A Groundbreaking Look at the History of Avant-Garde Film and Video in the Bay Area

October 15, 2010, Berkeley California

BAM/PFA is proud to present Radical Light: Alternative Film and Video in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1945–2000, a groundbreaking project that includes a deeply researched and richly illustrated book, an extensive film and video series presenting both renowned and long-forgotten work, and a captivating gallery exhibition comprising archival ephemera and works on paper commissioned for the project. BAM/PFA Curators Kathy Geritz and Steve Seid and CalArts Dean of the School of Film/Video Steve Anker have drawn on their own expertise as well as the extensive holdings of the PFA Library and Film Study Center and the collections of other institutions and individuals to reconstruct this first large-scale historical survey. I am grateful for their dedication to this landmark project, which has been in the making for more than a decade. It is especially fitting for Radical Light—part exhibit, part film and video series—to be presented in the galleries and theater at BAM/PFA, which has been an important part of the history of Bay Area avant-garde art, film, and video for the past forty years. Explore the information on this site, then read the book, attend the screenings, and see the show!

Lawrence Rinder
BAM/PFA DIRECTOR

Radical Light: Alternative Film and Video in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1945–2000 is made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the William H. Donner Foundation, The San Francisco Foundation, Owsley Brown III, and the continued support of the BAM/PFA Trustees. Additional support for the book was provided by the Patty and Jack Wright Foundation, the Fleishhacker Foundation, and the Judy and Bill Timken Endowment Fund in Contemporary Arts of the University of California Press Foundation.

Radical Light: Alternative Film and Video in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1945–2000

Edited by Steve Anker, Kathy Geritz, and Steve Seid
Copublished in 2010 by UC Press and BAM/PFA, 352 pages, paperback, $29.95

“Dubbed Radical Light, the history of local art film oddities ends up touching on pretty much every important social movement and technical innovation from the 1880s to the 1990s.”—East Bay Express

This eagerly awaited collection of critical writings, interviews, first-person recollections, film stills, vintage posters, and artist-designed pages chronicles the vibrant and influential history of experimental media in the San Francisco Bay Area. Expansive and multifaceted, Radical Light: Alternative Film and Video in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1945–2000 features contributions from seventy writers, curators, artists, scholars, archivists, and activists who explore the topic from historical, cultural, and aesthetic perspectives. The book documents the artists’ groups, artistic movements, film and video exhibition and distribution practices, film schools, publications, and media art centers that were central to the blossoming of avant-garde film and video in the Bay Area. Reproductions of rare period ephemera—posters, correspondence, photographs, newsletters, program notes—punctuate the pages of Radical Light, bringing the era to life with visual immediacy. This groundbreaking, hybrid assemblage excavates the complex history of how and why the Bay Area, a laboratory for artistic and technical innovation for more than half a century, has become a global center of experimental film, video, and new media.

Explore the Book

The Total Radical Experience: Film, Video, Ephemera, Art, Performance, and more

“A long overdue reappraisal” – Artforum

Part art book, part film and video history, Radical Light: Alternative Film and Video in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1945–2000 explores how and why the Bay Area became a vital center for experimental media. Conceived as a collage-like portrait, the extensively illustrated book features historical essays; critical writings; original, substantive interviews; and first-person narratives. In conjunction with its publication, BAM/PFA is presenting an eye-opening series of experimental film and video, a gallery exhibition that displays many of the archival documents that informed the research for the book, and a series of radical events that bring the project up to the present day.

The film and video series, cosponsored by San Francisco Cinematheque, is organized into both chronological and thematic programs and includes archival prints as well as recent restorations. The series allows for the rediscovery of long-forgotten works and the opportunity to hear from many of the filmmakers in person as they introduce the programs. The exhibition, The Timeline, features posters, flyers, photographs, film stills, and rare ephemera that elucidate the rich history of alternative media in the Bay Area. A sidebar focuses on the microcinema movement that emerged full-force in the early 1990s. In addition, the exhibition features collages and drawings by ten artists commissioned for the Radical Light book that reflect on the past fifty years of Bay Area avant-garde film and video. Rare historical documents relating to key films and filmmakers featured in the book have been added to BAM/PFA’s CineFiles database. Radical L@TE events, programmed as part of L@TE: Friday Nights @ BAM/PFA, include artists who have emerged since the year 2000, showcasing the continuing richness of the alternative film and video scene in the Bay Area.

Explore the Project

Radical Podcasts

Radical Light Book, Film, and Video Tour

You don’t have to live in or visit Northern California to experience Radical Light on the big screen. The Radical Light Book, Film, and Video Tour will travel throughout the United States in 2011–2012.  As these details evolve, please check back here regularly for updates!

For information about bringing Radical Light to your venue please contact:

Kathy Geritz
BAM/PFA FILM CURATOR

(510) 642-1413, kgeritz@berkeley.edu

Steve Seid
BAM/PFA VIDEO CURATOR

(510) 642-5253, seidtrak@berkeley.edu

Radical Light: Alternative Film and Video in the San Francisco Bay Area Book, Film, and Video Tour was curated by Kathy Geritz and Steve Seid, Film and Video Curators at the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, and Steve Anker, Dean of the School of Film/Video at California Institute of the Arts. The tour is made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and the William H. Donner Foundation.

Tour Venues 

University of California, Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive   © 2010 UC Regents