Floating multiimages would replace straight onedimensional film projection. Influenced by buckminster fullers spheres, vanderbeek had the idea for a spherical theater where people would lie down and experience movies all around them. There was of course a big event when everybody came from new york city, august recalls. Of vanderbeeks numerous large scale proposals, his moviedrome was the most fully realized. This book is the first indepth study of stan vanderbeeks works and ideas on the larger practice of 1960s avantgarde, and subsequent emergence of. The future holds unknown combinations of some of the present loosely knit ideas, he wrote during the time of the movie drome. Opening at the new museum on july 18, 2012,ghosts in the machine surveys the constantly shifting relationship between humans, machines, and art. In 1965, the experimental filmmaker stan vanderbeek 19271984 unveiled his moviedrome, made from the repurposed top of a grain silo. The moviedrome is a domed space the original installation used the choppedoff top of a grain silo with fourteen film and two slide projectors ringing the perimeter, all running simultaneously. Vanderbeeks career spanned about a third of a century. Mit exhibit reclaims stan vanderbeek and his influence on. Fine, ken friedman, shigeko kubota, frederic lieberman, george maciunas, serge oldenbourg, benjamin patterson, james riddle, paul sharits, bob sheff, daniel spoerri, stan vanderbeek, ben vautier, robert watts flux year box 2 19661978.
These projects include the moviedrome of the mid60s, in which vanderbeek used a grainsilo top to build an immersive domed theater. Stan vanderbeek january 6, 1927 september 19, 1984 was an american experimental filmmaker known for his collage works. Expanded cinema is an elastic name for many sorts of film and projection event. Building his movie drome theater at stony brook, new york, at just about the. Biographyvanderbeek studied art and architecture first at cooper union college in new york and then at black mountain college in north carolina, where he met architect buckminster fuller, composer john cage, and choreographer merce cunningham. Vanderbeek envisioned moviedrome as the prototype for a communications systema. In the 1970s, he constructed a moviedrome in stony point, new york, which was an audiovisual laboratory for the projection of film, dance, magic theatre, sound and other visual effects. The movie drome was a grain silo dome which he turned into his infinite projection screen. Stan vanderbeek in front of his moviedrome in stony point, n.
Stan vanderbeek moviedrome influenced by buckminster fullers spheres, vanderbeek had the idea for a spherical theater where people would lie down and experience movies all around them. With networked twoway communication, movie dromes were meant. Moviedrome, stan vanderbeeks 1963 domeshaped enclosure in the new museums ghosts in the machine show, is currently wowing viewers with its cacophony of projected films, drawings and slides. The movie drome is a domed space the original installation used the choppedoff top of a grain silo with fourteen film and two slide projectors ringing the perimeter, all running simultaneously.
With networked twoway communication, moviedromes were. Ghosts in the machine unearths retro tech art wired. Stan vanderbeeks moviedrome 1965 is one of the most important projects created at the intersection of art, video, and digital technology. Ghosts in the machine, at the new museum, features some 140 works, including moviedrome, a mix of projected films. Stan vanderbeek if we tend to see the present through a rearview mirror, as marshall mcluhan observed, stan. Stan vanderbeeks moviedrome and expanded cinema, gloria sutton deftly navigates these fundamental tensions as they surface in vanderbeeks complex and underexplored oeuvre. This immersive environment, dubbed the moviedrome, would be a prototype for a new kind of cinemastage,according to vanderbeek. Ghosts in the machine at the new museum the new york times. Film on the cutting edge the legendary experimental filmmakers work is the subject of a careerspanning retrospective at the. One highlight of the installation will be a reconstruction of stan vanderbeeks moviedrome 196366, an immersive cinematic environment where the viewer is bathed in a constant stream of moving images, anticipating the fusion of information and the body, typical of the digital era. With networked twoway communication, moviedromes were meant to.
Vanderbeek envisioned moviedrome as the prototype for a communications system. In 1965, the experimental filmmaker stan vanderbeek 19271984 unveiled hismoviedrome, made from the repurposed top of a grain silo. Vanderbeek envisionedmoviedromeas the prototype for a communications system a global network of movie dromes linked to orbiting satellites that would store and transmit images. In the 1960s, vanderbeek began working with the likes of claes oldenburg and allan kaprow, as well as representatives of modern dance, such as merce cunningham and yvonne rainer.
