Tony Conrad Films

In conjunction with the exhibition Introducing Tony Conrad: A Retrospective, is a program of Conrad's classic 16mm films, followed by a 9 pm screening of Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present, directed by Tyler Hubby.

“By the mid-1960s I had been drawn to film because of its hopelessly shabby integrity, and also because of its restive and anarchic aspects, which implicitly challenged the progressivism of the art market. At the same time, and perhaps even because of its unruliness and freedom from the market, I felt that film could be used to construct esthetic challenges that the existing market disciplines in art did not, would not, or could not touch. It seemed to me quite rational to look to the border regions of art for its greatest mobility and interest. After all, it had been within music, not painting or sculpture, that the most radical artistic challenges of the early 1960s had appeared.” –Tony Conrad

The following will be screened:

7 pm
Straight and Narrow (1970, 10 min.)
4-X Attack (1973, 2 min.)
Articulation of Boolean Algebra for Film Opticals (1975, 10 min. excerpt of 75 min. original)
The Flicker (1966, 30 min.)
The Eye of Count Flickerstein (1967-1975, 7 min.)

9 pm
Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present (2016, Tyler Hubby, 102 min.)

Hubby’s affectionate and insightful portrait of Tony Conrad offers an excellent overview of the career and vision of a polymath and multifaceted artist, making wonderfully clear Conrad’s indelible contributions to both experimental music and cinema. Closely following Conrad at work, on the road and in an ongoing conversation about art and creativity, Hubby’s debut feature effectively and poignantly captures the voice and vision of a true pioneer.

In collaboration with Harvard Film Archive.