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In 1955 when Bill Haley & His Comet’s “Rock Around the Clock” played over the static opening credits  of Blackboard Jungle, it became the first major studio film to use rock & roll on the soundtrack. Eighteen years later, the way movies use rock music was transformed again when Martin Scorsese synched Harvey Keitel’s head hitting a pillow just as the drums kick start The Ronette’s “Be My Baby” during the opening sequence of Mean Streets. The shift between the two different ways that filmmakers used a film’s images and visual rhythms to viscerally match the accompanying rock music can be heavily attributed to the radical ways that some experimental filmmakers started using rock songs in their work in the early 1960s.

Kenneth Anger’s 1963 film Scorpio Rising (which Anger described as “Thanatos in chrome and black leather and bursting jeans”, and was set to music by Ricky Nelson, Bobby Vinton, Elvis Presley, and others) is often credited – by Scorsese and others – as being the progenitor of this potent fusion of sight & sound; however, San Francisco filmmaker Bruce Conner’s comparatively lesser-known 1961 film Cosmic Ray (set to Ray Charles’s “What’d I Say?”) preceded Scorpio Rising and remains an equally revolutionary work.

Scorpio Rising will be just one of the works screened at the Wexner Center during The Rock & Roll Picture Show this Thursday. Since the early 1980s, music videos have dominated the public imagination for the parameters of pairing music with imagery. While entire strains of music videos have unapologetically co-opted the radical ideas and meanings from early experimental pioneers such as Anger and Conner and turned them into mere technique and offal, the films and videos in The Rock & Roll Picture Show act as an underground or alternative history of the ways that moving images have been and can be fused with rock music of all vintages and styles. The films in the program range from the kinetic to the placid, from the feverish to the cool, from the sacred to the profane. But they all offer up the energizing possibilities of two disciplines – rock and avant garde media - that should always exist on the outskirts of society and respectability coming together to create personal visions and new forms.

Below are some recommended online videos that augment the works and themes of The Rock & Roll Picture Show. These are all great films that didn’t fit into the program in one way or another. (This should be obvious but bears mentioning: Most of the videos below were created to be show as films and shown as projected light, so these digitized copies of a copy of a copy often merely give an idea of what the work is like but don’t capture its true aura.)

Bruce Conner – America Is Waiting(1981)
In the late 70s and early 80s, following his landmark early rock-based films Cosmic Ray and Breakaway (1966), Bruce Conner began working with rock music again as he collaborated with musicians such as Devo, David Byrne and Brian Eno. The film predates MTV and are music video only in the technical sense (Conner calls Mongoloid a “documentary”) as the images exist on their own and interact with the music in ways seldom seen in promotion videos.

M. Henry Jones – Go Go Girl (1980)

Another film made just on the cusp of the mainstreaming of the music video, M. Henry Jones turns a formalist device into a whirling go-go dervish as he animates an entire music video from 99 still images.

Len Lye – Free Radicals (1958)


This isn’t showing in The Rock & Roll Picture Show solely because it isn’t set to rock music. Len Lye’s film isn’t just a great marriage of image and music, it’s one of the greatest animated films ever made. Lye’s “free radical” are hand-drawn etchings made directly on the film stock and animated in a way that makes them seem like physical objects existing in space. (This really needs to be seen on film for its beauty to truly register.)

Bruce Baillie – All My Life (1966)


Another wonderful, simple, and elegant combination of image and music outside of the rock context. The legendary San Francisco filmmaker Bruce Baillie pans across a landscape – both manmade and natural – and scores it perfectly to Ella Fitzgerald’s eponymous song. (Again, the compressed video doesn’t allow the fence and roses and sky to “sing” like they should here.)

Stan Brakhage – I… Dreaming (1988)


Brakhage is best known for his silent film work, but also he made a number of films that use sound in remarkable ways. Here he works with a sliced up “collage” of a Stephen Foster song re-arranged by composer Joel Hartling. A beautiful, melancholy film.

