Marcel Broodthaers

The life and work of enigmatic Dutch/Californian conceptual artist Bas Jan Ader, who in 1975 disappeared under mysterious circumstances at sea in the smallest boat ever to cross the Atlantic. As seen through the eyes of fellow emigrant filmmaker René Daalder, the picture becomes a sweeping overview of contemporary art films as well as an epic saga of the transformative powers of the ocean.

The film shows Marcel Broodthaers trying to write while the rain constantly washes away the ink. In the final scene, during which the artist gives up and drops his pen, the inscription “Projet pour un texte” (Project for a text) appears.

Broodthaers’s first film, Clef d’Horloge was made using a borrowed camera and some film stock that he had been given. It was shot at the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, in 1956, during an exhibition of works by Kurt Schwitters. The film is made in negative and positive and is based on several works that were on display. It premiered on 23 April 1958 at ‘Filmexprmntlfilm’, an experimental film convention in Brussels.

Short by Marcel Broodthaers.

A documentation of Marcel Broodthaers's exhibition Le Corbeau et le Renard at the Wide White Space Gallery, Antwerp.

Short by Marcel Broodthaers.

The film purports to be the second version of a (fictional) film made by Baudelaire in 1850 in memory of his (actual) voyage across the Pacific. It was shot using a world map mounted on black board, filmed in its entirety and in extreme close-up.

No synopsis available yet.

Short by Marcel Broodthaers.

Rendez-vous...includes La pipe (1968), La pluie (1969), and Un film de Charles Baudelaire (1970) in its compilation, among others...

Animation of Marcel B.'s signature

This is one of a series of films that Broodthaers made on the subject of the pipe, a reference to the work of René Magritte. A static camera depicts images of a pipe, clock, and smoke against a whitewashed brick wall. The superimposed titles were added in 1971, and include the labels ‘Figure I’ and ‘Figure II’, phrases that recur throughout Broodthaers oeuvre, and echo Magritte’s concern with the relationship between object, image and language.

Short by Marcel Broodthaers.

The film shows Marcel Broodthaers trying to write while the rain constantly washes away the ink. In the final scene, during which the artist gives up and drops his pen, the inscription “Projet pour un texte” (Project for a text) appears.

Marcel Broodthaers’ film and book, both titled A Voyage on the North Sea which were distributed together as part and parcel of the same publishing plot. The ostensibly related subject of both book and film consists mutually of 19th and 20th century nautical images including: 1. photographic reproductions and details of an amateur’s 19th century painting of a fleet of fishing ships and 2. photographs of a contemporary sailboat.

Short by Marcel Broodthaers.

The main part of this film was created by the process of superimposition: Broodthaers’s ink drawings of fish, scales, words and signs were transferred to film stock, which was used in negative to create the final work. In contrast, the title sequence, added in 1971, shows Broodthaers’s drawn storyboards filmed with a moving camera. The film was shown for the first time at the Galerie Michael Werner in Cologne in 1971, and a second film Le Poisson est Tenace, was created partly from its out-takes.

Short by Marcel Broodthaers.

No synopsis available yet.

The figure of wax to which the title alludes is that of philosopher and jurist Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), one of the founders of the University of London. The film was shot over a period of two days in three locations: the hall of University College, London, where Bentham’s wax figure sits in a glass-fronted case; Oxford Street; and the City of London. Subtitles indicate a dialogue between Broodthaers and Bentham, in addition to a spoken commentary delivered by Charlotte Hardman. The film is accompanied by Broodthaers playing scales and music by Beethoven and Chopin on the piano.

Illustrates what initially seems to be a regular game of tic-tac-toe. As the film progresses, the text diverges from the image, moving from documentation to symbolic play.

Berlin scenery, intercut with scenes of Broodthaers smoking, reading, eating and daydreaming.

Short by Marcel Broodthaers.