Film After the Destruction of Art

What happens after the end of art? A multi-screen moving image installation takes its cue from the work of one of the artists included within Somewhat Abstract - Gustav Metzger, instigator of the 1966 Destruction in Art Symposium (DIAS).

Under the invitation of Metzger, artists from around the world congregated to debate, discuss and make ‘art as destruction’, or ‘auto-destructive art’. Much of the activity took place at Better Books, an alternative bookshop in London, which the following year would become home to the newly formed London Filmmakers Co-op. Art had been destroyed and in its wake film, a new form of art-making, had emerged.

An accompanying talk by the exhibition’s curator Duncan White will explore some of the problematic questions raised by the works included in the installation in relation to our current exhibition, Somewhat Abstract.

Selected works include Carolee Schneemann, Viet Flakes, 1965; Yoko Ono, One (Fluxus Film no.14) 1965; Malcolm Le Grice, Castle One, 1967; Raphael Montañez Ortiz, ‘Cowboy’ and ‘Indian’ Film 1958 and Gustav Metzger, Auto-Destructive Art, 1966.

Exhibition and Talk at Nottingham Contemporary.

• http://www.nottinghamcontemporary.org/ev...