Whatever Happened to Gelitin

1970

Bas Jan Ader's first fall film shows him seated on a chair, tumbling from the roof of his two-storey house in the Inland Empire.

Fall 1

1970

6.0

Fall 2

1970

Bas Jan Ader rides his bike into a canal in Amsterdam.

Fall 2

1970

6.0

I'm Too Sad to Tell You

This short film is part of a mixed media artwork of the same name, which also included postcards of Ader crying, sent to friends of his, with the title of the work as a caption. The film was initially ten minutes long, and included Ader rubbing his eyes to produce the tears, but was cut down to three and a half minutes. This shorter version captures Ader at his most anguished. His face is framed closely. There is no introduction or conclusion, no reason given and no relief from the anguish that is presented.

I'm Too Sad to Tell You

1971

6.0

Broken Fall (Geometric)

5.0

One of a series of ‘falls’ by Bas Jan Ader that he recorded on film, this work was filmed in West Kapelle, Holland in 1970.

Broken Fall (Geometric)

1971

5.0

Broken Fall (Organic)

Bas Jan Ader hangs from the branch of a tall tree, until he loses his grip and falls into a river below.

Broken Fall (Organic)

1971

6.0

No Image

Nightfall

1.0

Shot in his garage-studio, the camera records Ader painstakingly hoisting a large brick over his shoulder. His figure is harshly lit by two tangles of light bulbs. He drops the brick, crushing one strand of lights. He again lifts the brick, allowing tension to accrue. The climax inevitable—the brick falls and crushes the second set of lights. Here the film abruptly ends, all illumination extinguished.

Nightfall

1971

1.0

Meat Joy

6.6

1964

"Meat Joy is an erotic rite — excessive, indulgent, a celebration of flesh as material: raw fish, chicken, sausages, wet paint, transparent plastic, ropes, brushes, paper scrap. Its propulsion is towards the ecstatic — shifting and turning among tenderness, wildness, precision, abandon; qualities that could at any moment be sensual, comic, joyous, repellent. Physical equivalences are enacted as a psychic imagistic stream, in which the layered elements mesh and gain intensity by the energy complement of the audience. The original performances became notorious and introduced a vision of the 'sacred erotic.' This video was converted from original film footage of three 1964 performances of Meat Joy at its first staged performance at the Festival de la Libre Expression, Paris, Dennison Hall, London, and Judson Church, New York City."

Meat Joy

1964

6.6

Survival Research Laboratories - Ten Years Of Robotic Mayhem

8.0

2004

1 A Bitter Message Of Hopeless Grief 2 The Will To Provoke 3 The Delusions Of Expediency 4 The Pleasure Of Uninhibited Excess 5 A Scenic Harvest From The Kingdom Of Pain 6 Virtues Of Negative Fascination 7 Seven Machine Performances

Survival Research Laboratories - Ten Years Of Robotic Mayhem

2004

8.0

No Image

This Is Not a Dream

2012

The video revolution of the 1970s offered unprecedented access to the moving image for artists and performers. This Is Not a Dream explores the legacies of this revolution and its continued impact on contemporary art and performance. Charting a path across four decades of avant-garde experiment and radical escapism, This Is Not a Dream traces the influences of Andy Warhol, John Waters and Jack Smith to the perverted frontiers of YouTube and Chatroulette, taking in subverted talk shows and soap operas, streetwalker fashions and glittery magic penises along the way.

This Is Not a Dream

2012

No Image

Omniprésence

1994

A documentary edited from ORLAN's seventh surgery in the The Reincarnation of Sainte-ORLAN series which aired live, vis satellite from New York in 1993.

Omniprésence

1994

Salvador Dalí at Work

5.0

2006

Filmmaker Jonas Mekas follows the surrealist artist around the streets of New York documenting staged public art events.

Salvador Dalí at Work

2006

5.0

Marcel Duchamp: The Art of the Possible

2020