• The Praxis of the Tractrix

    Author(s):
    Luke Fidler (see profile)
    Date:
    2016
    Group(s):
    Film Studies, History of Art
    Subject(s):
    Art, History
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    anachronism, Hollis Frampton, Robert Grosseteste, Art history, Film studies, Medieval studies
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6BH6P
    Abstract:
    This essay analyzes Zorns Lemma (1962–1970), a film made by American artist Hollis Frampton (1936–1984). Noting Frampton’s use of Robert Grosseteste’s thirteenth-century treatise De luce [‘On Light’] as a key aspect of the film’s soundtrack, the essay argues that Grosseteste’s investigations of light as a medium played a key role in Frampton’s theorization of cinema. As such, his interest in medieval light theories spurred him to develop a powerful, idiosyncratic response to prevailing discourses of media and medium specificity during the 1960s. When examined in light of contemporaneous projects by Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922–1975) and Roland Barthes (1915–1980), Zorns Lemma points up the significance of medieval thought in the period’s conceptions of art and time.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    https://doi.org/10.1057/pmed.2015.44
    Pub. Date:
    2016
    Journal:
    postmedieval: a journal of medieval cultural studies
    Volume:
    7
    Issue:
    1
    Page Range:
    96 - 114
    ISSN:
    2040-5960,2040-5979
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    6 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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