Chris Burden

A probing portrait of Chris Burden, an artist who took creative expression to the limits and risked his life in the name of art.

November 19, 1971, F Space, Santa Ana, California: “At 7:45 p.m. I was shot in the left arm by a friend”.

A film about a sculpture by Chris Burden.

May 7th, 1974, School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Chris Burden relentlessly dunks his head in a filled-up sink, trying to breath water.

Accompanying video to the exhibition "Chris Burden: A Twenty-Year Survey", Newport Harbor Art Museum, California, USA, 1988. Survey, interviews, etc.

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 TV Commercials 1973–1977 (1973–77/2000) is a compilation of four video works—TV Ad (1973), Poem for L.A. (1975), Chris Burden Promo (1976), and Full Financial Disclosure (1977)— that were aired as purchased spots on television between 1973 and 1977. Burden notes: “During the early ’70s I conceived a way to break the omnipotent stranglehold of the airwaves that broadcast television had. The solution was to simply purchase commercial advertising time and have the stations play my tapes along with their other commercials.”

In this short compilation, Chris Burden introduces and narrates selected clips from his public art performances including 'Shoot', 'Bed Piece', and 'Fire Rolls', among others.

During the 1980 exhibition of Burden's monumental kinetic sculpture The Big Wheel at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York, Burden and Feldman were interviewed by art critic Willoughby Sharp. Burden articulates the process of creating The Big Wheel, a 6,000-pound, spinning cast-iron flywheel that is initially powered by a motorcycle, and discusses its relation to his earlier performance pieces and sculptural works. Addressing his motivations and the meaning of this potentially dangerous mechanical art object, Burden discusses such topics as the role of the artist in the industrial world, "personal insanity and mass insanity," and "man's propensity towards violence."

November 19, 1971, F Space, Santa Ana, California: “At 7:45 p.m. I was shot in the left arm by a friend”.

May 7th, 1974, School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Chris Burden relentlessly dunks his head in a filled-up sink, trying to breath water.

In this narrative performance for video, Burden tells the story of his relationship with a truck named "Big Job." To relate his autobiographical monologue, he sits deadpan before the camera with moving images of the truck behind him. Writes Burden, "During a six-month period, while the artist wrestles with the problem of owning an antique 16,000 lb. freight-truck, Big Job becomes a metaphor for personal insanity. I talk about the 'curse of Big Job,' my foiled plans to transform the truck into a rolling communications command post or a traveling museum, and my difficulty in getting rid of the rig. A true story."

Back to You is a piece that attempted to deal with my own myth, the myth of me as the aggressive artist, threatening audiences the evil-kin evil of the art world. The tape begins with the voice of Eliza Bear and the piece actually takes place inside a moving elevator. And around the elevator shaft there were several monitors placed, so that, what you see is exactly what the audience saw at the performance. "Chris Burden has requested a volunteer. Will a volunteer please step up" A volunteer had been selected to participate. The volunteer is being escorted to the elevator. A sign in the elevator is instructing the volunteer to stick push-pins into Chris Burden."

The TV Commercials 1973–1977 (1973–77/2000) is a compilation of four video works—TV Ad (1973), Poem for L.A. (1975), Chris Burden Promo (1976), and Full Financial Disclosure (1977)— that were aired as purchased spots on television between 1973 and 1977. Burden notes: “During the early ’70s I conceived a way to break the omnipotent stranglehold of the airwaves that broadcast television had. The solution was to simply purchase commercial advertising time and have the stations play my tapes along with their other commercials.”

In this short compilation, Chris Burden introduces and narrates selected clips from his public art performances including 'Shoot', 'Bed Piece', and 'Fire Rolls', among others.