Lapis

James Whitney / United States / 1966 / Czech Premiere / 10 min.

synopsis

The philosopher's stone (lapis philosophorum) is commonly regarded as a tool for turning base metal into precious gold; for James Whitney, however, it was a means of changing consciousness. The film, which he created with the help of a mechanical analogue computer, was intended as a tool for transformative meditation. The intricate swirling and teeming patterns are reminiscent of spinning gothic rosettes, accompanied by contemplative music played on the sitar, tanpura and tabla.

“Lapis borders on the limits of what I was capable of doing. The machine restricted me; my fantasies couldn’t flow. Of course, we’re in the most primitive stages of cybernetic art, but my inner imagery receded at the same moment that my outer ability to control the instrument broke down.”

Source: Gene Youngblood: Expanded Cinema, New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1970.

biography

James Whitney (1921–1982) was a famous American experimental filmmaker, animator and pioneer of cybernetic cinema. Together with his brother John, he created five Film Exercises (1941–1944). In 1950, he began work on his own project, the meditative film Yantra; it took him a full eight years to hand-prepare the background for the animation.