Vanderbeek envisionedmoviedromeas the prototype for a communications system a global network of moviedromes linked to orbiting satellites that would store and transmit images. Stan vanderbeeks moviedrome shown in arsenal, venice biennale 20. Stan vanderbeeks moviedrome and expanded cinema leonardo sutton, gloria on. On view will be a reconstruction of stan vanderbeeks moviedrome 196365, an immersive cinematic environment where the viewer is bathed in a constant stream of moving images, anticipating the fusion of information and the body, typical of the. Stan vanderbeek 19271984 studied art and architecture first at cooper union college in new york and then at black mountain college in north carolina. Vanderbeek envisioned moviedrome as the prototype for a communications systema global network of moviedromes linked to orbiting satellites that would store and transmit images.
This book is the first indepth study of stan vanderbeek s works and ideas on the larger practice of 1960s avantgarde, and subsequent emergence of new media art and digital culture. The long range plan for the moviedrome will be to combine the space as my work2ng studio for animation, liveaction shooting, graphics etc and as a continuous magic theatre with performances to be given over the if you would like more infonaatlon contact. A pioneer in the development of experimental film and liveaction animation techniques, stan vanderbeek achieved widespread recognition in the american avantgarde cinema. From 1957 on, vanderbeek produced film sequences for the moviedrome. Vanderbeeks early work, such as his awardwinning breathdeath, were primarily singleprojector film collages of style and technique, combining original. Stan vanderbeek 19271984 was an american avantgarde filmmaker and a pioneer of expanded film techniques. The experience machine stan vanderbeeks moviedrome and. Visitors entered the dome through a trapdoor in the floor, and were. Forged from a partnership between a university press and a library, project muse is a trusted part of the academic and scholarly community it serves. His earlier compositions are in the spirit of the surrealist and dadaist collages. Integration of cinema, theatre, dance, drama, electronic sound and sights, moviedromes, video tape, libraries of film, kinetic and expanded cinema. The culture intercom mit list visual arts center cambridge, massachusetts february 4april 3, 2011 it is imperative that we the worlds artists invent a new world language.
He died on september 19, 1984 in columbia, maryland, usa. Integration of cinema, theatre, dance, drama, electronic sound and sights, movie dromes, video tape, libraries of film, kinetic and expanded cinema. A recreation of expanded cinema pioneer stan vanderbeeks fantastical moviedrome is just one of the technologyoriented art experiments on display at the new museum of contemporary art in new. If one thing is clear from the many proposals, plans, and manifestos that he drafted over his career, vanderbeek was an artist who. The future holds unknown combinations of some of the present loosely knit ideas, he wrote during the time of the moviedrome. August vanderbeek says she helped build what her dad called the movie drome. At full stretch, it embraces the most contradictory dimensions of film and video art, from the vividly spectacular to the starkly materialist. Stan vanderbeeks synthetic multimedia moviedrome of the 1960s, for example, is in high contrast to the analytic and. Building his movie drome theater at stony point, new york, at just about the. As early as the 1960s, vanderbeek managed to create multimedia performances using computer animation with the support of bell telephone laboratories. Future cinema of the mind 1972 and breath death 1964. Jonas meekas crowned stan vanderbeek the laughing man of the bomb age, refering to his starryeyed embrace cold war technology and its transformative aesthetic and spiritual potential. Vanderbeek envisioned movie drome as the prototype for a communications system. Vanderbeek s overarching thesis is the most appealing.
All of the poemfield filmsalong with other films of his were screened inside the moviedrome, a space of image storage and retrieval that one might now describe as an artisanal, sitespecific youtube. Stan vanderbeeks moviedrome and expanded cinema, mit press, 2015, 272 pp. In 1965, the experimental filmmaker stan vanderbeek 19271984 unveiled hismovie drome, made from the repurposed top of a grain silo. He was also a major film writer and theorist of the 1960s underground film scene. Stan vanderbeek s movie drome 1965 is one of the most important projects created at the intersection of art, video, and digital technology. Vanderbeek began creating films for the drome in 1957. Installation of stan vanderbeeks moviedrome, part of ghosts in the machine at the new museum, new york, july 17, 2012.
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