Reviewed: Michael Snow
October 5–November 14, 2005

Complementing two installations by Michael Snow, on view in The Yoshiko and Akio Morita Gallery, is a film retrospective of some of the multimedia artist’s most enduring and inventive works, created on film or in digital format intended for theatrical exhibition.

Organized by Jytte Jensen, Curator, and Barbara London, Associate Curator, Department of Film and Media.

Corpus Callosum. 2001. Canada. Directed by Michael Snow. Referring to the region of the human brain that conveys messages between its two hemispheres, the film comprises "betweens." A tragicomedy of cinematic variables where things and people undergo transformations and radical deformations, Snow’s recent work is assiduously and inventively crafted using all manner of manipulated sound and image. 92 min. Wednesday, October 5, 8:30; Saturday, October 22, 6:30; Saturday, November 12, 5:00; Sunday, November 13, 1:00. T2

La Region centrale (The Central Region). 1971. Canada. Directed by Michael Snow. An epic homage to the landscape tradition shot in remote Quebec. A machine-mounted camera and set of axels permit simultaneous, multiple movements, tracing spirals, zigzags, twirls, tilts, and figure-eights. 190 min.

Friday, November 11, 4:00; Monday, November 14, 5:00. T2

One Second in Montreal. 1969. Canada. Directed by Michael Snow. Comprising still shots of Montreal in winter, this film emphasizes the seemingly static silence of time. A series of single images slowly comes together to create an elegantly structured whole. 23 min.

Back and Forth. 1969. USA. Directed by Michael Snow. Filming mundane events in a classroom, Snow explores space through velocity and cinematic process using an elaborate structure of camera pans. 52 min.

WVLNT. 1968/2004. Canada. Directed by Michael Snow. Subtitling this work Wavelength for People with No Time, Snow divided his 1968 masterpiece Wavelength into thirds and superimposed them onto each other, completely altering the original experience. 15 min. Program 90 min.

Friday, November 11, 8:00; Saturday, November 12, 7:00. T2

New York Eye and Ear Control. 1964. USA. Directed by Michael Snow. Snow’s signature Walking Woman, a cutout figure, is placed in different locations before evolving into a living being. 34 min.

Side Seat Paintings Slides Sound Film. 1970. Canada. Directed by Michael Snow. Using a stationary camera to film a "composed" sequence of slides of his own paintings, Snow changed camera speed in sync with sound recorded at different volumes, until sound and image broke apart. 26 min.

Saturday, November 12, 1:00; Sunday, November 13, 3:00. T2

Wavelength. 1967. USA. Directed by Michael Snow. A slow zoom creeps forward, gradually eliminating an eighty-foot loft space. Snow’s shot concludes by framing a photograph of waves on a wall, as the accompanying sine-wave signal becomes higher and more piercing. Several events occur to suggest a narrative. 45 min.

Breakfast (Table Top Dolly). 1976. USA. Directed by Michael Snow. The pictorial still life is comically transposed to the realm of cinema, where objects are overpowered by the moving camera. 15 min.

Saturday, November 12, 3:00; Sunday, November 13, 5:00. T2

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