99 Clerkenwell Road
This silent 16mm film revisits the work of German abstract animation filmmaker Oskar Fischinger (1900– 67). Shot at night in an empty shop, the semi-abstract film captures the simplicity of light and colour in motion. Moving the camera almost blindly in the space, and using the analogue technique of multiple exposure, Michael intermittently reveals the architectural space and outside urban elements, in a constant back and forth between abstraction and reality.
— Elsa Coustou, curator
UK, 2016
16mm, silent, 1:1.33
8’
Shot at no.99 Clerkenwell Road, London, during group exhibition Umbraculum, 2010
Camera, edit, animation by Sophie Michael. Neg cutting by Steve Farman. Telecine by iDailies. Lab work by Haguefilm BV.
With special thanks to Amanda Couch, Andrew Munks, London Borough of Camden Pop-up Shop Scheme and Emma Feltmeyer
Previous presentations
2024
Screening alongside the films of Juliette Blightman, Lafayette Anticipations, Paris
Screening at TAP Centre for Creativity, London, Ontario
2021
Mars on Earth I. As Without so Within, Xcentric, The Cinema of the CCCB, Barcelona
2019
Go go go! Women in Experimental Animation, Bristol Experimental Expanded Film, Bristol
2018
Particles in Space, Edge of Frame Weekend, Barbican Cinema, London
Video Days, Bonington Gallery, Nottingham
2016
Art Now : Sophie Michael : Trip (the light fantastic), Tate Britain, London
2015
SMOKE & MIRRORS, touring film screening organised by Independent Cinema Office / programmed by Adam Pugh; The Maltings, Berwick- Upon-Tweed; Kinokulture, Oswestry & The Barn Cinema, Totnes
2014
Neither, group exhibition, Seventeen Gallery curated by Tim Steer
Soft Start, The Northern Charter, Newcastle, curated by Eleanor Wright and Sam Watson
Indie Moving Image, EDP Foundation, Museum of Electricity, as part of IndieLisboa Independant Film Festival
2013
Material Light, Black Maria, The Crossing, London, programmed by Lucy Harris
Space and Place; Screening with Visual Acoustics, Cornell Cinema, New York
2012
Connecting Principle Event 12: Set and Setting, Newcastle University, curated by Toby Lloyd
Competition 1: To the Skies!, 8th 25 FPS International Experimental Film and Video Festival, Zagreb
Experimental Shorts, 61st Melbourne International Film Festival, Melbourne
Analogue Recurring 1 screening, Lo & Behold Recordings, London
Finger, Hidde van Seggelen Gallery, London
Chromotherapeutic Strips, Rotterdam International Film Festival, Rotterdam
2011
Alternative Visions; Space is the Place: Recent Avant Garde Shorts, Pacific Film Archive, University of California, Berkeley
A Past Merely Overlaid With Presentness, Culture Lab OnSite, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne
Wavelengths 1: Analogue Arcadia, 36th Toronto International Film Festival, Toronto
To What Earth Does This Sweet Cold Belong?, Early Monthly Segments screening #27, The Power Plant, Toronto
Umbraculum, Caravan Projects at 99 Clerkenwell Road (Camden Pop-up Shop scheme), London
US / Canada Print hire:
Install view at Art Now : Sophie Michael : Trip (the light fantastic), Tate Britain, London
