On Anthony McCall's Line Describing a Cone and Other Films

Our latest reading had us examining the work of Anthony McCall's work with light projection, which is a distinct departure from the content of even our most abstract of films. The premise of the work is to treat the light from the projector as a quasi-sculptural object in an installed space (though there are other ways to distribute this piece and a museum setting, as McCall writes, is only one of many). The light itself, projected though either fog, smoke or heavy dust particles, is at once a film , a sculpture, and a performance.

McCall, in the reading available here in the August archives of the blog, clinically details the many variables that are in play when performing the piece. The relationship with film is a curious one, as it does not code light information onto a flat surface and instead, due to its changing and ephemeral nature, encourages the audience to interact with it.

Simple? Definitely. But sometimes the most eloquent works are. Modern artists had been using smooth, simple and solid forms for years before this series of films. This, in my opinion, is a quirky, fun change in media for the tradition. It begs some new questions, such as how an audience is supposed to have a relationship with a piece in a museum. All elements that we'll need to be considering for our second project.