Ex-cinema : from a theory of experimental film and video

202 Pages·2012·1.16 MB·English

by  Lippit

Ex- Cinema
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Ex- Cinema
From a Theory of Experimental Film
and Video
Akira Mizuta Lippit
University of California Press
Berkeley • Los Angeles • London
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University of California Press
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University of California Press, Ltd.
London, En gland
© 2012 by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Lippit, Akira Mizuta.
Ex- cinema : from a theory of experimental fi lm and
video / Akira Mizuta Lippit.
p. cm.
Includes index.
isbn 978-0 - 520- 27412- 9 (hardcover : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0 - 520- 27414- 3 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Experimental fi lms— History and criticism.
I. Title.
PN1995.9.E96L57 2012
791.43'611—dc23
2012010874
Manufactured in the United States of America
21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum
requirements of ansi/niso z39.48- 1992 (r 2002)
(Permanence of Paper).
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Ac know ledgm ents ix
EXC00 Exergue Ex- Cinema 1
EXC01 Out of the Blue (Ex Nihilo) 15
EXC02 Extimacy
Outside Time and Superrealist Cinema 38
EXC03 Cinemnesis
Martin Arnold’s Memory Apparatus 56
EXC04 The Rhetoric of Images, of the Unimaginable 73
EXC05 Derrida, Specters, Self- Refl ection 87
EXC06 (Parenthesis Video Ergo Sum) 106
EXC07 Digesture
Gestures without Bodies 119
EXC08 Extract Matthias Müller 138
EXC09 Revisionary Cinema 150
EXC10 xxxxMA 169
Index 181
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Illustrations
1. Phil Solomon, Rehearsals for Retirement / 8
2. Peter Tscherkassky, Outer Space / 10
3. Peter Tscherkassky, Coming Attractions / 11
4. Kenneth Anger, Fireworks / 43
5. Andy Warhol, Sleep / 46
6. Hollis Frampton, Nostalgia / 50
7. Caveh Zahedi, “The World Is a Classroom” / 74
8. Caveh Zahedi, In the Bathtub of the World / 81
9. Caveh Zahedi, Plot for a Biennial / 83
10. Safaa Fathy, D’ailleurs, Derrida #1 / 88
11. Safaa Fathy, D’ailleurs, Derrida #2 / 97
12. Su Friedrich, Sink or Swim (typing negative) / 99
13. Su Friedrich, Sink or Swim (zygote) / 100
14. Diana Thater, Knots & Surfaces / 111
15. Diana Thater, Electric Mind / 114
16. Diana Thater, Shumla / 116
17. Martin Arnold, Self Control / 120
18. Matthias Müller, Alpsee / 140
19. Matthias Müller and Christoph Girardet, Mirror / 144
vii
viii | List of Illustrations
20. Matthias Müller and Christoph Girardet, Phoenix Tapes,
“Necrologue” / 147
21. Naomi Uman, removed / 157
22. Jay Rosenblatt, The Smell of Burning Ants / 161
23. Martin Arnold, Soft Palate / 170
24. Martin Arnold, Postcard from Arnold / 172
25. Martin Arnold, Haunted House / 179
Ac know ledgm ents
Many of the fi lmmakers and artists discussed in this book have engaged
this work, offering insights, responses, and criticisms of my writing at
various stages. I am especially grateful to Martin Arnold, Su Friedrich,
Matthias Müller, Walid Ra’ad, Jay Rosenblatt, Phil Solomon, Diana
Thater, Peter Tscherkassky, Naomi Uman, and Caveh Zahedi, who have
served as interlocutors from the book’s conception and throughout its
production. The time and energy that each contributed was truly a gift,
and their work remains the reason for this book. I wish to thank my
colleagues and students at the University of Southern California in the
School of Cinematic Arts and the Departments of Comparative Litera-
ture and East Asian Languages and Cultures, who have provided so
much support and inspiration. My sincerest gratitude to Dean Elizabeth
M. Daley of the School of Cinematic Arts, who has supported me un-
equivocally since the time I arrived. The members of the Visual Studies
group at USC, especially Richard Meyer and Vanessa Schwartz, have
continuously energized and reenergized this project, and Kate Flint, Janet
Hoskins, Kara Keeling, Nancy Lutkehaus, and Alexander Marr offered
generous responses to an earlier iteration of “Out of the Blue,” as did Jen-
nifer Barker, Alessandra Raengo, and Angelo Restivo at Georgia State
University; and members of the Film Studies Program, notably Dudley
Andrew and Patrick Reagan, at Yale University. David E. James and Mi-
chael Renov forged the way for this book; their mentorship has been
crucial in shaping my own attempts to think through the avant-g arde.
ix