Decasia

Black and white, 35mm
USA, 2002, 70 min
Section: Another View

Synopsis

Decasia is an experimental work that sets stunning archival footage to an original symphonic score by Michael Gordon, co-founder of Bang On A Can. Using nitrate-based master elements with severe emulsion deterioration, Decasia depicts Man’s struggle to transcend his own mortality, as the very fabric of his world disintegrates before our eyes. The film was originally created as part of Ridge Theater’s multimedia staging of Michael Gordon’s symphony of the same name, and was first presented by the Europäischer Musikmonat and the Basel Sinfonietta in late 2001.

About the director

Bill Morrison has shown his collected works in solo shows at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, London’s Institute of Contemporary Art and Buenos Aires’ Museo de Belles Artes, among others. Four of his titles are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art: Night Highway (1990), Footprints (1992), The Death Train (1993) and The Film of Her (1996). Morrison was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship for filmmaking in 2000, and thanks to recent grants from both NYFA and Creative Capital he was able to complete his first feature-length film, Decasia, which premiered last year at Sundance.