The Fragile Emulsion Author(S): JON GARTENBERG Source: the Moving Image: the Journal of the Association of Moving Image Archivists, Vol
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
The Fragile Emulsion Author(s): JON GARTENBERG Source: The Moving Image: The Journal of the Association of Moving Image Archivists, Vol. 2, No. 2 (FALL 2002), pp. 142-153 Published by: University of Minnesota Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41167089 . Accessed: 31/07/2014 15:46 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. University of Minnesota Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Moving Image: The Journal of the Association of Moving Image Archivists. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 142.103.160.110 on Thu, 31 Jul 2014 15:46:15 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ИН!142 dispositionfor those experimentalfilmmakers TheFragile Emulsion afflictedwith AIDS, theircinematic legacies JON GARTENBERG are the most endangered. Given the ever- shrinkingvenues supportingthe showingof One of the mostvital and richlytextured art these works,the decrease in exhibitionde- formsthreatened with extinction centers around mand has createda tendencytoward neglect. the historyof avant-garde filmmaking.1 Experi- Thetitle of this article, "The FragileEmul- mentalfilmmakers work in relativeisolation, sion," aptlyunderscores the status of Ameri- creatingtheir films with the hand of an artist, can experimentalfilms and theirmakers both ratherthan as productsfor consumption by a in the cinematographicculture as well as in mass audience.The style of the films frequently filmarchives. An entire thread of film history is confrontsthe conventionsof the linearnarra- threatenedwith extinction, even thoughmany tive.These filmmakersrecognize not onlythe ofthese filmshave been createdonly over the ephemeralnature of the filmstock, but also past fourdecades. The objectiveof this article the perilousstate of humanlife in the modern is bothto articulatethe natureof the crisisand world.They begin with their direct experiences to suggesta methodologicalapproach for safe- of everydayreality and oftenmove through guardingthese delicateworks. theirfilms to a process of abstraction.Even These observationsare based on myac- thoughtheir films may be abstract,they re- cumulatedexperiences over the past several spond deeplyto the humancondition, to the decades. I have engaged in the study,preser- fragilityof human life, to the preciousnature of vation,distribution, and exhibitionof experi- love,health, and theenvironment, as elegantly mentalfilms in a widevariety of contexts. These as JohnFord or Jean Renoir might express sim- experiencesbear repeatinghere because they ilarthemes in a morenarrative fashion. have criticallyinformed my thinking about all These filmmakerstreat the filmemulsion the myriadand complex issues surrounding as a livingorganism. It is an organicsubstance, experimentalfilm and the approach set down a shimmeringsilver onto whichthey directly in thisarticle. imprintthe delicacyof their emotions. They fil- Myexposure to experimentalfilm began terfound objects fromthe worldaround them, in formalfashion as a studentin P. AdamsSit- and througha wide arrayof filmmakingtech- ney's experimentalfilm course at New York niques, includinguse of outdatedfilm stock, Universityin the 1970s. It continuedin practi- over-and underexposure,scratching directly cal fashionwhen I was a curatorin the archive on the filmemulsion, re photography, and op- of the Museum of ModernArt (MoMA) from tical printing-articulate distinct, individually 1975 to 1991,where I acquired forthe perma- definedprocesses of creation. They evoke spir- nent collection experimentalfilms of Ernie itualvisions of the worldin whichtheir own Gehr,Hollis Frampton, Storm de Hirsch,Abigail livelihoodis inextricablylinked to the lifeof Child,Barbara Hammer, and a myriadof other thefilm emulsion. Such contemporaryfilmmak- suchartists. It continued in the late1980s when ersas LewisKlahr, Barbara Hammer, Lawrence I workedon the preservationof the filmsof Brose,and BillMorrison elegantly reflect this AndyWarhol.3 richtradition.2 Followingmy departurefrom MoMA, I Lackingthe economic incentivecreated workedat BroadwayVideo Entertainment,a bythe profitpotential of the commercialfilm- commercialproduction and distributioncom- makinguniverse, these films(most frequently pany,where I restored,for international video shown in such venues as museumsand spe- distribution,American commercial classic films cialized filmfestivals) are in an endangered and televisionprograms such as Underdog, state.The filmmakers