Between OP, EPI and Fluxus: “The Flicker” by Tony Conrad as an Example of Artistic Strategy of Simulating the Effect of Psychoactive Substances
Abstract
The text deals with The Flicker (1966), the cinematographic debut by the recently deceased Tony Conrad – an outstanding musician, a courageous director, the major character of the New York underground of the 1960s. The author presents a film key to the American avant-garde of the 1960s against the backdrop of the wider cultural trends of the era: contemporary phenomena in visual arts, themes of American mass culture, and experimental New York musical scene. The wide panorama of cultural phenomena forms a new aesthetics of art directly impacting the viewer, where the impact is modelled after the effect of psychoactive substances. This aesthetics arises out of the ideas of John Cage, Norbert Weiner and William Burroughs. The author in the final part of the article compares The Flicker with other experimental films of the period, in particular those made within the Fluxus movement.
Keywords:
Tony Conrad, avant-garde cinema, psychoactive substances, FluxusReferences
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226064147.001.0001
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Authors
Antoni Michnikkwartalnik.filmowy@ispan.pl
University of Warsaw Poland
Absolwent historii sztuki UW, historyk kultury, performer. Członek-założyciel naukowo-artystycznej Grupy ETC oraz Zespołu Badań Praktyk Późnej Nowoczesności przy Instytucie Kultury Polskiej UW; współpracownik Stowarzyszenia im. Stanisława Brzozowskiego. Redaktor pisma o muzyce współczesnej „Glissando”. Publikował m.in. w „Kwartalniku Filmowym”, „Roczniku Historii Sztuki”, „Kontekstach”, „Przeglądzie Humanistycznym”, „Zeszytach Literackich”. Laureat Konkursu Polskich Krytyków Muzycznych KROPKA (2016). Współredaktor książek Fluxus w trzech aktach. Narracje – estetyki – geografie Grupy ETC (2014) oraz Poza rejestrem. Rozmowy o muzyce i prawie autorskim (2016).
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