Birdsong and meandering lines, sometimes solo, sometimes as a swarm movement. In their midst a park landscape, a staircase, and a man with a dog seem to emerge fleetingly. In Robert Breer’s minimalist drawn animation, the abstract and the figurative briefly overlap, then fall apart again. The permanent change of the forms follows the pulse rate of the birdsong recorded in nature.
Patrick Bokanowski subjects his own early cine film footage to a magical optical transformation. In the glistening drizzle of electronic sounds and the deep rumbling of drone waves by Michèle Bokanowski, light eruptions, sweeping colours and shadowy apparitions unfold while the original footage shines through. A diary of awake dreaming observation.
No sooner had optical sound been invented than it was used in other than the intended way. Geometric patterns, intertwined lines, facial profiles and letters instead of voice recordings and music – Moholy-Nagy imaginatively designs the optical soundtrack of the film. The photocell of the film projector then translates his “handwriting in sound” into electronic buzzes and beeps, along and beside the musical scale.
