Internal+Systems+(1974-75)

Internal Systems (1974-75), 16mm, color, optical sound, 45 min

“4 sections of the same time in the same place.” – CF

In one of her more minimalist films, the viewer is presented with nothing but a blank monochromatic frame slowly shifting through various intensities of color saturation, flickering/shuttering repeatedly from light-to-dark (and back again) for a duration of 45 minutes. The only hint of information we have to navigate through this complex and difficult film is at the head and tail of the film, in the rolling text “credits” introduced as positive at the head of the film and negative at the end. Technical information such as filmstock, film speed, film length, camera, lens, shutter, projector, and a host of other data appear on the screen like hieroglyphs of some secret language to be decoded: DOUBLE-X NEGATIVE 7222 DOUBLE – B 16MM TUNGSTEN ASA 200 KODAK – 100FT. / DAYLIGHT H.S. REVERSAL 6.15 ESP3EI SINGLE B SHORTPITCH 13573/0301 16MM ASA 160 AGFA-GEVAERT GEVACHROME ORIG. – 1600FT. / CM-72A #D6-31656 BACH-AURICON 1/50SEC. 175 DEGREE SHUTTER. / K-3278 .2AMP 7V EXPOSURE LAMP. / 10X12A/F.12-120MM 1:2.2 # 1245719 ANGENIEUX-ZOOM. / RA-31-ADZ VARIABLE DENSITY BACH-AURICON. / MODEL 1552B BELL & HOWELL. / EMM 205W 25V 50HR, SYLVANNIA. / 24FPS SOUND SPEED. / 120V/60HZ. / F/BRN HR/135LBS/1950/ C.FITZGIBBON. Whether we know what this cybernetic schemata means or not, Internal Systems abandons us to the pure phenomenological ecstasies of cinematic temporality – the reveries of a radical filmic monochromism. At the end of the sojourn the titles repeat but in negative, as if the experience of their effects – purely visceral rather than analytical – offer no direct correlation to the mechanism they wield.

Still from Internal Systems

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