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Newsletter 3, December 2000
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Newsletter #3 ∙ December 2000 In this issue:1. New Books and Videos Added to iotaCenter Store Just in Time for Your Holiday Shopping2. More Screenings for KINETICA 2 3. Jules Engel Animation Drawings Available 4. Michael Friend Joins Board of Directors News from The iotaCenter Discussion List 5. The iotaCenter Blasted in Vicious Indictment 6. Copyright Infringement Battle Raging |
New Books and Videos Added to iotaCenter StoreJust in Time for Your Holiday ShoppingIn addition to the collected works of Oskar Fischinger available on VHS in two volumes, we've added a 30-minute documentary on Fischinger, produced in 1977 and featuring Elfriede Fischinger and William Moritz being interviewed by John Canemaker. Other documentaries from this "Camera Three" series are available on Len Lye, John Whitney, Hans Richter, and Norman McLaren. We've also added the catalogs from several exhibitions of abstract films: "Articulated Light" (The Harvard Film Archive, 1995), "First Light" (The Anthology Film Archive, 1998), and "KINETICA 2," The iotaCenter's current travelling exhibition. Check out the rest of the new additions online: iotaCenter online bookstore | |
More screenings for KINETICA 2: A Centennial Tribute to Oskar FischingerKINETICA 2 was successfully screened at The Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley Harvard Film Archive, Cambridge, and The National Gallery of Art, Wash.DCUpcoming screenings are listed below. More details will be posted on our website at www.iotaCenter.org/Fischinger as they become available The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH Dec. 13, 20, 2000, Programs 2 and 3 Information: 216-421-7340 Advance Ticket Sales: (216) 421-7350 or (888) 262-0033 Animac Festival, Cinema d'animacio, Lleida Spain Feb 1-4, 2001, Programs 1 and 2 Northwest Film Forum Experience Music Project, Seattle, WA March 14 and 21, 2001, Programs 1 and 3 Madison Cinematheque, University of Wisconsin at Madison, Madison, WI April 14, 2001, Programs 1 and 2 For those who didn't receive The iotaCenter's last newsletter, the description of this program is repeated here: This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Oskar Fischinger (1900-1967), one of the most prolific and influential artists of the avant-garde film movement. To commemorate Fischinger's centennial year, The iotaCenter produced a three-part screening series for New York's Museum of Modern Art. The Film Archive of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has spent the last year restoring Fischinger's major films from the original 35mm nitrates. This retrospective series is the debut for many of these beautiful brand new 35mm versions. The series also features a presentation by art historian and Fischinger biographer, William Moritz, and a program of film and video by a few of the many artists Fischinger influenced and inspired with his work. This series is the second installment of The iotaCenter's annual touring program, KINETICA. For a complete schedule and more information on Fischinger and this series, please check our website: Kinetica 2 | |
Jules Engel Animation Drawings AvailableArtist/Animator/Educator, Jules Engel, has donated several drawings to The iotaCenter's fundraising effort.The drawings are from his films "Play Pen" and "The Meadow" and can be viewed online at: http://www.iotacenter.org/gallery/ (no longer available) Those interested in purchasing a drawing should contact Cindy Keefer via phone at 310 842 8704 or via email at ckeefer@iotacenter.org "Jules Engel is an artist who creates a visual environment in which he fervently pursues an absolute choreography of line and color through the language of abstraction. An early California modernist, Engel crosses the formal boundaries of painting, printmaking, film and sculpture as he intuitively deconstructs the notion of movement as rhythm." from Exhibition Notes by Janeann Dill "While at Disney, Engel designed the choreography for the Chinese mushrooms in Fantasia. He was also a founding member of the innovative animation studio, United Productions of America (UPA). As a partner with Herb Klynn in their animation studio, Format Films, Engel received an Oscar nomination for an animated film scripted by Ray Bradbury, Icarus Montgolfier Wright." from Jules Engel, The Mentor by Janeann Dill http://www.awn.com/mag/issue4.02/4.02pages/dillengel.php3 | |
Michael Friend Joins Board of DirectorsAt a meeting held on November 12, 2000, The iotaCenter's Board of Directors elected a new member to the board, Michael Friend.Michael Friend is an accomplished and widely respected film archivist and film historian. He has worked for the UCLA Film and Television Archive, Universal Studios, and the American Film Institute. He as been a consultant for Sony, the Hearst Corp., the Andy Warhol Foundation and a host of other media and technology films. He was Director of The Film Archive at The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and serves as the chair of the Technical Commission of the International Federation of Film Archives. He has also taught film at UCLA and USC and lectured extensively on issues of media history and preservation. We are most fortunate to have Michael with us to help guide and direct the future of The iotaCenter. | |
The iotaCenter Blasted in Vicious IndictmentThe iotaCenter's online discussion list was the target of a vicious indictment in an essay by Ron Pellegrino entitled, "Visual Music and the iota List."In describing our group, Mr. Pellegrino used such inflammatory language as "followers," "appropriators," and "intellectual property thieves." Rather than rebut his unfounded charges here, I'll post my comments to the list itself. Mr. Pellegrino writes that he, "... joined the iota list at its inception searching for other artistic perspectives on plumbing the depths of visual music and as a field test of the tenor of those expressing interest in visual music." After Mr. Pellegrino spent "about a year and half of researching the iota list," he unsubscribed and published his evaluation on his site: "The Electronic Arts of Sound and Light." When I started the discussion list, I was gratified to have Mr. Pellegrino involved. Because of his pioneering work in this field, I considered him one of our elder statesmen and was appreciative of his support. It's disappointing to find that rather than joining our effort to form a coalition of all practitioners of our artform, he was merely testing us and so ready to disown us at the tender age of one and a half. Copyright Infringement Battle RagesAs an homage to Oskar Fischinger, and a test of his own abilities with FLASH (the software for web-based animation), Chris Casady created a Flash-based animation of a segment of the film, "Allegretto."He posted the animation as a Quicktime clip on his website along with a short clip of Fischinger's original version of "Allegretto" for comparison. Oskar Fischinger's daughter, Barbara Fischinger, representing the current copyright holder of "Allegretto," The Fischinger Trust, requested that Mr. Casady remove the material from the web and destroy all the files. Mr. Casady has complied by removing the clips from his website, but these events have sparked a lively debate on both the legal questions involved and whether the parties acted in the best interest of either themselves or the community. You can check out the progress of this discussion by visiting the list's archive or you can join the fray by becoming a member of the list via the links mentioned above. About The iotaCenter"Color Music," "Visual Music," "MusiColor," "Mobilcolor," "Lumia," "Absolute Film," "Video Synthesis," "Image Processing," "Abstract Animation,"...The iotaCenter is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving, promoting and celebrating the art of sound and light and movement in all its many forms and under all its various names. The iotaCenter's Research Library in Los Angeles houses the world's largest collection of materials devoted to abstraction in film, video, performance, installation and computer-animated art. Its website is the neighborhood center for a growing worldwide community of artists, writers, scholars and supporters involved in this art form. More information on The iotaCenter and abstraction in media art can be found at www.iotacenter.org. | |
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