From the press release:
For Immediate Release:
What: Hallways Microcinema Vol. 19 presents a documentary film screening of Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present along with a pre-screening experimental music performance by Champaign-Urbana’s SUNSAT IV.
When: Sunday, April 9th at 7:30 pm (7:30-9:30pm)
Where: The Art Theater Co-Op in Champaign Illinois
126 W. Church St.
Champaign, IL 61820
manager@arttheater.coop
Fee: $8. All ages.
Purchase Tickets Online: Here.
Contact — For More Information: Hallways Microcinema programmer, David Gracon
Email: dgracon@eiu.edu or mobile at 541-914-7113
Film Description:
TONY CONRAD: COMPLETELY IN THE PRESENT (2016, 1 hour 42 minutes in length) a documentary film by Tyler Hubby
Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present is a non-fiction film examining the pioneering life and works of artist, musician, and educator, Tony Conrad.
Tony Conrad was one the great American artists of our time, yet to the world at large he remains criminally under appreciated. Since the early 1960s, Conrad’s films and compositions have been the stuff of legend for artists and musicians everywhere. His vast, inter-disciplinary repertoire has single-handedly created and influenced major film and compositional movements. He performed in and recorded the soundtrack to Jack Smith’s legendary Flaming Creatures; he turned the paradigms of cinema upside down with The Flicker, a film composed of only black and white frames; his development and practice of Just Intonation and Minimalism through his work with Stockhausen and La Monte Young still has the music establishment scratching their heads; his pivotal role in the formation of The Velvet Underground has directly or indirectly influenced everyone who has picked up a guitar since; as an early adopter of activist public access television he democratized the emerging medium of portable video. In his later years he continued to perform and make work that pushed the boundaries of reason for which he has finally begun to receive worldwide attention.
Utilizing intimate footage of Tony and his collaborators shot over the last twenty-two years, as well as his own archive of recordings and films, Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present mirrors Conrad’s own playfully radical approach to art making. The non-linear structure allows Conrad to wildly free associate his streams of consciousness, revealing an honest and humane way of navigating a remarkable, creative life.
Film Trailer:
Film Webpage: http://www.tonyconradmovie.com/
Related Reviews/Comments:
“Highly recommended” – RogerEbert.com
“A sharp, sweet, eloquent documentary about the merriest, most artistically expansive minimalist on record. Many a sonic imagination was fed by Conrad. His work and his life asserted the importance of listening for the sounds nobody else has heard. A love letter to a specific period of downtown Manhattan bohemia…Hubby’s film captures Conrad in all his facets, as longtime Buffalo, N.Y., media professor, and more broadly as a man determined to make “abstract art funny, happy, energetic, joyful.” Now a sort of wake, but because the film’s really good, it’ll be a wake full of life.” – Chicago Tribune
“An exploration of avant-garde art that has little time for elitism or pretense. Hubby captures an artistic personality that could manifest big ideas without a shred of snobbery, could deflate pomposity while still inviting deep thought.” – The Hollywood Reporter
“It’s hard to imagine a better tribute to Tony Conrad than Tyler Hubby’s film. Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present does an admirable job of compressing a massively important and influential career into a feature-length documentary without feeling rushed. It’s tough to imagine watching this film and not feeling immediately compelled to dive into Tony Conrad’s work.” – Daily Grindhouse
“An unpretentious portrait of a singular artist. It requires no prerequisite knowledge of the subject, but it never shies away from its complex radicalism” – The WIRE
“Conrad’s desire to upset the distinctions between artist, audience and media is one theme running through Hubby’s warm portrait of the artist as a lifelong contrarian…capturing a working life spent running counter to master plans and grand narratives, yet still devoted to perpetual motion.” – Sight&Sound
Related Tony Conrad Press:
SUNSAT IV Information (live pre-screening music performance):
SUNSAT IV transmits an arresting array of transdimensional sound via freely guided improvisation. The ensemble communicates in both the acoustic and electronic realm, and experiments with sound, space, and time. The Urbana-Champaign trio is Brad Decker (laptop electronics, bass, guitar), Rick Deja (saxophone, flute, percussion), and Jason Finkelman (laptop electronics, percussion), and often incorporates special guests.
Hallways Microcinema Information:
Since 2015, Hallways Microcinema has been a do-it-yourself (DIY) space located at an undisclosed location in downtown Champaign, Illinois. This underground venue hosts semi-regular screenings of hard to find experimental and documentary film and video works; ambient and experimental music; poetry readings, performance art and lectures outside of the academy. David Gracon is the programmer (although the space is always open to collaboration) and host of Hallways Microcinema. More recently, Hallways Microcinema has decided to host various pop up events in the Champaign Urbana community such as this current collaboration with the Art Theater Co-Op.
For more information: Facebook Group or contact David Gracon at dgracon@eiu.edu or by mobile: 541-914-7113
Programmer Information (see contact above):
David Gracon is the programmer and host of Hallways Microcinema; a documentary filmmaker and associate professor of media studies and digital production at Eastern Illinois University. He is a native of Buffalo, NY and has been invested in post-punk, indie, experimental music scenes, zine communities and college radio; as well as activist orientated experimental film, video and documentary communities and collectives since the mid 90’s. He completed his Ph.D in Communication and Society at the University of Oregon and MA and BA at the University at Buffalo (SUNY) in the Department of Media Study and Sociology.
David is a former student and friend of the late Tony Conrad. This event is a tribute to his former friend and teacher.