Author: Mike Leggett

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Brief Message….the Great Highland Bagpipe

1975
Mike Leggett

I first encountered the films of the Scottish filmmaker Margaret Tait in 1971 at the Ricky Demarco Gallery in Edinburgh; together with Ian Breakwell I was showing film work as part of the Edinburgh Festival. The Gallery were screening a program of her films which, in a word, entranced, one of which had a voice singing in phrasing that complemented in an unsettling way, the images. Later, I learnt the composition was a particualr adaptation of a pibroch piece for bagpipes. Ricky gave me her address which, as it was in the far north of the country, prevented an immediate visit. In 1975 I was to meet Margeret and visit her in Orkney with my good friend and fellow filmmaker, Annabel Nicolson.

Found Sounds

1978
Mike Leggett

 

A visit in 1977 to Mexico, an intensely visual culture, includes an audio landscape that was unanticipated. I spent most of the three weeks in Mexico City where the sense of immersion was at its richest. The article (PDF at left) documents five encounters with soundscapes, created in the meeting of people and their machines, buildings, musical instruments and pea whistles, used with a blend of intention and outrageous fortune.

Avant-Garde Cinema

1976
Rocky Mountain Film Center

A highly respected cinemateque that used the planetarium on the campus of the University of Colorado. The season included George Landow, Peter Gidal, Carmen Vigil and myself in person with other screenings of work by Stan Brackage and others.

 

The London Filmmakers Co-op (A History)

1979
Mike Leggett

The catalogue (edited by Rod Stoneman) listed films funded during the 1970s by the BFI. Though I had never been funded through them, the editor had recently worked with me on a chapter, Film Related Practice and the Avant-garde, about my recent work for SCREEN journal, another BFI publication. We had also, with others, formed a sub-committee of the Co-op to produce a paper for the 1978 AGM proposing changes to aspects of its Distribution operation. The article was based on this paper and was not well received by a faction within the LFMC Committee.

The Recollection

1975
Hugh Stoddard (cur)

The Recollection was the title of an exhibition curated by the Arts Officer, Hugh Stoddard, from South West Arts of artists’ work from across a range of media. The show used a calendar format as a catalogue, (though there were no essays included), the January page image being based on post-production notes made during the editing of Window, the third part of the film series Sheepman & the Sheared, a film shot throughout a 12 month period.

1973 Festival of Avant-garde Film, National Film Theatre, London

1973
David Curtis, et al

The two-week event, the 2nd international gathering in London, featured some 150 filmmakers; single and double screen projection and the new kid on the block, VIDEO! My contribution was the premiere of the film, Erota/Afini with specially prepared piano interlude, the exhibition of the poster print Video and Video/Film and a video installation based on the videotape ‘Laugh’; two monitors were placed back to back each facing an audience in full view of one other.

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175497393