preserving paul sharits

Paul Sharits’ SHUTTER INTERFACEAndrew Lampert - ArchivistJohn Passmore - Project Archivist

Anthology Film Archives

Paul Sharits Collection at Anthology Film Archives, NYC SHUTTER INTERFACE installation viewGreene Naftali Gallery, NYC2009

1943 - Born in Denver, Colorado

1962 - Founded Denver Experimental Film Society

1964 - BFA in Painting, University of Denver

1966 - MFA in Visual Design, Indiana University

1967 - 1970 - Professor of Film and Photography, Maryland Institute of Art

1968 - Founded Personal Cinema Group, Maryland Institute of Art

1970 - Developed undergraduate film program for art department at Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio

1970 - 1973 - Professor of Film Studies, Production, and History, Antioch College

1973 - 1993 - Professor of Film, Department of Media Studies, SUNY at Buffalo

1993 - Died, Buffalo NY.

Locational Films/Installations • I Specchi (1971, color, triphonic sound, 3-screen slide projection) • Sound Strip/Film Strip (1971, color, quadraphonic sound, 4-screen projection)• Damaged Film Loop (1973-1974, color, quadraphonic sound)• Synchronousoundtracks (1973-1974, 32 min 30 sec, for two screens or three screens) • Shutter Interface (1975, 32 min 30 sec, 4-screens or 2-screen)• Epileptic Seizure Comparison (1976, 34 min, color, sound, 2-screen and single screen) • Dream Displacement (1976, 25 min, color, sound, 4-screen projection) • Episodic Generation (1978, color, sound, 30 min, 4-screen projection) • 3rd Degree (1982, color, sound, 24 min, 3-screen projection)

Single Screen Films• Wintercourse (1962, l2 min, silent)• Razor Blades (1965-1968, b/w & color, sound, 2-screen, 25 min)• Piece Mandala/End War (1966, color, silent, 5 min)• Word Movie (Fluxfilm 29) aka Wrote Movie (1966, color, sound, 4 min)• Sears Catalogue (Fluxfilm 26) (1966, 30 sec, b/w, silent) • Dots 1 & 2 (Fluxfilm 27) (1966, 30 sec, b/w, silent) • Wrist Trick (Fluxfilm 28) (1966, 30 sec, b/w, silent) • Unrolling Event (Fluxfilm) (1966, 5 sec, b/w, silent) • Ray Gun Virus (1966, color, sound, l4 min)• T, O, U, C, H, I, N, G, (1968, 12 min, color, sound) • N:O:T:H:I:N:G. (1968, color, sound, 36 min)• S:TREAM:S:S:ECTION:S:ECTION:S:S:ECTIONED (1968-1971, 42 min, color, sound)• Inferential Current (1971, color, sound, 8 min) • Analytical Studies II: Un-Frame-Lines (1971-76, color, silent, 30 min) • Analytical Studies I: The Film Frame (1971-76, color, silent, 25 min)• Axiomatic Granularity (1972-3, 20 min, color, sound)• Analytical Studies III: Color Frame Passages (1973-4, 22 min, color, sound)

• Color Sound Frames (1974, color, sound, 26 min 30 sec) • Vertical Contiguity (1974, color, sound, 15 min)• Apparent Motion (1975, color, silent, 30 min)• Analytical Studies IV: Blank Color Frames (1975-76, 15 min, color, silent) • Tails (1976, color, silent, 3 min) • Declarative Mode (1976-77, color, silent, 2 screen or one-screen, 24fps or 18fps)• Tirgu Jiu (1977, color, silent, 2-screen projection, 10min)• Brancusi's Sculpture Ensemble at Tirgu Jiu (1977-84, color, silent, 23 min) • Figment I: Fluxglam Voyage in Search of the Real Maciunas (1977-1986, 175 min, color, sound, Super8mm transferred to video) • Sketches in Hawaii (1981, 9 min, color, silent, 2 screen projection)• Bad Burns (1982, color, silent, 5 min) • Rapture (1987, color, silent, 20 min, 3/4" videotape)

N : O : T : H : I : N : G (1968)

T , O , U , C , H , I , N , G(1968)

S : TREAM : S : S : ECTION : S : ECTION : S : S : ECTIONED(1968-71)

EPILEPTIC SEIZURE COMPARISON (1976)

Anthology Film Archives, NY, NY

Screenshots of Paul Sharits Database

SHUTTER INTERFACEPreservation Workflow

Color original master16mm color reversal

B&W optical negative soundtrack

Duplicate of original magnetic soundtrack

Original magnetic soundtrack

Preservation Internegative

Printing Internegative

Printing Optical Track

Preservation Magnetic Soundtrack

Composite Answer Print

ApprovedExhibition Print

Preservation Elements

Original Elements

Release Elements

Uncompressed.wav Soundtrack

Preservation Optical Track

Composite Answer Print

Paul Sharits papers, Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY

SHUTTER INTERFACE Exhibition History

1975 - Artpark, Buffalo, NY

1976 - Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY

1978 - Droll/Kolbert Gallery, NYC

2001 - Whitney Museum, NYC (2-screen 32 minute loop)

2009 - Greene Naftali Gallery, NYC

Artpark Buffalo, NY 1976 - Photo courtesy of Albright-Know Gallery Buffalo, NY

Whitney Museum 2001 -http://www.frieze.com/issue/review/into_the_light/

Paul Sharits papers, Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY

Paul Sharits papers, Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY

• WNED Buffalo • Filmmakers/Sharits episode 12• circa 1976

DocumentingSHUTTER INTFERFACE

DocumentingShutter Interface

* 16mm film will eventually be discontinued or else will become an expensive niche format. Quality control in terms of processing and printing will become an increasing problem as labs continue to shift gears or go out of business.

* 16mm projectors, lenses and technical gear will continue to become difficult to acquire. Ebay will continue to be the primary source for purchasing such equipment. How reliable is this? The format is rapidly becoming obsolete except for in the art/museum context.

* What is acceptable amount of change in a possibly filmless future? Who is to determine the amount of change allowable for exhibition purposes?

* Aesthetically speaking, can SHUTTER INTERFACE be a digital work?

Future Without Film?