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EXPERIMENTAL FILM AND ARTISTS’ MOVING IMAGE Durational Cinema A Short History of Long Films Michael Walsh Experimental Film and Artists’ Moving Image Series Editors Kim Knowles Aberystwyth University Aberystwyth, UK Jonathan Walley Department of Cinema Denison University Granville, OH, USA Existing outside the boundaries of mainstream cinema, the field of experimental film and artists’ moving image presents a radical challenge not only to the conventions of that cinema but also to the social and cultural norms it represents. In offering alternative ways of seeing and experiencing the world, it brings to the fore different visions and dissenting voices. In recent years, scholarship in this area has moved from a marginal to a more central position as it comes to bear upon critical topics such as medium specificity, ontology, the future of cinema, changes in cinematic exhibition and the complex interrelationships between moving image technology, aesthetics, discourses, and institutions. This book series stakes out exciting new directions for the study of alternative film practice–from the black box to the white cube, from film to digital, crossing continents and disciplines, and developing fresh theoretical insights and revised histories. Although employing the terms ‘experimental film’ and ‘artists’ moving image’, we see these as interconnected practices and seek to interrogate the crossovers and spaces between different kinds of oppositional filmmaking. We invite proposals on any aspect of non-mainstream moving image practice, which may take the form of monographs, edited collections, and artists’ writings both historical and contemporary. We are interested in expanding the scope of scholarship in this area, and therefore welcome proposals with an interdisciplinary and intermedial focus, as well as studies of female and minority voices. We also particularly welcome proposals that move beyond the West, opening up space for the discussion of Latin American, African and Asian perspectives. Michael Walsh Durational Cinema A Short History of Long Films Michael Walsh Cinema Program School of Communication University of Hartford Hartford, CT, USA ISSN 2523-7527 ISSN 2523-7535 (electronic) Experimental Film and Artists’ Moving Image ISBN 978-3-030-76091-5 ISBN 978-3-030-76092-2 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76092-2 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover credit: Algirdas Grigaitis / Alamy Stock Photo This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland This book is dedicated to the memories of Paul Arthur, Scott Nygren, and Carolee Schneemann. I’d like to think all three would have been interested. P N refatory otes 1. For every film discussed in detail, I have made a shot list with timings. In many cases, a summary at the beginning of the discussion gives the running time, the number of shots, the average shot length, and some additional metrics. If that summary is not present at the outset, the same information is given discursively. 2. Average shot length is abbreviated as ASL. Frames per second is abbreviated as fps. 3. Foreign language films are given their usual English titles. This is intended not as a suppression of the original Tagalog, Chinese, French, German, or Italian, but as a matter of saving space. 4. Unless a translator is named, translations from French are my own. In some cases, I have amended existing translations. vii a ckNowledgmeNts At Palgrave, I am most grateful to Lina Aboujieb and Raghupathy Kalynaraman, who have the combination of patience and prodding down to a fine art, and to the anonymous readers, who provided great feedback. The ideas in this book were tried out mostly at meetings of the Society for Film and Media Studies, and especially in panels sponsored by ExFM, the experimental film and media interest group of the Society. Organizers, fel- low panelists, interlocutors, and other co-conspirators include Robin Blaetz, Abigail Child, Kelley Conway, Ken Eisenstein, James Hansen, Chris Holmlund, David James, Bruce Jenkins, Jihoon Kim, Jasper Lauderdale, Peter Lesnik, Scott MacDonald, Cameron Moneo, Daniel Morgan, Trevor Mowchun, Scott Nygren, Christina Parker-Flynn, Cinta Pelejà, Melissa Ragona, Justin Remes, David Rodowick, Masha Shpolberg, Mario Slugan, Tyler Theus, Maureen Turim, James Tweedie, Andrew Vielkind, Diane Waldman, Kenneth White, Jennifer Wild, Stephen Woo, Kaitlin Zigterman, Patti Zimmerman, and Michael Zryd. Another conge- nial conference was Visible Evidence XXVI in Los Angeles, where I am grateful to Janes Gaines and Michael Renov. An earlier version of parts of the introduction and Chaps. 1 and 2 appeared in Slow Cinema, edited by Tiago de Luca and Nuno Barradas Jorge for Edinburgh University Press in 2016. Robert Lang tipped me off to the call for papers for that book. My best teachers: Cora Kaplan, John Mepham, Geoff Hemstedt, Neil Schmitz, Al Baum, Brian Henderson, Tony Conrad, Cary Nelson. I thank the University of Hartford for a sabbatical year that allowed me to finish the manuscript, and my wife, the feminist art historian Sherry Buckberrough, for more things than I can name. ix c oNteNts 1 Introduction 1 Part I First Wave: New York in the 1960s 21 2 Andy Warhol’s Sleep: Duration as Subtraction 23 3 Ken Jacobs’ Star Spangled to Death: Duration and Social Disgust 43 4 James Benning: Minimal, Ultra-Minimal, Beyond the Zero, and Multiple 67 Part II Second Wave: Europe After 1968 85 5 Chantal Akerman 1: A Durational City Symphony 87 6 Durassian Duration: Love, Loss, and Longing 107 7 Claude Lanzmann: Duration and Gravitas 131 8 Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet: The Deep Time of Duration 149 xi xii CONTENTS Part III Third Wave: The Twenty-First Century and the Digital Era 173 9 Chantal Akerman II: 35 Years on the Durational Plane 175 10 David Claerbout: Duration and Heterochrony 191 11 Lav Diaz and the Durational Sublime 203 12 Wang Bing: Duration, Deindustrialization, and Industrial Work-Discipline 225 13 Kevin Jerome Everson: Duration and the Black Working Class 249 14 Conclusion 265 Index 273