Join us for a special performance of Tony Conrad’s (1940–2016) audio-visual meditation, Ten Years Alive on the Infinite Plain. Pairing hypnotic film loops with droning strings, this is a rare chance to see a pioneering work of minimalist cinema and sound. This is the first time Conrad's work has been shown in the North West.
Please note: due to the flashing lights in this film, it may not be suitable for people with epilepsy.
Supported by the Estate of Tony Conrad, Greene Naftali, New York, Tate Americas Foundation and a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
About Tony Conrad
Tony Conrad (1940–2016) was an American artist, composer, musician, performer, teacher and filmmaker. A key figure in the New York avant-garde art scene in the 1960s, Conrad is best known for his seminal experiments in minimal, long-duration sound and structural filmmaking. He was a central part of The Theatre of Eternal Music (later known as The Dream Syndicate), working collaboratively with La Monte Young, John Cale, Angus MacLise and Marian Zazeela among others. In 1966, Conrad created The Flicker, a landmark work in structural filmmaking which provided a model for the sub-genre of flicker films that would later emerge in experimental media practice. Conrad later ventured into video and public-access television while teaching in the Department of Media Study at The State University Of New York, Buffalo, where he lived and worked alongside filmmakers and media artists Hollis Frampton, Paul Sharits, Steina and Woody Vasulka and Peter Weibel.
This event is part of the tenth annual LightNight Liverpool, the free one-night arts festival, which is taking place on Friday 17 May 2019.
On LightNight, Liverpool springs to life for a Friday night out like no other. With new commissions and a packed programme of more than 100 events, the festival offers an unforgettable experience to be enjoyed with friends and family. Venues across the city will stay open late to present live music, workshops, theatre, exhibitions and much more.
For 2019 LightNight explores personal and collective rituals, from the spiritual to the habitual, and consider how they help us to understand the world and define, or transcend, our place within it.
Festival guides can be purchased from selected outlets across the city centre or ordered online at www.lightnightliverpool.co.uk.
LightNight is produced by local social enterprise Open Culture.