Thanks for the thoughts all!
I am indeed curating a program around this concept. The Sharits and Whitney
catalogs are already in the mix--especially Whitney's work as it relates to
sacred number and geometry. There's also Jordan Belson's SAMHADI. I've got
the formal, abstract/metaphoric angle covered; now I am looking for films
with literal ("pro-filmic" like they say in the biz) instances of these
practices and their material culture and expression. Im interested not just
in the formal representation of subjective yogic/meditation states, but how
these practices are metabolized by a largely western avant-garde form.
Given the strong counter-cultural overlap of the mid century
underground/experimental/artist film world and the adjacent new age/new
spiritualist movements I expect there'd be some good examples but, not much
comes to mind... there are some hare krishnas accidentally in Mekas'
films...
On Sun, Oct 26, 2025 at 3:49 AM Gabriele Jutz <[email protected]>
wrote:
> I suggest *Transit(ive)* by Canadian filmmaker Sarah Bliss (HD video
> created from 16mm projection performance with digital sound, recorded on
> digital video. 06:36. 2017).
>
>
>
> In her artist statement, Sarah Bliss describes herself as “a filmmaker,
> artist, educator, and Buddhist practitioner who facilitates presence and
> attunement with the sensate, desiring body.”
>
> *Transit(ive) *is the result of the artist’s manual interaction with the
> projector lens, while the soundtrack presents a cell-phone recording of
> her father’s dying breath. The act of expiration, literally “breathing
> out,” is associated with death. *Transit(ive) *is a video document of
> death and loss, as well as a techno-spiritual reunion with the artist’s
> father following his death.
>
>
>
> Here you can find more about Transit(ive):
> https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/3775230/3775231
>
> (chapter “Lungs to Ears”)
>
>
>
> -----------------------------------------
>
>
> *Hon. Prof. Mag. Dr. Gabriele Jutz*
> Universität für angewandte Kunst
> Abteilung für Medientheorie
>
> T +43 699 12 10 81 44
>
> dieangewandte.at
>
> medientheorie.ac.at
> Postsparkasse
>
> Georg-Coch-Platz 2
>
> HP Raum 022
> 1010 Wien / Austria
>
>
>
> https://dieangewandte.academia.edu/GabrieleJutz
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *Von: *Frameworks <[email protected]> im Auftrag von
> Dave Tetzlaff <[email protected]>
> *Antworten an: *Frameworks posts <[email protected]>
> *Datum: *Sonntag, 26. Oktober 2025 um 06:23
> *An: *Frameworks posts <[email protected]>
> *Betreff: *Re: [Frameworks] Avant Garde Film and Yoga
>
>
>
> Well, there are a fair number of avant garde films that ARE
> yogic/meditative/spiritual practices in form somehow without PHOTOGRAPHING
> such practices as they exist in the real world [or as we say in the biz
> (sic) "the pro filmic event"]
>
> Paul Sharits: Mandala Films
>
> Ernie Gehr: Serene Velocity*
>
> John and James Whitney
>
> (and others germane to The Center for Visual Music)
>
> Scott Bartlet: Off/On
>
> Anthony McCall
>
> Several shorts in The FluxFilm anthology, though 'Zen for Film' might not
> qualify depending on how you take it. 😉
>
>
>
> In some cases the artists expressed some meditative/spiritual intent. In
> others, it kinds works out that way regardless. The cited above are just
> what comes to my mind at the moment. There are more for sure...
>
>
>
> If you were curating a program on your stated theme, you might mix these
> formal examples with representational ones in interesting ways an audience
> might appreciate.
>
> -- Frameworks mailing list [email protected]
> https://mail.film-gallery.org/mailman/listinfo/frameworks_film-gallery.org
> --
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