Michael Snow
Michael Snow was considered one of Canada's most important artists, and one of the world's leading experimental filmmakers. His wide-ranging and multidisciplinary oeuvre explored the possibilities inherent in different mediums and genres, and encompassed film and video, painting, sculpture, photography, writing, and music. Snow's practice comprised a thorough investigation into the nature of perception. While Snow early established himself as a successful painter and musician in his native Toronto, it was his 1962 move to New York City that marked the beginning of his rise to international prominence. He entered into a long-lasting and fruitful dialogue with downtown Manhattan's artistic avant garde, exchanging ideas with figures such as Yvonne Rainer, Philip Glass, Sol LeWitt, and Richard Foreman, and developing of some of his most ambitious and influential works to date. His 1964 film New York Eye and Ear Control documents his growing involvement with the burgeoning free jazz movement, and the soundtrack boasts a lineup that includes Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, and Sonny Murray. Snow would continue to pursue improvised music, both on his own and in ensembles such as Toronto's CCMC. The generation and reception of sound in the broader sense emerged as one of his main concerns, reflected in performance and tape works that share qualities with contemporaneous experiments by composers like Steve Reich. At the same time, Snow made alliances within the underground film scene ...
Hapax Legomena I: (nostalgia)
(1971)
Michael Snow narrates a series of Hollis Frampton's photographs (speaking as Frampton, in the first person)—as each picture catches fire on a hot plate. (more)
Michael Snow narrates a series of Hollis Frampton's photographs (speaking as Frampton, in the first person)—as each picture catches fire on a hot plate. (more)
Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film (2011)
Experimental filmmaker Pip Chodorov traces the course of experimental film in America, taking the very personal point of view of someone who grew up as part of the experimental film community. (more)
Experimental filmmaker Pip Chodorov traces the course of experimental film in America, taking the very personal point of view of someone who grew up as part of the experimental film community. (more)
Prelude (2000)
Panning shot of a room while a group of people discusses film while eating at a table. (more)
Panning shot of a room while a group of people discusses film while eating at a table. (more)
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
(1969)
An epic portrait of the New York avant-garde art scene of the 60s. (more)
An epic portrait of the New York avant-garde art scene of the 60s. (more)
Side Seat Paintings Slides Sound Film (1970)
Watch slides of Michael Snow's paintings from the worst seat in the house. (more)
Watch slides of Michael Snow's paintings from the worst seat in the house. (more)
New York Eye and Ear Control (1964)
A cutout of a woman's silhouette is displayed in many locations while a free jazz soundtrack is heard. The jazz musicians will pose later for the camera in a studio. (more)
A cutout of a woman's silhouette is displayed in many locations while a free jazz soundtrack is heard. The jazz musicians will pose later for the camera in a studio. (more)
So Is This (1982)
The film is a text in which each shot is a single word, tightly-framed white letters against a black background. (more)
The film is a text in which each shot is a single word, tightly-framed white letters against a black background. (more)
Seated Figures (1988)
Although Seated Figures is characteristically confined by a specific placement of the camera — in this case, fixed to the rear of a pickup truck and aimed at the ground — the result is one of Snow's most visually compelling films. As Snow drives the truck over all ... (more)
Although Seated Figures is characteristically confined by a specific placement of the camera — in this case, fixed to the rear of a pickup truck and aimed at the ground — the result is one of Snow's most visually compelling films. As Snow drives the truck over all ... (more)
Grand Opera: An Historical Romance (1978)
Grand Opera marks a stock-taking of Benning's work and his life, presenting a personal and artistic autobiography woven together with a series of events dealing with the historical development of the number pi, Benning's travels, and homages to Michael Snow, Hollis ... (more)
Grand Opera marks a stock-taking of Benning's work and his life, presenting a personal and artistic autobiography woven together with a series of events dealing with the historical development of the number pi, Benning's travels, and homages to Michael Snow, Hollis ... (more)
Cinématon (1978)
Cinématon is a 156-hour long experimental film by French director Gérard Courant. It was the longest film ever released until 2011. Composed over 36 years from 1978 until 2006, it consists of a series of over 2,821 silent vignettes (cinématons), each 3 minutes and ... (more)
Cinématon is a 156-hour long experimental film by French director Gérard Courant. It was the longest film ever released until 2011. Composed over 36 years from 1978 until 2006, it consists of a series of over 2,821 silent vignettes (cinématons), each 3 minutes and ... (more)
Breakfast (Table-Top Dolly) (1976)
A continuous zoom traverses the space of a breakfast table, serving as a grand metaphor for indigestion. (more)
A continuous zoom traverses the space of a breakfast table, serving as a grand metaphor for indigestion. (more)
Puccini Conservato (2009)
Puccini Conservato uses a CD, a sound recording of some Puccini music (from La Bohème). The source of the sound (the loudspeakers) in a continuous hand-held panning (guided by the music), is intercut with shots of flowers or wood-fire, exemplifying the lyricism in ... (more)
Puccini Conservato uses a CD, a sound recording of some Puccini music (from La Bohème). The source of the sound (the loudspeakers) in a continuous hand-held panning (guided by the music), is intercut with shots of flowers or wood-fire, exemplifying the lyricism in ... (more)
*Corpus Callosum (2002)
A surreal and comic exploration of an office space and the decorations of a living room. (more)
A surreal and comic exploration of an office space and the decorations of a living room. (more)
Back and Forth (1969)
A camera moves back and forth at an increasing pace. Back and forth, back and forth... (more)
A camera moves back and forth at an increasing pace. Back and forth, back and forth... (more)
La Région Centrale (1971)
A 1971 experimental Canadian film directed by Michael Snow. Shot in the Canadian mountains over a period of 24 hours using a robotic arm. (more)
A 1971 experimental Canadian film directed by Michael Snow. Shot in the Canadian mountains over a period of 24 hours using a robotic arm. (more)
Wavelength (1967)
Wavelength consists of almost no action, and what action does occur is largely elided. If the film could be said to have a conventional plot, this would presumably refer to the three “character” scenes. In the first scene two people enter a room, chat briefly, and ... (more)
Wavelength consists of almost no action, and what action does occur is largely elided. If the film could be said to have a conventional plot, this would presumably refer to the three “character” scenes. In the first scene two people enter a room, chat briefly, and ... (more)
Triage (2004)
A dual-projection film where each director made 30 minutes of film without knowledge of what the other was making. Snow's side is a visual encyclopedia of natural and man-made objects. Brown's side transforms footage of a San Francisco cable car. (more)
A dual-projection film where each director made 30 minutes of film without knowledge of what the other was making. Snow's side is a visual encyclopedia of natural and man-made objects. Brown's side transforms footage of a San Francisco cable car. (more)
WVLNT (2003)
In 2003, Snow released WVLNT (or Wavelength For Those Who Don't Have the Time), a shorter (1/3 of the original time) and significantly altered version of the original Wavelength (1967) by overlaying the original film upon itself. (more)
In 2003, Snow released WVLNT (or Wavelength For Those Who Don't Have the Time), a shorter (1/3 of the original time) and significantly altered version of the original Wavelength (1967) by overlaying the original film upon itself. (more)
Portrait of Snow (2016)
Waivelength (2019)
A new performance that reworks the 1967 film’s sine wave soundtrack into a new composition distributed across multiple channels of sound in real time. (more)
A new performance that reworks the 1967 film’s sine wave soundtrack into a new composition distributed across multiple channels of sound in real time. (more)