Paper Rad – umbrella zombie datamosh mistake (2007)


This, in marked contrast to the above videos, is a work meant to be seen over the internet. Creatively employing the glitches of digital compression, this visual mashup of Rhianna and The Cranberries (with Alf and Kris Kross thrown in for good measure) would be as out of place projected in a theater as Bruce Baillie is on YouTube, so it’s a pleasure to be able to present this video from the Paper Rad collective in the way it was meant to be seen. –Chris Stults, Assistant Curator, Wexner Center Film/Video

About the Poster, from Wexner Center Designer Erica Anderson
This 3 color, limited edition silkscreen poster for the Wexner Center’s film screening of The Rock & Roll Picture Show is a lovingly handmade mélange of vinyl, optic nerve, and Scorpio Rising – all in the service of experimental film and rock and roll: two great tastes that taste great together. The poster was printed at the infamous Chop Chop Gallery in Columbus. Thanks so much to Craig and Ashley at Chop Chop for making my dreams come ture and showing me the ways of the acrylic ink. Click here to see more photos of the printing process and click here to buy one online.

2008 has been a great at the Wexner Center with number of great filmmakers visiting to introduce and discuss their work including Bonni Cohen with Rape of Europa in January, Spike Lee receiving the Wexner Prize in February, Tom Kalin introducing Savage Grace in March, and Milos Forman introducing Taking Off in April to name just three.

We are bringing in two young and already accomplished filmmakers this month with Israeli writer/director Etgar Keret and Christopher Zalla. Keret will be here on Tuesday, May 6 to introduce his film Jellyfish which captured the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Keret is primarily known as one of the great young authors in Israel and he will do a reading at the Wex at 5pm before the screening of Jellyfish.

Christopher Zalla will be here Tuesday, May 13 to introduce Sangre de mi Sangre, a film that won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. (The film was originally titled Padre Nuestro.)

We’re excited to be presenting the area premieres of both of these award-winning films. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear two up-and-coming filmmakers discuss their work. — Dave Filipi, Wexner Center Film/Video Curator

“I love to see art, to make art, to think about art. Sharing my passion for art is a joy.”– Joan Tallan

“I volunteer for selfish reasons: I love to provoke, prod, ponder and occasionally pontificate about art. I love the sheer joy and challenge of the place, sometimes maddening, always stimulating.”–Susie Gerald

“Being a Wexner Center Docent is like hitching your heart to a star — everything is brighter and full of wonder.”–Carole Dale

“I look forward to the exhilarating, exciting, funny and sometimes frustrating exchange of ideas, questions and comments from the young people as I take them through the galleries, as well as around the building and grounds, discussing the art, architecture and history of the Wexner Center for the Arts.”–Joan Folpe

“I volunteer at the Wexner Center because I enjoy seeing children and adults respond to contemporary art. It’s a “high” for me when their perceptions as well as my own really expand.”– Herb Gross

“When we relocated to Columbus 14 years ago, the first thing I wanted to be part of as a volunteer was an Art Museum, as I had been a Docent at the DIA in Detroit. I have been learning about and touring our ever changing shows happily ever since.”–Jeri Sutton

“As a Wexner Center docent for the last 15 years I have become acquainted with and enriched by hundreds of artists and their work. It has been very exciting to share this experience with thousands of people ages 7 to 70; to hear them engage with the art and to see their eyes light up with wonder.” –Gisela Vitt

“I am a Wexner docent because on every tour at least one kid makes a unique comment about the art that gives me pause, brings me up short, makes me laugh, breaks my heart, or takes my breath away. It’s the best job I have ever had, volunteer or paid, for the pure spontaneous drama of the human condition.”–Becky Lowther

The Wexner Center Education Team would also like to extend their heartfelt gratitude to the entire docent team for their commitment and hard work to the docent program.

Our ushers take an active role in supporting the Wexner Center by answering questions about our facilities and programs, as well as helping direct our guests to their proper seats. We see a little bit of everything and everybody here, and if you volunteer you’ll get to see it all too. From getting the first look at new exhibits during our gallery openings to laughing and learning from a wide array of children’s programming and educational lectures to viewing rare films as well as area premieres to enjoying theater and music from all over the U.S. and abroad at our performing arts shows, ushering with us allows volunteers the opportunity to keep their finger on the pulse of the art world for free.

Aside from the personal rewards our ushers attest to- learning about themselves, the community, and diversity, and enhancing their communication and networking skills, we also reward their earnest effort and time commitment at the end of every season. One night a year House Management takes the stage in Mershon Auditorium and celebrates the fantastic job all of our ushers do by giving printed awards and our heartfelt recognition.

We wouldn’t be able to do it without you.

From House Management, our sincerest THANK YOU to all volunteers!

Click here to see the entire gallery.

