light is the first bodily form | 2007 | Circuit Bent Webcam->DV | 3:25

… all that sense can comprehend, is Light: because it partakes of that which it is. To comprehend dark, or a shape, it must withdraw from its own nature – it must withdraw or turn against its own electrical illuminating nature in order to comprehend a shape.¹

STAN BRAKHAGE

Synopsis

An homage to the philosopher of light, Robert Grosseteste. Made using a circuit bent webcam. The music is “Rain Serenade” by Natural Snow Buildings.

Screenings/Exhibitions

May 13, 2010. Sleep…in the Gallery, send + receive, aceartinc., Winnipeg, Manitoba. Curated by crys cole.

July 17, 2009. Winnipeg Film Group Shorts Program, Folk Fest, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

April 16, 2009. First Terminal Short Video Festival, APSU, Clarksville, Tennessee. Curated by Barry Jones.

1. “Stan Brakhage – The Text of Light,” Cantrills Filmnotes 21/22 (April 1975). This text is a transcription of the introduction and the question-and-answer session after a screening of Brakhage’s film The Text of Light (1975). Brakhage was paraphrasing from Robert Grosseteste’s work, On Light or the Ingression of Forms. [↩]