: frameworks-boun...@jonasmekasfilms.com [mailto:frameworks-boun...@jonasmekasfilms.com] On Behalf Of Adam Hyman Sent: Monday, February 13, 2012 1:43 PM To: Experimental Film Discussion List Subject: Re: [Frameworks] Andy Warhol's SLEEP / Providence, RI / Feb 18 / Magic Lantern + RK Projects Only you can answer that... On 2/13/12 10:35 AM, Myron Ort z...@sonic.net wrote: In which of the many books scattered around my house did I surely encounter that story? Myron Ort On Feb 13, 2012, at 10:30 AM, Eric Theise wrote: On Mon, Feb 13, 2012 at 10:21 AM, Myron Ort z...@sonic.net wrote: How and why do stories like that get started anyway? That particular story got started because Jonas Mekas told it. It continues to be told because it's a good story, and it's lodged in the collective memory due to the problematic but always cited early literature on Warhol's filmmaking. ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks The information contained in this message and/or attachments is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any system and destroy any copies. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender. ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] Andy Warhol's SLEEP / Providence, RI / Feb 18 / Magic Lantern + RK Projects
Still not sure which book I saw the story, but I did find this, so the discrediting was in print: Pittsburg Post Gazette, Weekend Mag, Friday, February 6, 1998 Legend has it that Brakhage was watching Warhol’s “Sleep” (which consists of a sleeping person) and hated it. Someone in the room suggested that instead of watching it at 24 frames per second, he slow it down to 16 frames, which is the way it was intended to be seen. At the slower speed, Brakhage allegedly had a change of heart. Brakhage: It’s a great story, but it’s not true. “I never did like it, It’sinconceivable that I would sit all the way through ‘Sleep.’ I don’t know very many people who have, inclulding Warhol. “My interest in Warhol as a film-maker is that he turned the anthropological camera on his own world with honesty. I think ‘Chelsea Girls’ is wonderful. All of his greatness as a filmmaker is in that film.” On Feb 13, 2012, at 10:42 AM, Adam Hyman wrote: Only you can answer that... On 2/13/12 10:35 AM, Myron Ort z...@sonic.net wrote: In which of the many books scattered around my house did I surely encounter that story? Myron Ort On Feb 13, 2012, at 10:30 AM, Eric Theise wrote: On Mon, Feb 13, 2012 at 10:21 AM, Myron Ort z...@sonic.net wrote: How and why do stories like that get started anyway? That particular story got started because Jonas Mekas told it. It continues to be told because it's a good story, and it's lodged in the collective memory due to the problematic but always cited early literature on Warhol's filmmaking. ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] Andy Warhol's SLEEP / Providence, RI / Feb 18 / Magic Lantern + RK Projects
Not impossible that there was an offhand, perhaps even sarcastically intended, remark that Mekas repeated or wrote down in his column and which Brakhage just forgot making. Print has an odd power to take slight anecdotes and give them a status beyond their initial intent. (My own remembering, which may be accurate or not, is that Brakhage said that he now saw the point of the film but still was largely unimpressed.) But of course the real issue is whether the shift in projection speed really does have the affect that the anecdote attributes to it. Neither the authority of SB's statement nor his disavowal has all that much relevance to that. Certainly there are instances where such shifts are transformative -- Ernie Gehr's step-printing of the source of Eureka --but it needs to be taken on a case by case basis. I've only seen excerpts of Sleep, so can't judge. j On 2/13/12 2:05 PM, Pierce, Greg wrote: The essay with the apocryphal story is in Notes After Reseeing the Films of Andy Warhol by Jonas Mekas. First published in Andy Warhol by John Coplans in 1970. Reprinted in Andy Warhol Film Factory by Michael O'Pray in 1989. ~ Greg ps: More later. : the warhol: Greg Pierce Assistant Curator of Film and Video 117 Sandusky Street Pittsburgh, PA 15212 T 412.237.8332 F 412.237.8340 E pier...@warhol.org W www.warhol.org W http://members.carnegiemuseums.org The Andy Warhol Museum One of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh : -Original Message- From: frameworks-boun...@jonasmekasfilms.com [mailto:frameworks-boun...