have rarelyhad fundsto Lassie, The Lone Ranger,and a collectionof create protectionmasters from their camera classic and В films,including those byAnthony originals.What remains on deposit in mostin- Mann and AllanDwan. Since the late 1990s, I stitutionsare used printsand, withthe film- have served in a consultingcapacity as the makersor their estates, uncataloged originals. programdirector for the FilmPreservation Pro- Coupledwith the complexproblems of estate gramof the EstateProject for Artists with AIDS, This content downloaded from 142.103.160.110 on Thu, 31 Jul 2014 15:46:15 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ИНЯ 1¿.o Figure1. WarrenSonbert whereI have been involvedwith the preserva- filmingin the 1960s. Courtesy tion and exhibitionof filmsby JackWaters, Ascension Serrano,the estate WarrenSonbert, David Wojnarowicz,and Curt of WarrenSonbert. McDowell.Recently, I have also consultedwith greaterappreciation of the kindsof decisions the Solomon R. GuggenheimMuseum on their thatneed to be made whenhandling the pres- VariableMedia Initiativeas it relatesto exper- ervationof the actual physicalelements. imentalfilm.4 1 also currentlydistribute high Firstand foremostis the factthat these qualityvideo editionsof classic filmsby exper- filmsresemble the workof fineartists, paint- imentalfilmmakers, including Robert Breer, Len ings, forexample. It is importantto inscribe Lye,Martin Arnold, Ken Jacobs, Stan Brakhage, into the preservationof the actual workthe and JonasMekas.5 revelationof the hand ofthe artistin its origi- nal creation.Thus, filmmakerssuch as Stan who etchscratches ontothe FIVEGUIDING PRINCIPLES Brakhage directly filmemulsion should not automaticallyhave Havinglabored on numerousexperimental film these particularscratches removed in the initiativesfrom a varietyof perspectives,over preservationprocess. In contrast,the pres- time I developed some guidingprinciples for ence of such scratcheswould be considereda the myriadtechnical decisions that must be technicalflaw in the restorationof a commer- made when preservingthese films.I empha- cial film. size case studies surroundingthe filmsof Jack In the commercialcinema, motionpic- Waters,but also illustratesalient preservation turesare photographedon 35mmnegative film issues forworks by other experimentalfilm fromwhich various intermediates are struckin artists. orderto make manymultiples of printsfor si- multaneouslarge-scale exhibition in commer- cial theaters. Historically,most experimental Knowthe Historyof the Genre filmshave been shot on 8mmor 16mmrever- As curators,we have a responsibilityto fully sal film.The filmmakerscan ill-affordto strike understandthe historyof experimentalfilm, internegatives;thus, the edited camera origi- especiallythe study of this genre in relationship nals are frequentlyprojected, and occasionally to the dominantmode ofcommercial narrative individualreversal prints are made fordistri- cinema. Knowingthis historywell enables a butionin nonprofitcooperatives. Barely able This content downloaded from 142.103.160.110 on Thu, 31 Jul 2014 15:46:15 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ИИетЯщ to affordpaying for the storagecosts fortheir and career is an embodimentof New York's films,the filmmakersoften leave theircamera LowerEast Side culture,one thatis definedby originalsin the printinglaboratory of their interdisciplinarywork, the collaborativepro- choice.With the slew oflab consolidationsand cess, and social action.7Waters is an engaged closuresthat have occurredsince the 1970s, a artistwho creates in a varietyof media-a substantialnumber of these camera originals dancer and choreographer,a filmand video are nowlost. maker,as well as a writer,curator, and com- munityactivist. A numberof his artisticen- deavors have been in collaboration Establish a WorkingCollaboration produced withhis lifepartner, Peter Cramer. Itis ofutmost importance to developa working Theother major factor to considerwas an dialoguebetween the filmmaker, archivist, and understandingof, in his own words, his laboratorypersonnel throughout the preserva- "availavist"aesthetic. That is to say, Waters tionprocess. The EstateProject for Artists with maximizesthe use of the low-techtools at AIDS selected JackWaters as one artistwhose hand in creatinghis movingimages, whatever workneeded the supportof a preservationini- formathe mightbe workingin at the givenmo- tiative.As an African-American,a gay man, and ment(e.g., super 8mm reversal,16mm rever- someone livingwith this disease, he often sal, 16mmnegative, high 8 video), and with worksin film,video, and dance to address is- whateverequipment is