“Barbara Hammer’s Optic Nerve is a powerful personal reflection on family and aging. Hammer employs filmed footage which, through optical printing and editing, is layered and manipulated to create a compelling meditation on her visit to her grandmother in a nursing home. The sense of sight becomes a constantly evolving process of reseeing images retrieved from the past and fused into the eternal present of the projected image. Hammer has lent a new voice to the long tradition of personal meditation in the avant-garde of the American independent cinema.” - John Hanhardt, Biennial Exhibition Catalogue, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1987
Optical Nerves consists of the optically printed masterworks and animations of Barbara Hammer made in the 1980s and 90s. The fragility of the 16mm film medium, the pollution of light, and the demise of the filmmaker are explored in Optic Nerve and Endangered and featured in the Whitney Museum of American Art Biennials. Place Mattes, Parisian Blinds, and Tourist are animations that investigate the nature of spectator perception by tourists and travelers.
This DVD contains:
Optic Nerve, 1985, 16 min
Endangered, 1988, 18 min 02 sec
Place Mattes, 1987, 7 min 36 sec
Parisian Blinds, 1984, 6 min 07 sec
Tourist, 1984, 2 min 44 sec
Please note that this DVD is for private home use only, if the order is for an institution please contact the estate of Barbara Hammer directly: Barbara Hammer DVD.