Charles Gagnon: 4 Films

DVD + Catalogue For the first time the experimental films of renowned multidisciplinary artist Charles Gagnon are available in digitized form through a DVD collection and accompanying catalogue. “Charles Gagnon: 4 Films” unites Gagnon’s 1960s experimental films and highlights the intersections between film, painting, photography, and music in his artistic œuvre. 4 Films resonates with the countercultural consciousness of the 1960s and is exemplary of avant-garde experimental collage and structuralist filmmaking aesthetics, which are evident throughout these four 16mm works produced between 1966 and 1972. Created within the vibrant social and cultural context of 1960s Québec, this collection begins with Montreal’s hosting of Expo ’67 and Gagnon’s making of The Eighth Day for the Ecumenical Christian Pavilion. The second film, Pierre Mercure, is a tribute to friend and experimental composer Pierre Mercure, who was tragically killed in 1966. The Sound of Space and the unfinished R69, which is available for the very first time, take us into the spaces of artists’ studios, where paintings are conceived and created. R69 is rich with conversations with fellow artists Yves Gaucher, Jean McEwen, Guido Molinari, Claude Tousignant, Jacques Hurtubise, and Henry Saxe. This project draws from Charles Gagnon’s studio archives, including various notes, files, and images, which are reproduced in the catalogue. What follows are various paths for further research through excerpted interviews, short essays, and bibliographies. This collection illuminates Gagnon’s oeuvre by bringing together the four films that he created early in his artistic career and as such brings insight into Québec and Canada’s art scenes. The films and accompanying catalogue will be of vital interest to artists, curators, contemporary art and film studies specialists, art historians, archivists, librarians, and anyone involved in exploring the vibrant crossovers between art and experimental film. “Charles Gagnon: 4 Films” DVD + Catalogue Catalogue edited by Monika Kin Gagnon Run time: 2 hours Languages: English and French ISBN: 978-0-9812034-1-6