Free radicals

United States, 1979

Film

A primitive kinetic dance of white lines and angles meticulously scratched onto black and white film over an 8 month period and then edited and retrospectively matched with an African field tape of the Bagirmi tribe. The title is a reference to modern physics, ‘free radicals’ being particles of energy. The original version was a major award winner at the Experimental Film Competition at the 1958 Brussels World Fair. This revised version was a reworking of the
original by Lye in 1979, with financial assistance from
the New Zealand Film Commission. He deleted approximately 1 min. from his first version, made in 1958.

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Collection

In ACMI's collection

Previously on display

22 April 2019

ACMI Viewing Booths

Credits

creator

Len Lye

Duration

00:04:13:00

Production places
United States
Production dates
1979

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

B2001354

Audience classifications

Mediatheque - all ages (ACMI classified)

unclassified

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Black and White

Holdings

MOV file H264; ACMI Digital Access Copy - presentation

Wikidata

Q116144

Collected

1 times

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Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/114003/ |title=Free radicals |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=7 May 2024 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}