@jonasmekasfilms.com] On Behalf Of Adam Hyman Sent: Monday, February 13, 2012 1:43 PM To: Experimental Film Discussion List Subject: Re: [Frameworks] Andy Warhol's SLEEP / Providence, RI / Feb 18 / Magic Lantern + RK Projects Only you can answer that... On 2/13/12 10:35 AM, Myron Ortz...@sonic.net wrote: In which of the many books scattered around my house did I surely encounter that story? Myron Ort On Feb 13, 2012, at 10:30 AM, Eric Theise wrote: On Mon, Feb 13, 2012 at 10:21 AM, Myron Ortz...@sonic.net wrote: How and why do stories like that get started anyway? That particular story got started because Jonas Mekas told it. It continues to be told because it's a good story, and it's lodged in the collective memory due to the problematic but always cited early literature on Warhol's filmmaking. ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks The information contained in this message and/or attachments is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any system and destroy any copies. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender. ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] Andy Warhol's SLEEP / Providence, RI / Feb 18 / Magic Lantern + RK Projects
Of course, Gehr's extension of A Trip Down Market Street into his EUREKA (by step-printing each frame in original eight times (I believe)) is separate from projection speed; Gehr's EUKEKA is properly run, for the record at 24fps. Notably, this sound/speed silent speed results in other effects than merely slowing down motion or extending time. For example, I can recall Hollis Frampton's ORDINARY MATTER projected at 16fps and noting a very strange clarity and stillness to each frame, which I recognized as possibly the result of a pixilated shooting technique slowed way down. Notably this is a sound film, with sound played double system (i.e. not on a mag track). Similarly, in a film like Ken Jacobs' TOM TOM...—created, it is worth noting by filming a film as it is projected (i.e. not optically or contact printed—am I wrong about this?) the pulsing projection (at 16fps, or 18 if you must) places the pulsing projection as a subject of the film. Another well-known proponent of silent speed is of course Nathaniel Dorsky, who shoots his own films at a variety of camera speeds but almost always dictates a projection speed of 18fps. Hearing him speak in the late '90s when presenting selections from Stan Brakhage's ARABIC NUMERAL series (which, until Dorsky convinced him otherwise were always screened at 24fps), Dorsky discussed how 18fps placed the films at the threshold of flicker and introduced intimation of instability into the visual experience. He has since said as much about his own decision to present his films at this speed. Note well that the perceptual/physiological experience of viewing a film projected in this manner is completely different from viewing a step-printed film projected at 24fps. Steve Polta --- On Mon, 2/13/12, John Matturri jmatt...@earthlink.net wrote: From: John Matturri jmatt...@earthlink.net Subject: Re: [Frameworks] Andy Warhol's SLEEP / Providence, RI / Feb 18 / Magic Lantern + RK Projects To: Experimental Film Discussion List frameworks@jonasmekasfilms.com Date: Monday, February 13, 2012, 11:24 AM Not impossible that there was an offhand, perhaps even sarcastically intended, remark that Mekas repeated or wrote down in his column and which Brakhage just forgot making. Print has an odd power to take slight anecdotes and give them a status beyond their initial intent. (My own remembering, which may be accurate or not, is that Brakhage said that he now saw the point of the film but still was largely unimpressed.) But of course the real issue is whether the shift in projection speed really does have the affect that the anecdote attributes to it. Neither the authority of SB's statement nor his disavowal has all that much relevance to that. Certainly there are instances where such shifts are transformative -- Ernie Gehr's step-printing of the source of Eureka --but it needs to be taken on a case by case basis. I've only seen excerpts of Sleep, so can't judge. j On 2/13/12 2:05 PM, Pierce, Greg wrote: The essay with the apocryphal story is in Notes After Reseeing the Films of Andy Warhol by Jonas Mekas. First published in Andy Warhol by John Coplans in 1970. Reprinted in Andy Warhol Film Factory by Michael O'Pray in 1989. ~ Greg ps: More later. : the warhol: Greg Pierce Assistant Curator of Film and Video 117 Sandusky Street Pittsburgh, PA 15212 T 412.237.8332 F 412.237.8340 E pier...