A key figure of Manhattan’s avant-garde, Tony Conrad was “an integral part of the ‘secret history’ of the ’60s….from camp cinema to structural film to minimal music to experimental rock ’n’ roll to video art and more.” — Branden W. Joseph, the author of Beyond the Dream Syndicate: Tony Conrad and the Arts After Cage (2008).*
Tony Conrad (1940–2016) composed and performed with La Monte Young and John Cale in the Theatre of Eternal Music; appeared in and prepared the musical soundtrack for Jack Smith’s Flaming Creatures (1963); directed the experimental film Flicker (1966, which has been known to induce hallucinations); sang backup vocals for Lou Reed and Cale’s pre-Velvets band The Primitives; collaborated with Mike Kelley and Tony Oursler; and was part of the media studies faculty at the University of Buffalo.
“You don’t know who I am, but somehow, indirectly, you’ve been affected by things I did.” — Tony Conrad**
A year after Conrad’s death, THE BROAD MUSEUM’s Un-Private Collection series takes over the Theatre at Ace Hotel for the West Coast premiere of Tyler Hubby’s documentary film TONY CONRAD: COMPLETELY IN THE PRESENT.
Henry Rollins will moderate a post-screening conversation with Hubby and Tony Oursler, and Kim Gordon—who collaborated with Conrad—will perform a set to close out the evening.
TONY CONRAD: COMPLETELY IN THE PRESENT, Thursday, March 16 at 8 pm.
THE THEATRE AT ACE HOTEL, downtown Los Angeles.
thebroad.org/programs/un-private-collection-tony-conrad-completely-present-henry-rollins-tony-oursler-tyler-hubby
*Branden W. Joseph, email to author, in J. Hoberman, “Tony Conrad, Experimental Filmmaker and Musician, Dies at 76,” New York Times, April 9, 2016.
**The Guardian, quoted in Hoberman.
Image credit: Press notes, tonyconradmovie.com
