Water on the roof

The MMoCA will continue its already outstanding Rooftop Cinema series tonight at 9:30 with “H2O,” a program of experimental shorts that take water as their central subject, or rather, that treat water as the vehicle by which to mediate on a number of ideas, moods, techniques, etc. “H2O” will include films by Stan Brakhage (1997’s sublime “Commingled Containers”), Kenneth Anger and UW-Madison’s own J.J. Murphy. (It almost goes without saying that I’m particularly excited to finally get a chance to see one of Murphy’s films.) Admission is $5. Cross your fingers for a cool, dry night. Keep ’em crossed until further notice.

The roof, the roof, the roof is…

The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art just announced the first four events in its Rooftop Cinema series and, if you ask me, they look pretty damn promising.

On June 4 they’ll present “Associations: The Short Films of John Smith,” which is comprised of six shorts by a filmmaker who MMoCA bills as being “one of the avant garde’s leading humorists.”

On June 11 it’s “H2O,” a program of films that take as their subject—what else—agua, eau, water, etc. Included in the program are Stan Brakhage’s “Commingled Containers” (1997), Kenneth Anger’s “Eaux d’artifice” (1953) and J.J. Murphy’s “Sky Blue Water Light Sign” (1972). “Commingled Containers” is utterly mesmerizing; having only seen it on Criterion’s “by Brakhage: An Anthology, Volume One,” I can’t wait to experience it projected off 16mm.

Also of note is Bruce Conner’s “Looking For Mushrooms” (1996), which is the central attraction in the June 18 program, “The Sight of Music Part 2.”

Head on over to the MMoCA’s website for details on the rest of June’s screenings. Let’s breathe a collective sigh of relief that avant-garde cinema will continue to have a presence in Madison, at least for the summer.

(Visual) Quotes…, 5/13

From Stan Brakhage’s “Love Song” (2001). The materiality and unceasing thingness of this film caused me to eat my semi-promise from yesterday’s installment of (Visual) Quotes…. Forgive me.

(Visual) Quotes…, 5/12

From Stan Brakhage’s “Nightmusic” (1986). Posting stills from Brakhage films, gorgeous as they may be, feels sort of… wrong. I’m going to try to resist the urge from now on.

(Visual) Quotes…, 5/11

From Stan Brakhage’s “Window Water Baby Moving” (1959).