Wavelength

Michael Snow, who passed away this past January at the age of 94, was arguably the most important Canadian visual artist of his generation, renowned for witty, conceptual interventions in a variety of media. Snow’s 1967 experimental film WAVELENGTH radically altered the terms of the cinematic avant-garde. Over 45 minutes, the film offers the viewer its infamously gradual zoom, beginning at the widest focal length and ending in an extreme close-up. The fact that WAVELENGTH was “about” the action of the zoom lens, rather than the psychological content provided by most other films, was revolutionary, with critics heralding the beginning of “structural film”. During its run time, WAVELENGTH offers the viewer a protracted gaze across a mostly empty loft apartment. But it also exhibits a painterly sensibility, as Snow uses coloured filters, aperture changes, and intrusions of film leader, all of which produce a kind of visual compendium. Much like Monet’s haystacks or Cézanne’s Mont Sainte-Victoire, WAVELENGTH aims to show us as many different visual manifestations of the loft space as Snow can dream up, suggesting that even the most ordinary space can provide sensory revelations. The Viennale is screening the film to celebrate Snow’s life and work. (Michael Sicinski)

With AS FILHAS DO FOGO and FILM ANNONCE DU FILM "DRÔLES DE GUERRES".

Michael Snow: A TO Z (1956), NEW YORK EYE AND EAR CONTROL (1964), SHORT SHAVE (1965) STANDARD TIME (1967), ONE SECOND IN MONTREAL (1969), <----> OR BACK AND FORTH (1969). SIDE SEAT PAINTINGS SLIDES SOUND FILM (1970), LA RÉGION CENTRALE (1971), BREAKFAST (TABLE TOP DOLLY) (1976), PRESENTS (1981), SO IS THIS (1982), SEATED FIGURES (1988), SEE YOU LATER (1990), TO LAVOISIER, WHO DIED IN THE REIGN OF TERROR (1991), PRELUDE (2000), THE LIVING ROOM (2000), SOLAR BREATH (2002), *CORPUS CALLOSUM (2002) WVLNT (“WAVELENGTH FOR THOSE WHO DON’T HAVE THE TIME”) (2003), SSHTOORRTY (2005), REVERBERLIN (2006), PUCCINI CONSERVATO (2008), CITYSCAPE (2019)