Vertical Cinema at the Academy of Motion Pictures Museum, LA

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures – the largest museum in the United States devoted to the art and artists of movie-making – presents the exhibition and screenings Vertical Cinema: Shifting Perspectives from 12 November 2023 to 4 August 2024.

Inspired by Sonic Acts Vertical Cinema screening concept, which premiered in 2013, a selection of archival and contemporary material, all flipped lengthways, explore the radical possibilities of turning convention on its side. The exhibition is located in the museum’s double-height Hurd Gallery, offering a viewing experience featuring a 20’ high x 3’ wide screen. Amongst the works shown are two films commissioned by Sonic Acts – Joost Rekveld’s #43 (2013) and HC Gilje’s rift (2017).

Inspired by Sonic Acts Vertical Cinema screening concept, which premiered in 2013, a selection of archival and contemporary material, all flipped lengthways, explore the radical possibilities of turning convention on its side. The exhibition is located in the museum’s double-height Hurd Gallery, offering a viewing experience featuring a 20’ high x 3’ wide screen. Amongst the works shown are two films commissioned by Sonic Acts – Joost Rekveld’s #43 (2013) and HC Gilje’s rift (2017).

The images in the film #43 are, in some respects, comparable to organic cells. Miniscule differences between pixels become seeds for processes of decay and growth – an imbalance that embodies a store of energy for the system as a whole, similar to electrical potential. #43 is inspired by ideas from biology and mathematics that first came to prominence during the development of cybernetics in the 1950s and 1960s, and that have since evolved into more recent manifestations such as catastrophe theory, complexity theory and artificial life. Meanwhile, rift magnifies the violent transformation of crude oil into colourful plastic wrappers for consumer goods, resulting in flickering microscopic textures. As a marker of the Capitalocene, plastic’s lifespan is far longer than the items it wraps, the people who buy it or the companies that made it. Soundtracked by Justin Bennett, rift is also a homage to the New Zealand artist and motion enthusiast Len Lye.

Running from 12 November 2023 to 4 August 2024, Shifting Perspectives: Vertical Cinema is comprised of 25 short works. In addition to debuting titles by three Southern Californian filmmakers – a desert dreams in red by Zaina Bseiso, Dusty Tapes by Fox Maxy and black man fly by Walter Thompson-Hernández – the exhibition further explores the roots of the vertical screen. Historical chronophotographic material on loan from La Cinémathèque française will be presented alongside pieces created by students of the Ghetto Film School, a non-profit organisation whose mission is to develop the next generation of great storytellers. Central to Shifting Perspectives is the question: What is considered cinematic? Weaving multilayered narratives, traversing horizontal landscapes through a portrait-shaped canvas, the exhibition functions as a provocation to expand the image onto a new axis, reflecting the proliferation of vertical formats on portable smart devices.