The Cinematheque

Vancouver artist Judy Radul presents Toronto artist Michael Snow’s Standard Time (1967) and La région centrale (1971), along with a recorded discussion between her and Snow, as part of the launch of the new location of Catriona Jeffries Gallery. Its inaugural exhibition on Cordova Street is structured as an Unexplained Parade, with each gallery artist inviting a companion artist to exhibit work. Radul’s invitation was to Snow, who has worked for decades at the leading edge of experimental film and visual art. His remarkable works with automated camera motion are particularly relevant to Radul’s recent video installations. Her research into Snow’s oeuvre has led to a new sculptural work, Reading Pavilion for Cover to Cover, a built environment reflecting on the recto-verso media specificity of Snow’s 1975 artist book Cover to Cover.

In Standard Time, Snow’s short, hypnotic ​“home movie,” a waist-high camera pans around a living room. The spectacular La région centrale—“unequivocally the Canadian avant-garde great’s crowning achievement” (Barbara Goslawski, Canada on Screen)—was shot in a remote, otherworldly region of norther Quebec, using a pre-programmed robotic camera apparatus capable of moving in any direction.

Standard Time • Michael Snow • 1967 • 8 min. La région centrale • Michael Snow • 1971 • 180 min.