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The Village Voice Dec. 31, 1970 Page Forty-one [[image]] Voice: Fred W. McDarrah JOSEPH CORNELL Earth's Dream Matter, from things that people usually either throw away or don't pay attention to or pass by without looking, taking them for granted - be it a flock of birds, or an angel's wing, or a melancholy looking doll in a store window - people are always interested in important matters. Eh, but do not get misled, either by my writing, the way I'm writing about Cornell's little movies, nor by the seeming simplicity of the movies themselves; don't assume for a moment that they are a work of a "home" artist, a dabbler in cinema. No, Cornell's movies, like his boxes and his collages, are products of many years of work, of collecting, of polishing, of caring. They grow, like some things of nature grow, little by little, until the time arrives to let them out. It's like all things that Cornell does. I stood in his basement and I looked in amazement at all kinds of little things in incredible number, frames, boxes, reels, little piles of mysterious objects and parts of objects, on walls, on tables, on boxes, and on the floor, in paper bags, and benches and chairs - wherever I looked I saw mysterious things growing, little by little. Some of them were just at the stage of birth, a detail or two, a fragment of a photograph, a toy's arm; other things in further stages of growth, and still others almost completed, almost breathing (on the table there was a pile of objects a little girl who was visiting the studio months ago, spilled out, and he didn't touch them, he thought the creation was perfect) - the entire place looked like some magic hothouse of buds and flowers of art. And there was Joseph Cornell himself, walking kindly among them, touching one, touching another, adding some detail, or just looking at them, or dusting them off - the Gardener - so they grow into their fragile, sensitive, sublime, and all-encompassing perfections. Once I was foolish enough to ask Cornell about the exact dates of the completion of his movies. When was "Cotillion" made? when was "Centuries of June" made? No, said Cornell, don't ask for the dates. Dates tie things down to certain points. Yes, when was it made? . . . Somewhere there . . . many years . . . So there I was, a fool, asking a foolish question. The dates! Cornell's art is timeless, both in its processes of coming (or becoming) and in what it is. His works have the quality - be they boxes, collages, or movies - of being located in some suspended area of time, like maybe they are extensions of our real-ness into some other dimension where our reality can be fixed. Our dimensions come and go. Cornell's dimensions remain and can always be touched again by sensibilities of those who come and look at his work. No great surprise to find in Cornell's work so much geometry and astronomy. It has something to do with retracing our feelings, our thoughts, our dreams, our states of being on some other, very fine dimension from where they can reflect back to us in the language of the music of the spheres. Or like the girls, the timeless girls of Cornell's art, they are either angels or children - in any case they are at the age when the time is suspended, doesn't exist. Nymphs are ageless and so are the angels. A girl of 10, in a blue dress, in a park, with nothing to do, with plenty of time on her hands, looking around, in a timeless dream. So where was I? I was talking about the movies of Joseph Cornell. Or at least I thought I was talking about them. I will be talking about them for a long time. There aren't many such sublime things left around us to talk about. Yes, we are talking about cathedrals, civilization. What's his name? Professor Clark? The cathedrals of today, wherever they are, are very unimposing, very unnoticeable. The boxes, the collages, the Home Movies of Joseph Cornell are the invisible cathedrals of our age. That is; they are almost invisible, as are all the best things that man can still find today they are almost invisible, unless you look for them. THE FILM FORUM Thurs. Dec. 31 - Sun. Jan 3 "BRAND X" Thurs.-Sat. 8 & 10 Sun. 4 & 8 256 W. 88th 362 - 0503 MILLENNIUM 40 GREAT JONES ST. 228-9998 (Near East 3rd St. Between Broadway and the Bowery) The Millennium Film Workshop, Inc. is a non-profit, educational organization. We encourage people to approach filmmaking as artists; and not as businessmen engaged in turning out a product. The Millennium provides low-cost film workshops in all aspects of non-commercial filmmaking. This includes the use of equipment and facilities for editing, shoting, and screening. On Friday evenings we have Open Screenings. On Saturdays and on some Sundays independent filmmakers are invited to show and discuss their work. PERSONAL CINEMA PROGRAM The weekend film screenings are in essence gallery exhibitions of film art. On Saturday evenings we have One-Man and One Woman film programs featuring many outstanding, and innovative film artists from all parts of the country, as well as Canada and overseas. The emphasis is on new work. In some cases when the artist turns out films at a slower and more measured pace, the film program becomes a retrospective of a whole career. These One-Man screenings are known as the Film-Studies and are a key part of the Millennium's total operation. They are in a very real sense another one of our film workshop classes. We provide a space and an atmosphere for people to se the films; to ask questions; to criticize; and to participate in, and experience the creative process. A dialogue and feedback often develops between filmmaker and viewer, which leads to the establishment of new relationships and new growth. In practically no other place in the country is there the opportunity, week after week, to see so many examples of avantgarde cinema by so many varied film artists. The unique and important factor is that the filmmaker is there in person to confront the viewers and answer questions. The Millennium recently received a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts. Some of the funds have been earmarked specifically for the Personal Cinema Program. 1970 has been a good year for the Millennium and we thank our many friends for their support. We look forward to 1971 with optimism. A happy New Year to all. Howard Guttenplan Program Director The Whitney Museum announces The NEW American FILMMAKERS series DEC. 15 through FEB. 24 AMERICAN PREMIERE [[image]] The Whitney Museum's first ten-week film series devoted to New American Filmmakers, provides a showcase for films which would not otherwise be shown theatrically in New York City. Commercial pressures on exhibition and distribution prevents many fine films from gaining the wider exposure and audience they deserve. In inaugurating this showcase, the Whitney Museum hopes to fill an important gap in New York's showing of independently made American films. -David Bienstock, Curator of Film Thur., Dec. 31 through Wed., Jan. 6 COMING ATTRACTIONS - directed by Beverly Grant Conrad produced and photographed by Tony Conrad
