A special presentation of Anthony McCall’s 1973 projected work Line Describing a Cone will take place at the Tacoma Art Museum on Sunday, November 9th as part of Elements: Material and Process in the Moving Image.
Line Describing a Cone, described by McCall as “a solid light film”, is a work for 16mm film projection that begins with a single white point against a black background. Presented in a long, empty space and projected through fog over the course of thirty minutes, this point of light gradually forms into a circle, forming a hollow cone of light that viewers are encouraged to interact with.
McCall says of this work, “Line Describing a Cone deals with one of the irreducible, necessary conditions of film: projected light. It deals with this phenomenon directly, independent of any other consideration. It is the first film to exist solely in real, three-dimensional space. This film exists only in the present: the moment of projection. It refers to nothing beyond this real time. (In contrast, most films allude to a past time). It contains no illusion. It is a primary experience, not secondary: i.e. the space is real, not referential; the time is real, not referential…”.
TAM Cinema is a free event, but donations are welcome.