@warhol.org W www.warhol.org W http://members.carnegiemuseums.org The Andy Warhol Museum One of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh : -Original Message- From: frameworks-boun...@jonasmekasfilms.com [mailto:frameworks-boun...@jonasmekasfilms.com] On Behalf Of Adam Hyman Sent: Monday, February 13, 2012 1:43 PM To: Experimental Film Discussion List Subject: Re: [Frameworks] Andy Warhol's SLEEP / Providence, RI / Feb 18 / Magic Lantern + RK Projects Only you can answer that... On 2/13/12 10:35 AM, Myron Ortz...@sonic.net wrote: In which of the many books scattered around my house did I surely encounter that story? Myron Ort On Feb 13, 2012, at 10:30 AM, Eric Theise wrote: On Mon, Feb 13, 2012 at 10:21 AM, Myron Ortz...@sonic.net wrote: How and why do stories like that get started anyway? That particular story got started because Jonas Mekas told it. It continues to be told because it's a good story, and it's lodged in the collective memory due to the problematic but always cited early literature on Warhol's filmmaking. ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks The information contained in this message and/or attachments is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain
Re: [Frameworks] Andy Warhol's SLEEP / Providence, RI / Feb 18 / Magic Lantern + RK Projects
So 18fps plus sound. Not so much an homage to Warhol as an homage to Youtube! LOL. At least with Youtube you can turn off the sound. No sets of ear plugs can do that as completely, and sometimes the bass from the speakers hits you in the gut anyway and creates a whole other unwanted experience even with earplugs. That is how I was forced to sit though the Sistiaga hand painted film with atrocious noise. Echh! One of the worst cinema experiences of my life. Myron Ort On Feb 12, 2012, at 10:06 AM, Josh Guilford wrote: R.K. Projects + Magic Lantern Cinema Present a very special screening of: SLEEP by Andy Warhol featuring John Giorno 5.5hr long-form cinema projected on 16mm film w/ a performance of Erik Satie's, Vexations (1893) by Sakiko Mori, Daryl Seaver and XSV @ 6:15pm Saturday February 18th from 6pm - 2am 40 Rice Street Providence 02907 Andy Warhol, Sleep, 1963, 16mm film, b/w, silent, 5 hours and 21 minutes @16fps ©2012 The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA, a museum of Carnegie Institute. All rights reserved. Film still courtesy of The Andy Warhol Museum “What is sleep, after all, but the metabolic transformation of the entire experience of time, our nightly release from the clock’s prison…” - Stephen Koch Sleep harbors a potential to alter the temporal fabric of our world. What would it mean to live the time of sleep while awake, to collectively activate its other temporality in a pocket of space and sleep awake together? If sleeping together amounts to “sharing an inertia, an equal force that maintains the two bodies together,” then the stillness of sleep may paradoxically give way to a journey, with bodies “drifting like… narrow boats moving off to the same open sea, toward the same horizon always concealed afresh in mists…”1 Magic Lantern Cinema and RK Projects have collaborated to present an off-site screening of Andy Warhol’s 5.5hr anti-film – Sleep. The first film that Warhol made after purchasing a 16mm camera in 1963, Sleep began as an experiment to document an activity that the amphetamine-induced energy of the 1960s seemed to be rendering obsolete. Yet Warhol’s film is not simply a documentary, but an erotic milieu for ruminating the philosophical implications of time and repetition, as well as a physical meditation on the non- narrative materiality of film itself. Warhol completed the film after his experience attending John Cage’s 1963 performance of Erik Satie’s epically repetitive work for piano, Vexations, (1893) – a 52-beat segment played slowly and in succession 840 times. The repetitive structure of Vexations is apparent in Sleep as well: recorded as a series of long takes using 100 ft. magazines (approx. 