Bill Brand (film artist)
Encyclopedia
Bill Brand is an experimental film
and video artist, educator, activist and film preservation
ist.
in New York City in 1973. They have since been screened in the United States and around the world in museums, independent film showcases, colleges and universities, and on television. They have been featured at major film festivals including the Berlin Film Festival, New Directors/New Films Festival, Tribeca Film Festival
and Rotterdam Film Festival.
that is animated by the movement of passing trains. Masstransiscope was awarded a certificate of merit by the New York City Municipal Art Society in 1982. In disrepair for over 20 years, Masstransiscope was restored in 2008 and brought into the permanent collection of the MTA Arts for Transit program. The piece was named among the top 40 public art works in America for 2009 by the Public Art Network.
in Amherst
, Massachusetts
. He also teaches film preservation at Moving Image Archiving and Preservation graduate program at Tisch School of the Arts
. Since 1976, he has operated BB Optics, an optical printing service specializing in 8 mm blow-ups and archival preservation for independent filmmakers, libraries, museums and archives. In 2006, he was named an Anthology Film Archives
film preservation honoree and given a month long retrospective to celebrate BB Optics' 30th anniversary.
, Paul Arthur, J. Hoberman, B. Ruby Rich
, Noël Carroll
, Brian Frye and Randy Kennedy among others.
Experimental film
Experimental film or experimental cinema is a type of cinema. Experimental film is an artistic practice relieving both of visual arts and cinema. Its origins can be found in European avant-garde movements of the twenties. Experimental cinema has built its history through the texts of theoreticians...
and video artist, educator, activist and film preservation
Film preservation
thumb|300px|Stacked containers filled with reels of [[film stock]]The film preservation, or film restoration, movement is an ongoing project among film historians, archivists, museums, cinematheques, and non-profit organizations to rescue decaying film stock and preserve the images which they contain...
ist.
Life and career
Brand's films and videos were first shown at Anthology Film ArchivesAnthology Film Archives
__notoc__Anthology Film Archives is a film archive and theater located at 32 Second Avenue on the corner of East Second Street in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City devoted to the preservation and exhibition of experimental film. It is the only non-profit organization of its...
in New York City in 1973. They have since been screened in the United States and around the world in museums, independent film showcases, colleges and universities, and on television. They have been featured at major film festivals including the Berlin Film Festival, New Directors/New Films Festival, Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
and Rotterdam Film Festival.
Masstransiscope
In 1980 Brand completed a permanent public art project, Masstransiscope, a mural installed in the subway tunnel of New York CityNew York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...
that is animated by the movement of passing trains. Masstransiscope was awarded a certificate of merit by the New York City Municipal Art Society in 1982. In disrepair for over 20 years, Masstransiscope was restored in 2008 and brought into the permanent collection of the MTA Arts for Transit program. The piece was named among the top 40 public art works in America for 2009 by the Public Art Network.
Academic and commercial service
Brand lives in New York City and is professor of film and photography at Hampshire CollegeHampshire College
Hampshire College is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1965 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges in the Pioneer Valley: Amherst College, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, and the University of Massachusetts...
in Amherst
Amherst, Massachusetts
Amherst is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 37,819, making it the largest community in Hampshire County . The town is home to Amherst College, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. He also teaches film preservation at Moving Image Archiving and Preservation graduate program at Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts is one of the 15 schools that make up New York University ....
. Since 1976, he has operated BB Optics, an optical printing service specializing in 8 mm blow-ups and archival preservation for independent filmmakers, libraries, museums and archives. In 2006, he was named an Anthology Film Archives
Anthology Film Archives
__notoc__Anthology Film Archives is a film archive and theater located at 32 Second Avenue on the corner of East Second Street in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City devoted to the preservation and exhibition of experimental film. It is the only non-profit organization of its...
film preservation honoree and given a month long retrospective to celebrate BB Optics' 30th anniversary.
Reception in film books
The work of Brand is discussed in histories of cinema including the books They Must Be Represented (1996) by Paula Rabinowitz, Documentary, A History of the Non-Fiction Film, (1992) by Erik Barnouw, Allegories of Cinema, (1990) by David James and in a chapter by Robin Blaetz titled Avant-Garde Cinema of the Seventies in Lost Illusions, American Cinema in the Shadow of Watergate and Vietnam 1970–1979 by David Cook.Reception in the press
Brand's work has also been written about in news and journal articles by Janet MaslinJanet Maslin
Janet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...
, Paul Arthur, J. Hoberman, B. Ruby Rich
B. Ruby Rich
B. Ruby Rich is an American scholar, critic of independent, Latin American, documentary and gay films, and a professor of Film & Digital Media and Social Documentation also known as "SocDoc" at UC Santa Cruz. She has also taught documentary film and queer studies during spring semesters at UC...
, Noël Carroll
Noël Carroll
Noël Carroll is an American philosopher considered to be one of the leading figures in contemporary philosophy of art. Although Professor Carroll is best known for his work in the philosophy of film, he works in general on philosophy of art, theory of media, and also philosophy of history...
, Brian Frye and Randy Kennedy among others.