Brussels Film Loops/Gestures/World Kitchen
Shirley Clarke & D.A. Pennebaker
1957 | 60 min | Colour & B/W | Digital

Shirley Clarke’s initial dance films led to a series of kinetic, poetic loops for the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair as part of a large propaganda presentation for the United States pavilion promoting American life. Using a visual sort of jazz as her structure, she weaves a mix of dazzling optical effects with clever contextualizing – never merely presenting her subject, but interjecting a point of view and complicating a straight-forward reading. These silent 'loops' include Clarke's early work Bridges, which she re-edited with a soundtrack to create Bridges-Go-Round, as well as the unseen short World Kitchen.

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Part of our retrospective on Shirley Clarke, generously supported by Milestone Films: www.milestonefilms.com