3 mins) shot from multiple angles over a period of several weeks, the shots were then repeated through loop-printing and spliced together end-to-end, with emulsion and perforations left as- is. And though the entire film was shot at sound speed (24fps), it was meant to be projected at silent speed (16 or 18fps), causing movements to appear in an ethereal slow-motion. The result is a highly constructed piece of minimalist long-form cinema whose emphasis on time, materiality, repetition, and the quotidian has drawn comparisons to modernist painting while also earning Warhol a position as “the major precursor of structural film” and a 1964 Independent Film Award for “taking cinema back to its origins.”2 Sleep premiered in New York City’s Gramercy Arts Theater in 1963. But the film’s extreme stillness and duration have been said to promote a more casual and intermittent approach to spectatorship than that affiliated with theatrical exhibition, encouraging viewers to “chat during the screening, leave for a hamburger and return, [or] greet friends [while] the film serenely devolve[s] up there on the screen.”3 In an effort to cultivate such an experience and acknowledge Warhol’s diverse experiments with non- theatrical exhibition forms (from the Factory walls to live multimedia performances), this screening will be held in a vacant, slumbering warehouse at 40 Rice St., generously donated by The Armory Revival Co. in Providence, RI. To mark this significant event, there will also be a staging of the musical performance that inspired the film. Three Providence-based musicians will be conducting a 45 minute performance of Erik Satie’s Vexations immediately preceding the screening. In addition, a selection of relevant reading materials will be on display at the screening. Refreshments will be provided along with chairs, but viewers can enter and exit at will, and sleeping bags are strongly encouraged. Join us for an evening of Sleep. SUGGESTED DONATIONS SLIDING SCALE: $3 - $5 Funded by the Malcolm S. Forbes Center for Culture and Media Studies Brown University RK
Re: [Frameworks] Andy Warhol's SLEEP / Providence, RI / Feb 18 / Magic Lantern + RK Projects
While this presentation of Sleep certainly differs from the original screenings of the film, it is also far from a Youtube hommage. Vexations played an important role in Warhol's conception of the film, and he took from Satie a working method making possible the editing of his short reels into a lengthy film. Sorry I don't have time at the moment to unpack this point as I'm running out the door, but here is a link to some supporting literature to this position: http://www.warholstars.org/news/johncage.html Damon S. On Feb 12, 2012, at 5:29 PM, Myron Ort wrote: So 18fps plus sound. Not so much an homage to Warhol as an homage to Youtube! LOL. At least with Youtube you can turn off the sound. No sets of ear plugs can do that as completely, and sometimes the bass from the speakers hits you in the gut anyway and creates a whole other unwanted experience even with earplugs. That is how I was forced to sit though the Sistiaga hand painted film with atrocious noise. Echh! One of the worst cinema experiences of my life. Myron Ort On Feb 12, 2012, at 10:06 AM, Josh Guilford wrote: R.K. Projects + Magic Lantern Cinema Present a very special screening of: SLEEP by Andy Warhol featuring John Giorno 5.5hr long-form cinema projected on 16mm film w/ a performance of Erik Satie's, Vexations (1893) by Sakiko Mori, Daryl Seaver and XSV @ 6:15pm Saturday February 18th from 6pm - 2am 40 Rice Street Providence 02907 Andy Warhol, Sleep, 1963, 16mm film, b/w, silent, 5 hours and 21 minutes @16fps ©2012 The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA, a museum of Carnegie Institute. All rights reserved. Film still courtesy of The Andy Warhol Museum “What is sleep, after all, but the metabolic transformation of the entire experience of time, our nightly release from the clock’s prison…” - Stephen Koch Sleep harbors a potential to alter the temporal fabric of our world. What would it mean to live the time of sleep while awake, to collectively activate its other temporality in a pocket of space and sleep awake together? If sleeping together amounts to “sharing an inertia, an equal force that maintains the two bodies together,” then the stillness of sleep may paradoxically give way to a journey, with bodies “drifting like… narrow boats moving off to the same open sea, toward the same horizon always concealed afresh in mists…”1 Magic Lantern Cinema and RK Projects have collaborated to present an off-site screening of Andy Warhol’s 5.5hr anti-film – Sleep. The first film that Warhol made after purchasing a 16mm camera in 1963, Sleep began as an experiment to document an activity that the amphetamine-induced energy of the 1960s seemed to be rendering obsolete. Yet Warhol’s film is not simply a documentary, but an erotic milieu for ruminating the philosophical implications of time and repetition, as well as a physical meditation on the non- narrative materiality of film itself. Warhol completed the film after his experience attending John Cage’s 1963 performance of Erik Satie’s epically repetitive work for piano, Vexations, (1893) – a 52-beat segment played slowly and in succession 840 times. The repetitive structure of Vexations is apparent in Sleep as well: recorded as a series of long takes using 100 ft. magazines (approx. 