“It’s all for selfish reasons.” That’s what Ryan Pavolvicz said when asked what motivated him to volunteer for the Wexner Center’s usher corps. Currently a biophysics graduate student at Ohio State and aspiring mad scientist, Ryan signed up to usher as an undergrad in the fall of 2003. His brother Garrett and their friend Lynn Adinaro, who both volunteered, had invited him as a guest to the annual usher party that year. As Ryan tells it, the party had a fairytale theme with a lot of fun games he consistently won. Garrett had thought he’d receive the “student usher of the year” award, and when he didn’t, Ryan laughed and bet his brother he could. So, originally, sibling rivalry swayed Ryan to join. He won the coveted award the very next year; since then he’s volunteered over 362 hours and witnessed innumerable spectacles.

What has held his interest over the years are the human connections he’s made, as well as the multitude of performances he’s seen for free as an usher. At the Wexner Center, Ryan has found several bands he now loves, including Sigur Rós, Broadcast, Ladytron, The Books, and Andrew Bird (whom he had the pleasure of meeting after Bird’s show). He enjoys sampling the Next@ Wex bands the most and jokingly observes: “Noise bands always had the best names but the worst music!” Through ushering he’s been opened up to our film programming, especially documentaries, foreign films, and obscure or rare films that are not otherwise locally available. Ryan’s even been inspired to make art of his own, primarily video collage set to music. Topping the list of what he loves about volunteering is “what I’m learning about myself.”

We’ve assembled a great video about Jeff Smith, Bone, and the upcoming exhibition Jeff Smith: Bone and Beyond. Click here to see the video.

Also just added to our store is the accompanying catalog to the exhibition, Bone and Beyond. Published in conjunction with the Wexner Center and Cartoon Research Library’s 2008 exhibition, this hardcover catalogue presents work featured in the show, including examples of Smith’s original drawings for Bone, plus the more recent Shazam and Rasl. There’s also essays by Neil Gaiman and Scott McCloud. Click here to order.

I retired as a Columbus Middle School Principal on July 1, 1994, after 40 years in education as a classroom music teacher and administrator. I wanted to remain active–participating, contributing, involved, and serving others–to support the arts, and to be a lifelong learner.

I immediately contacted the Wexner Center and, by September 1994, was busy as a docent and as a volunteer usher. I have continued these activities to the present, including leading tours of the reopening exhibition, Part Object Part Sculpture, and ushering at various performing arts events.

I find these activities rewarding: I can experience the cutting edge in all these areas without monetary investment–just the investment of my time. I am encouraged to experience, to expand my horizons. As docents, we have access to wonderful materials and lectures, and I can interact with others in a teaching role I enjoy. As an usher, I see former students and teaching colleagues, as well as new friends and fellow volunteers, and I never go alone to the theater. There are other perks, too, like the annual usher party.

A nice feeling of respect and appreciation from the Wexner Center’s staff is evident, and, really, it’s more than is given in volunteer activities at some other venues. A “thank you” is often expressed at the end of an activity.

To sum it up, my needs to stay active and support the arts are being met in an enjoyable manner. I appreciate the opportunity to be associated with a world-class institution such as the Wexner Center for the Arts!

The first story comes from docent Jean Mervis:

Invigorating, inspiring, educational…these are just some of the words I could use to describe the National Docent Symposium, which I was privileged to attend in beautiful Phoenix, Arizona, in April 2007. About 500 docents from all over the country arrived in Phoenix for the three-day event. The conference included speakers, panel presentations, round table discussions, and trips to museums throughout the area—all organized by volunteer docents.

The experience was great. I was surprised to hear the similar issues and concerns that we all face. Whether participating at a round table discussion on challenging issues or listening to a speaker suggest that the most engaging tour is one that spontaneously customizes itself to the needs of its visitors, the conference was a great time to reflect on what we do at the Wexner Center. It also reminded me of things we sometimes forget to do as we conduct our tours and greet our visitors. I also have to say that I have even more appreciation for our knowledgeable and enthusiastic education and curatorial staff—all Wexner Center staff—who never fail to teach and inspire us with each new exhibition. Not all volunteers are as fortunate.

I give my thanks to the Wexner Center education staff for making it possible for me to attend this inspirational symposium. I’m very proud to be a docent at the Wexner Center for the Arts.

Previously on the Wexblog we told you about Seagull Bags and the process they go through in making our one of a kind messenger bags. Refresh your memory here.

A new batch of bags have now been made available in our store. Check them out here!

Remember: each bag is handmade from banners previously used to promote Wexner Center exhibitions. They’re all one of a kind and are surely going to sell fast.

Updated: We’ve got tote bags, too.