SPLICE
ON THE PROBLEM OF THE AUTONOMY OF ART IN BOURGEOIS

by Al RAZUTIS
1986 / 16mm / color / sound / 1S / 24' 00

Collaboration between Al Razutis, Scott Haynes and Doug Chomyn.

In March 1986 in Vancouver, as part of National Film Week and the opening week events for the new Pacific Cine Centre, a panel presentation on "Avant-Garde Film Practice," moderated by Maria Insell, was held in front of a cinephile audience. "This film is a reconstruction, reinterpretation, and representation of this event, featuring five of the panelists offering views on 'individualism' (MICHAEL SNOW), 'new feminist narrative' (PATRICIA GRUBEN), 'erotic aestheticism' (DAVID RIMMER), and 'anti-semiotics' (JOYCE WIELAND and ROSS McLAREN). Their presentations are reconstructed using formal devices that arise in their particular film practices.

The second half of the film ( 'SPLICE' ) is devoted to the film-destruction screening / performance / "direct action" conducted by AL RAZUTIS, which was titled 'SPLICE', in reference to the film projection 'spliced' to the simultanous performance in front of projection screen with dummy by Razutis.

This film re-creation contains traces of the original film, which was destroyed (except for splices) in the projector bleach bath as it was projected. It also presents fragments of Razutis's performance with a ventriloquist's dummy (the Lacanian "subject of semiotics"), and his concluding graffiti sprayed on the front wall of the Cine Centre theatre.


More info, texts, photos at http://www.alchemists.com/visual_alchemy/filmvideo_archive.html

1 PRINT IN DISTRIBUTION


distribution format 16mm
screen 1,37 - Standard (single screen)
speed 24 fps
sound optical sound
rental fee 81,00 €