3 mins) shot from multiple angles over a period of several weeks, the shots were then repeated through loop- printing and spliced together end-to-end, with emulsion and perforations left as-is. And though the entire film was shot at sound speed (24fps), it was meant to be projected at silent speed (16 or 18fps), causing movements to appear in an ethereal slow- motion. The result is a highly constructed piece of minimalist long-form cinema whose emphasis on time, materiality, repetition, and the quotidian has drawn comparisons to modernist painting while also earning Warhol a position as “the major precursor of structural film” and a 1964 Independent Film Award for “taking cinema back to its origins.”2 Sleep premiered in New York City’s Gramercy Arts Theater in 1963. But the film’s extreme stillness and duration have been said to promote a more casual and intermittent approach to spectatorship than that affiliated with theatrical exhibition, encouraging viewers to “chat during the screening, leave for a hamburger and return, [or] greet friends [while] the film serenely devolve[s] up there on the screen.”3 In an effort to cultivate such an experience and acknowledge Warhol’s diverse experiments with non-theatrical exhibition forms (from the Factory walls to live multimedia performances), this screening will be held in a vacant, slumbering warehouse at 40 Rice St., generously donated by The Armory Revival Co. in Providence, RI. To mark this significant event, there will also be a staging of the musical
Re: [Frameworks] Andy Warhol's SLEEP / Providence, RI / Feb 18 / Magic Lantern + RK Projects
what part of LOL do you not On Feb 12, 2012, at 2:35 PM, Damon wrote: While this presentation of Sleep certainly differs from the original screenings of the film, it is also far from a Youtube hommage. Vexations played an important role in Warhol's conception of the film, and he took from Satie a working method making possible the editing of his short reels into a lengthy film. Sorry I don't have time at the moment to unpack this point as I'm running out the door, but here is a link to some supporting literature to this position: http://www.warholstars.org/news/johncage.html Damon S. On Feb 12, 2012, at 5:29 PM, Myron Ort wrote: So 18fps plus sound. Not so much an homage to Warhol as an homage to Youtube! LOL. At least with Youtube you can turn off the sound. No sets of ear plugs can do that as completely, and sometimes the bass from the speakers hits you in the gut anyway and creates a whole other unwanted experience even with earplugs. That is how I was forced to sit though the Sistiaga hand painted film with atrocious noise. Echh! One of the worst cinema experiences of my life. Myron Ort On Feb 12, 2012, at 10:06 AM, Josh Guilford wrote: R.K. Projects + Magic Lantern Cinema Present a very special screening of: SLEEP by Andy Warhol featuring John Giorno 5.5hr long-form cinema projected on 16mm film w/ a performance of Erik Satie's, Vexations (1893) by Sakiko Mori, Daryl Seaver and XSV @ 6:15pm Saturday February 18th from 6pm - 2am 40 Rice Street Providence 02907 Andy Warhol, Sleep, 1963, 16mm film, b/w, silent, 5 hours and 21 minutes @16fps ©2012 The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA, a museum of Carnegie Institute. All rights reserved. Film still courtesy of The Andy Warhol Museum “What is sleep, after all, but the metabolic transformation of the entire experience of time, our nightly release from the clock’s prison…” - Stephen Koch Sleep harbors a potential to alter the temporal fabric of our world. What would it mean to live the time of sleep while awake, to collectively activate its other temporality in a pocket of space and sleep awake together? If sleeping together amounts to “sharing an inertia, an equal force that maintains the two bodies together,” then the stillness of sleep may paradoxically give way to a journey, with bodies “drifting like… narrow boats moving off to the same open sea, toward the same horizon always concealed afresh in mists…”1 Magic Lantern Cinema and RK Projects have collaborated to present an off-site screening of Andy Warhol’s 5.5hr anti-film – Sleep. The first film that Warhol made after