Rhythm 21

Rhythm 21

16mm, black and white, silent, 2.5 min
"Richter's first film, RHYTHM 21, stands at the very beginning of the avant-garde film movement. For the first time, a film has utilized the movie screen as a directors substitute for the painters' ...
Rental format: 16mm

Stills

About

"Richter's first film, RHYTHM 21, stands at the very beginning of the avant-garde film movement. For the first time, a film has utilized the movie screen as a directors substitute for the painters' canvas, as a framed rectangular surface on which a kinetic organization of purely plastic forms is composed. For normally, the movie screen is perceived as a kind of window, more or less arbitrarily circumscribed, behind which an illusion of space appears. In RHYTHM 21, high contrast, it is a planar surface activated by the forms upon it. Thus its forms, like those of abstract painting of its time (especially Mondrian and Van Doesburg), have no physical existence except on the screen, nor do we sense their lateral extension beyond the limits of the screen as is usually the case with images created by camera vision. In RHYTHM 21, the screen is articulated by movements of mathematical percision and maximum of graphic clarity. Its content is essentially rhythm, the formal vocabulary is elemental geometry and the structural principle is counterpoint of contrasting opposites."–Standish D. Lawder.

Programs

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    Euclidean Illusions: Geometries of the Avant-Garde

    A chronological selection of films that experiment with different methods of geometric abstraction

    This chronological selection of films from the Film-Makers’ Cooperative archive, playing on Saturday, October 22nd, 2022, at 6pm, looks at the ways in which avant-garde filmmaking experimented with different methods of geometric abstraction from 1921 to 1980. Curated by Julia Curl.

Films

  • Other films by this artist in our catalogue

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    Early Works
    Animation
    Experimental

    Early Works
    Hans Richter

    color and b/w, sound, 35 min
    Rental format: DVD PAL
  • Read More
    Rhythm 23
    Animation
    Experimental

    Rhythm 23
    Hans Richter

    16mm, black and white, sound, 2.5 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Arts / Artists
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    Film Study
    Animation
    Experimental

    Film Study
    Hans Richter

    16mm, black and white, sound, 3.45 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Arts / Artists
  • Read More
    Ghosts Before Breakfast
    Experimental

    Ghosts Before Breakfast
    Hans Richter

    16mm, black and white, sound, 6.5 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Arts / Artists
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    Race Symphony
    Documentary
    Experimental

    Race Symphony
    Hans Richter

    16mm, black and white, sound, 5 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Environment / Nature
    • History
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    Everything Turns, Everything Revolves: Excerpt
    Experimental

    Everything Turns, Everything Revolves: Excerpt
    Hans Richter

    16mm, black and white, sound, 3.5 min
    • Arts / Artists
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    Dreams That Money Can Buy
    Experimental
    Narrative

    Dreams That Money Can Buy
    Hans Richter

    16mm, color, sound, 84 min
    • Philosophical
    • Arts / Artists
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    8 x 8
    Experimental

    8 x 8
    Hans Richter

    16mm, color, sound, 88 min
    • Arts / Artists
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    Passionate Pastime
    Documentary
    Experimental
    Narrative

    Passionate Pastime
    Hans Richter

    16mm, color, sound, 28 min
    • History
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    Give Chance a Chance: A Portrait of Hans Richter
    Documentary
    Experimental

    Give Chance a Chance: A Portrait of Hans Richter
    Hans Richter

    color, sound, 28 min
    Rental format: DVD PAL