Trio1976

"The following films were all made in 1976. I do not wish to describe them.
"When I entered films in the Experimental Film Competition of the 1958 World's Fair, I included the following statement in protest to their demand for a 'summary of the subject' (description). I've finally got around to reading my own statement and taking it seriously. In 1958 I did provide descriptions of each film entered– my only mistake. Now I simply quote the clarity of that long ago protest, finally comprehended:
"'I want it understood that this "summary" is written for identification purposes only and that it is not intended as a statement by the artist on his work. It is my belief that statements by the artist, particularly in print, are so associated with his work as to become appendages to that work and, aesthetically speaking, would better have been included in that work in the first place.
"'If a film is a work of moving visual art, it is its own subject and subject only to itself. The extent to which a film can be described is the extent to which it is deficient as a work of visual art. If the "summary of the subject" of a film can be interpreted as that which is intended to inspire perception in the viewer, rather than as that which attempts to describe the film for the viewer, then (the title) is my "summary of the subject.'
"P.S. Images of myself in TRIO are by Bruce Baillie."–S.B.
On the 16mm enlargements:
"The Following Super 8mm films (listed below) have been optically enlarged to 16mm. Some have 'translated' better than others, but all of them have benefited color-wise from this process due to the careful supervision of the transfer; and it was my enthusiasm about the possibilities of color-control during optical 'blow-up' which inspired the series of films shot in Super-8MM ONLY to be shown in 16mm (all those 16mms listed above to be shown 'at 18 f.p.s.'): thus the entire procedure of making these enlargements has provided a crucial turning-point in my work. The films listed below should, perhaps, be regarded as translations from Super-imm work; and it would be interesting, in that context, to show Super-8mm and 16mm versions of the same films in conjunction. Then, also, this procedure has made it possible to show this very important series of films in auditoriums which cannot accomodate 8mm."-S.B.