Before MTV and Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" there was Bruce Conner. A kaleidoscopic draftsman and assemblage artist associated with the Beats in San Francisco, Conner was the first to edit film to popular music in an ecstatic collage of atomic Americana. It was sexual, rebellious, and overwhelming—it rocked. With subsequent films set to music by punk and new wave artists, his formal innovations—frenetic high-speed editing, recycled found footage, and physical exertion on the film itself—would come to define the modern music video. Next week MOCAtv explores Conner's short films set to music by Toni Basil, Devo, and Brian Eno and David Byrne.

 

Episode Schedule

 

Monday 30th September - THREE SCREEN RAY

Tuesday 1st October - BREAKAWAY

Weds 2nd October - MONGOLOID

Thurs 3rd October - MEA CULPA