Line light: le cinéma géométrique de Anthony McCall [Line light: the geometric cinema of Anthony McCall]

• Published in: Cahiers du Musée National d'Art Moderne (France) no. 85; pp. 78 - 89
• Main Author: Michaud, Philippe-Alain
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: French
• Published: 01.09.2003
• ISSN: 0181-1525

Discusses films by the American artist Anthony McCall. The author describes the conditions for the projection of Line Describing a Cone (1973; illus.), outlines McCall's creation of Partial Cone, Conical Solid and Cone of Variable Volume, and explores his series Fire Cycles, begun in 1972, and Long Film for Four Projectors (1974; illus.). He studies Four Projected Movements (1975), considers the artist's production of Long Film for Ambient Light (1975; illus.) at the Idea Warehouse in New York, and analyses his work in relation to Kant's Esthétique Transcendantale. He considers how McCall's emphasis on the means of projection itself differentiates his work from that of the cinema, cites an interview with him held in 1992, and explains how his work reflects the ideas of Clement Greenberg. He refers to 122 Variations of Incomplete Open Cubes< /i> (1974) by Sol LeWitt, indicates that McCall regards his work as combining aspects of film and sculpture, and notes Conical Intersect (1975) by Gordon Matta-Clark. He examines McCall s use of light, provides information about the installation Shutter Interface (1975), and contrasts his work with Cones/Cojones by Bruce Nauman. He concludes by indicating that McCall's work, including Solid Light (1973; illus.), conveys the materiality and sensuality of light.