Seated Figures

Seated Figures

16mm, color, sound, 40 min
"In SEATED FIGURES ... Michael Snow again explores the ground zero of motion pictures – this time literally. Most simply described, the film ... is a 40-minute consideration of a landscape from the ...
Rental format: 16mm

Stills

About

"In SEATED FIGURES ... Michael Snow again explores the ground zero of motion pictures – this time literally. Most simply described, the film ... is a 40-minute consideration of a landscape from the perspective of an exhaust pipe. The artist appears to have bolted his camera, lens down, to a metal arm extending off the back of a truck ... then driven over asphalt and dirt roads, out to the beach, along a riverbed, and through a field of daisies. Although hypnotic, the movement is not continuous. The vehicle stops, reverses direction, then accelerates to produce a diagonally striated forcefield. "For all his conceptual sophistication, Snow subscribes to a casual, all-encompassing Cage aesthetic. He's deceptively artless, a master of the visual deadpan. While trafficking in geological abstraction, he arrests the film's frantic motion, freezing some blurry onrush or a frame of flowing water. A soundtrack of coughs, yawns, and humming projector creates a further displacement. The images are distanced - accompanied by the muffled noises of an audience watching a movie. Hence the mysteriously inert title. SEATED FIGURES is about its audience. Not only are we sent flying face down over the earth, but Snow reverses the oldest concept in image-making – he juxtaposes our seated, static figures against a constantly moving ground." – J. Hoberman, The Village Voice

Films

  • Other films by this artist in our catalogue

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    A to Z
    Animation
    Experimental

    A to Z
    Michael Snow

    16mm, black and white, sound, 7 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Erotic
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    New York Eye And Ear Control
    Experimental

    New York Eye And Ear Control
    Michael Snow

    16mm, black and white, sound, 34 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Music
    • Environment / Nature
    • Arts / Artists
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    Short Shave
    Experimental

    Short Shave
    Michael Snow

    16mm, black and white, sound, 4 min
    Rental format: 16mm
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    WVLNT: Wavelength For Those Who Don't Have the Time
    Experimental

    WVLNT: Wavelength For Those Who Don't Have the Time
    Michael Snow

    color, sound, 15 min
    Rental format: DVD NTSC
    • Films About Film
    • Structural
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    Standard Time
    Experimental

    Standard Time
    Michael Snow

    16mm, color, sound, 8 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Landscape / Architecture
    • Environment / Nature
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    Wavelength
    Experimental

    Wavelength
    Michael Snow

    16mm, color, sound, 45 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Arts / Artists
    • Structural
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    Back and Forth
    Experimental

    Back and Forth
    Michael Snow

    16mm, color, sound, 52 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Philosophical
    • Psychology / Mental Health
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    One Second In Montreal
    Experimental

    One Second In Montreal
    Michael Snow

    16mm, black and white, sound, 26 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Structural
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    Side Seat Paintings Slides Sound Film
    Experimental

    Side Seat Paintings Slides Sound Film
    Michael Snow

    16mm, color, sound, 20 min
    Rental format: 16mm
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    La Region Centrale
    Experimental

    La Region Centrale
    Michael Snow

    16mm, color, sound, 190 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Psychology / Mental Health
    • Philosophical
    • Environment / Nature
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    Rameau's Nephew by Diderot (Thanx to Dennis Young) by Wilma Schoen
    Experimental

    Rameau's Nephew by Diderot (Thanx to Dennis Young) by Wilma Schoen
    Michael Snow

    16mm, color, sound, 267 min
    Rental formats: 16mm, DVD PAL
    • Political / Social Activism
    • Films About Film
    • Arts / Artists
    • Structural
    • Ethnographic
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    Breakfast
    Experimental

    Breakfast
    Michael Snow

    16mm, color, sound, 15 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Psychology / Mental Health
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    Presents
    Experimental

    Presents
    Michael Snow

    16mm, color, sound, 98 min
    Rental formats: 16mm, DVD PAL
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    So Is This
    Experimental

    So Is This
    Michael Snow

    16mm, color, silent, 48 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Arts / Artists
    • Political / Social Activism
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    See You Later/Au Revoir
    Experimental

    See You Later/Au Revoir
    Michael Snow

    16mm, color, sound, 18 min
    Rental format: 16mm
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    To Lavoisier, Who Died in The Reign of Terror
    Experimental

    To Lavoisier, Who Died in The Reign of Terror
    Michael Snow

    16mm, color, sound, 52 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Science / Medicine
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    The Living Room
    Experimental

    The Living Room
    Michael Snow

    16mm, color, sound, 20 min
    Rental format: 16mm
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    *Corpus Callosum
    Experimental

    *Corpus Callosum
    Michael Snow

    16mm (from DV), black and white, sound, 90 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Structural