purchasing a 16mm camera in 1963, Sleep began as an experiment to document an activity that the amphetamine-induced energy of the 1960s seemed to be rendering obsolete. Yet Warhol’s film is not simply a documentary, but an erotic milieu for ruminating the philosophical implications of time and repetition, as well as a physical meditation on the non-narrative materiality of film itself. Warhol completed the film after his experience attending John Cage’s 1963 performance of Erik Satie’s epically repetitive work for piano, Vexations, (1893) – a 52-beat segment played slowly and in succession 840 times. The repetitive structure of Vexations is apparent in Sleep as well: recorded as a series of long takes using 100 ft. magazines (approx. 3 mins) shot from multiple angles over a period of several weeks, the shots were then repeated through loop-printing and spliced together end-to-end, with emulsion and perforations left as-is. And though the entire film was shot at sound speed (24fps), it was meant to be projected at silent speed (16 or 18fps), causing movements to appear in an ethereal slow-motion. The result is a highly constructed piece of minimalist long-form cinema whose emphasis on time, materiality, repetition, and the quotidian has drawn comparisons to modernist painting while also earning Warhol a position as “the major precursor of structural film” and a 1964 Independent Film Award for “taking cinema back to its origins.”2 Sleep premiered in New York City’s Gramercy Arts Theater in 1963. But the film’s extreme stillness and duration have been said to promote a more casual and intermittent approach to spectatorship than that affiliated with theatrical exhibition, encouraging viewers to “chat during the screening, leave for a hamburger and return, [or] greet friends [while] the film serenely devolve[s] up there on the screen.”3 In an effort to cultivate such an experience and acknowledge Warhol’s diverse experiments with non-theatrical exhibition forms (from the Factory walls to live multimedia performances), this screening will be held in a vacant, slumbering warehouse at 40 Rice St., generously donated by The Armory Revival Co. in
Re: [Frameworks] Andy Warhol's SLEEP / Providence, RI / Feb 18 / Magic Lantern + RK Projects
But if one is going to the trouble of presenting actual film, why not round up a couple of the correct projectors Easier said than done. If you're screening with dual projectors for reel changes, they ought to have the same brightness and CT lamps and the same focal length lenses, no? The folks in Providence have figured out their space calls for a 1lens and a bright (i.e. halogen lamp). I'm pretty sure there aren't any projectors with halogen lamps that run at 16fps. So where exactly would you go to find two 16fps projectors equipped with brand new 1000W incandescent lamps and 1 lenses? The Eiki slim-line with the 18/24 pulley is a rare beast as it is. Eiki SLs came with 50hz/60Hz pulleys stock, and the 18/24 pulleys had to be custom ordered. Josh Guilford put out a post on Frameworks asking to borrow a silent speed projector so they could have two projectors for their performance. AFAIK, I was the only person who answered the request. It wasn't like anybody said, Hey, the 18fps on your Eiki is too fast, but I've got two 16fps projectors you can use instead or but I know where you can borrow two 16fps projectors. These folks have done their best to arrange a screening at 'silent speed', and it's just absurd fault them for that being 18fps since thats the closest thing they can find. I also notice that while Nicky vaguely remembers using a 16/24 projector in the distant past, not one post has identified a specific make and model of a projector that will do so, or even a specific make and model of projector that runs at 16fps period and might be found floating around somewhere. I have the feeling that a lot of people have projected films at the 'silent speed' of their projectors, thinking it was 16fps when it was actually 18fps, and never knowing the difference. The difference between 16fps and 24fps is a lot: 150%. Between 16 and 18 not so much, only an eighth faster. Of course, if Warhol shot Sleep on his Auricon with the 1200' foot mag, then he shot it at 24fps. And if he wanted to project it at silent speed to stretch the duration, I'm guessing he was happy to take whatever the projectors available to him offered, and he wouldn't have given a rat's ass if that was 18fps or 16fps. ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
