CHRIS WELSBY: BRITISH ARTISTS’ FILMS

"Each of my films is a separate attempt to re-define the interface between ‘mind’ and ‘nature’. In my work, the mechanics of film and video interact with the landscape in such a way that elemental processes – such as changes in light, the rise and fall of tide or changes in wind direction – are given the space and time to participate in the process of representation."

– Chris Welsby

The BFI’s British Artists’ Films series produced in partnership with arts documentary producers Illuminations and Arts Council England features a wide selection of important film and video work by British artists from the last thirty years. This release focuses on the work of Chris Welsby, landscape artist and pioneer of the moving-image installation in Britain, whose subtle meditations are exhibited in museums and galleries around the world.

Featured on the DVD are works from different stages in his career, uniquely tracing his development as an artist, from his early critical responses to British structural filmmaking and Minimalism of the 1970s to his mature, contemplative landscape works of the 1980s and 1990s. The films included in this edition are: STREAM LINE, PARK FILM, WINDMILL III, SEVEN DAYS, WIND VANE, SKY LIGHT, DRIFT and RIVER YAR (made with William Raban). The DVD also includes a 30-minute video interview with the artist by John Wyver. Sleeve notes are by Laura Mulvey, and booklet texts include essays on his work and individual films by the filmmaker himself, as well as Peter Wollen, Deke Dusinberre, Fred Camper, Manohla Dargis and Chrissie Iles.

“The techniques developed by Welsby made it possible for there to be a direct (‘indexical’ in the semiotic terminology developed by Pierce) registration of natural phenomena on film. Thus, camera movement could be determined by wind-direction after a wind-vane was linked to a panninghead on the tripod. Natural processes were no longer simply recorded from the outside, as objets of observation; they could be made to participate in the scheme of observation itself. The point of observation was no longer the external ‘Archimedean’ point of the artist’s own consciousness. Furthermore, the automatic procedures of science and technology, instead of being inflicted on nature in order to dominate it, were directed by nature itself. The promise at the heart of Welsby’s work is that of a new type of relationship between science and nature, and between subject and object of observation.”

– Peter Wollen

  Contents

Format: DVD-PAL / Region 0
(No Regional Code)

NOTE: This disc is a specifically made, region free publication that was pressed by BFI for GME's distribution to North American institutions. In addition, we have also supplied the region 2 copy in its original shrink wrapped case to either be kept or replaced by the region free disc.

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CHRIS WELSBY: BRITISH ARTISTS’ FILMS
(UK, 1972-2005)

Director: Chris Welsby

• Color

    _________________________________________

WIND VANE
(UK, 1972) 

• 8 minutes
• Two-screen projection
• 16mm
• Sound

     ◊

RIVER YAR
(UK, 1971-72)

Cast: William Raban

• 35 minutes
• Two-screen projection
• 16mm
• Sound

◊

PARK FILM
(UK, 1972-73)

• 8 minutes
• 16mm
• Silent

◊

STREAM LINE
(UK, 1976)

• 8 minutes
• 16mm
• Sound

◊

SEVEN DAYS
(UK, 1974)

• 20 minutes
• 16mm
• Sound

     ◊

WINDMILL III
(UK, 1974)

• 10 minutes
• 16mm
• Silent

◊

SKY LIGHT
(UK, 1988) 

• 26 minutes
• Single-screen version
• 16mm
• Sound

     ◊

DRIFT
(Canada, 1994) 

• 17 minutes
• 16mm
• Sound

    _________________________________________

Bonus Material

theFrame – Chris Welsby
(2005)

• 29:30 minutes
• Video
• Color
• Sound

• Half-hour interview with the filmmaker by John Wyver including clips from many of his films and documentation of his installations.

◊

• Sleeve notes are by Laura Mulvey, Professor of Film and Media Studies at Birkbeck College, University of London.

• 20-page illustrated booklet containing a full annotated filmography.

     _________________________________________
     _________________________________________

Total Running Time: 02:41:00

Published By: British Film Institute

Booklet Text: Chris Welsby, Peter Wollen, Deke Dusinberre, Fred Camper, Manohla Dargis and Chrissie Iles.

Institutional Price: $250 (plus shipping)

To order call: 212.280.8654 or click here for information on ordering by fax, e-mail or post.