The Life Forms exhibition includes a film programme with films important for the art history. The films are shown on monitors during the entire exhibition period. The following films are included:
Robert Smithson: Spiral Jetty, 1970
The film is a documentation of Robert Smithson’s monumental earthwork sculpture in the Great Salt Lake, Utah. The work, which was completed in 1970, is Smithson’s most famous and a land art symbol. Smithson used rocks, mud and salt crystals to create a gigantic spiral in the middle of the red water. Here Robert Smithson talks about the conception of the work.
Nancy Holt: Sun Tunnels, 1978
Sun Tunnels is a site-specific sculpture that Nancy Holt created in a desert in Utah, USA. It was completed in 1976 and consists of four massive concrete tunnels arranged to interact with sunrises and sunsets. Through the holes in the top of the tunnels light seeps in, creating patterns.
Bruce Conner: CROSSROADS, 1976
For his film Bruce Conner used archive material from the American nuclear weapons tests in the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. The tests started in 1946 and the first operation was codenamed Crossroads. By showing the images in extreme slow motion from 27 different angles we see the hauntingly visual beauty in something as terrible and destructive as an atomic explosion.
Ana Mendieta: Burial Pyramid, 1974
Ana Mendieta is famous for her feminist performance in which her body merges with nature. In Burial Pyramid the artist’s body is concealed by a thin layer of rocks that move when she breathes. The performance took place in Mexico in 1974 and was inspired by various burial rituals.
Gordon Matta-Clark: Tree Dance, 1971
The film is a performance in which Gordon Matta-Clark performs a choreography in a tall tree. At the top of the tree hang ladders, ropes and other materials that the artist uses to move up and down. For the performance Matta-Clark was inspired by spring fertility rites.
Caroline Elgh is curator of the film programme.