EikonInspired by the philosophy of the maverick poet Harry Hooton (1908-1961) - a key influence on the Sydney Push - the 1970 feature Harry Hooton is dominated on its soundtrack by the assured, arresting voice of the poet himself, drawn from tape recordings made shortly before his death.
Hooton defined art as "the communication of emotion to matter" and the Cantrills mobilise an encyclopedic array of techniques, from collage to pure abstraction, to visualise his dream of a world where humanity transcends itself via the machine.
The program includes five closely-related short films made around the same period, which in most cases contain footage revisited in Harry Hooton: Robert Klippel - Junk Sculpture No. 3 1963, one of a series of studies of Klippel's work; Imprints, an experiment in "persistence of vision" made with the mime artist Will Spoor; Fud 69, a fast-paced record of a student drama festival at Australian National University; Eikon, in which a serene image of a young woman (Sharman Mellick) is flanked by side panels of movement; and the eerie Home Movie - A Day In The Bush with the Cantrills' young son Ivor in a central role.
Screening:
Robert Klippel - Junk Sculpture No.3, 1963 4 mins, 1964
Imprints 4 mins, 1969
Fud 69 6 mins, 1969
Eikon 4 mins, 1969
Home Movie - A Day In The Bush 4 mins, 1969
Harry Hooton 83 mins, 1970
