Radical Light

Looks like I have just missed, or mostly missed, an unbelievable film/video series at BAM/PFA in Berkeley. "Radical Light: Alternative Film and Video in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1945-2000" brings together a collection of film oddities and related ephemera from Bay Area artists, much of it housed in the PFA vaults and hardly any of it available elsewhere. Click here for the droolworthy schedule. There are names here that I'm familiar with (Bruce Conner, George Kuchar, Lawrence Jordan, James Broughton), but most of these figures are complete unknowns to me. The event of Oct. 17 -- "Procession of the Image Processers" -- must have been especially mind-bending. According to the press release, that evening's films were accompanied by live "video synthesis" performances by Skip Sweeney (who also showed his early 70s films "Moog Vidium" and "Koto Feedback"), Roberto Pacelli and Warner Jepson. I don't know what video synthesis means but it sounds cool. Apparently there is a related book for sale. Hopefully some of this shit will still be up when I'm back in California over the holidays. The above video, "Orange Wind" by Jepson, was not on the series roster, but I'm posting it just 'cos.