Exhibition, Films, Talks & Events
Underground
American Avant-Garde Film in the 1960s
13 October 2024 — 5 January 2025
Empire (Andy Warhol, US 1964) (16mm film, black-and-white, silent, 8 hours 5 minutes at 16 frames per second © The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA, a museum of Carnegie Institute. All rights reserved. Film still courtesy The Andy Warhol Museum)
Dancing bridges, introspective diary fragments and dreamy stop motions – just some examples of experiments carried out by a loose collection of avant-garde filmmakers in the 1960s in the United States. Their aim: to shake off the fetters of Hollywood and the dominant film industry and to reinvent cinema, as it were, as a visual medium.
This autumn, Eye Filmmuseum highlights the American avant-garde cinema of the 1960s. The exhibition and film programme feature both iconic and lesser-known works, showcasing the era's vibrant experimental spirit. Highlights include films by pivotal avant-garde figures such as Jonas Mekas, Maya Deren and Stan Brakhage, as well as contributions from prominent visual artists like Bruce Conner, Yayoi Kusama, Yoko Ono, and Andy Warhol. This exploration of cinematic innovation is set against the backdrop of a changing society.
Lights (Marie Menken, US 1966)
Movie Mural (Stan VanDerBeek) (installation view, School of Visual Arts Auditorium, “The World of Stanley VanDerBeek,”) (Visual Arts Gallery, New York, 1966) (© Peter Moore)
In this exhibition, Eye showcases the diversity that is such a feature of this era of transdisciplinary film experiments: from independent, unconventional films for cinemas, some self-operated, to expanded experiments such as Andy Warhol’s eight-hour Empire (1964) or Stan VanDerBeek’s imposing 11-channel installation Movie Mural (1965-1968). The latter to be screened in the Netherlands for the first time.
Walden: Diaries, Notes, and Sketches (Jonas Mekas, US 1969, 16mm)
Filmmaker Jonas Mekas, spokesperson for the New American Cinema Group, captures the essence of this wave of filmmakers with one succinct statement. “We don’t want false, polished, slick films – we prefer them rough, unpolished, but alive; we don’t want rosy films: we want them the color of blood.”
Viet-Flakes (Carolee Schneemann, US 1965) (Copyright the Carolee Schneemann Foundation. Courtesy of Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York)
The example they set and manifesto they recorded, exerted a profound and lasting influence on successive generations of filmmakers in the US and beyond. The exhibition zooms in on the source of this underground movement, tracing the emergence of experimental cinema in the US and the formation of collectives that were active from the early 1960s, among them the New American Cinema Group, also known as the Film-Makers’ Cooperative in New York, Fluxus and Canyon Cinema in San Francisco.
Films, Talks & Events
The exhibition continues in Eye cinemas, where the best-known and longer 16mm films by leading makers from the underground scene will be screened in full. The programmes also look at the international context, assess the lasting impact and influence of New American Cinema outside the United States, and examine the situation today. On the night of the American election (5 November 2024), various speakers will discuss how the underground scene of the 1960s highlighted political issues and how that is reflected in the current political climate.
The programme shines a special spotlight on psychedelic film – an important theme in 1960s America, which is undergoing a revival today. Moreover, psychedelics are inextricably linked with the ‘liberal’ character of Amsterdam. In cooperation with the University of Amsterdam.
Eye Film Player
Eye Film Player offers four documentaries that explore the work of pioneering experimental filmmakers.
Visit the Eye Film PlayerFree guided tour
Every Sunday at 14:00 and 15:00, a guide takes you on a tour (in Dutch) through the exhibition upon presentation of a valid exhibition ticket.
On Sunday 20 October, 10 November, 15 December and 5 January at 15:15, a special tour for people who are deaf and hard of hearing is organised (Dutch Sign Language, minimum level B2). Sign up for free via rondleiding@eyefilm.nl.
There's a special tour for students of secondary school and higher education.
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