Pauline Oliveros

Performance at Cal State (2007)

Houston-born composer and accordionist Pauline Oliveros performs an improvisational piece at Cal State.

Part 1

Part 2

Maria Lassnig

Kantate (1992)



"The Austrian artist Maria Lassnig tells us the story of her life in 14 verses, beginning with her birth and ending with her life as it is today. Simultaneusly - in the background - we see the story as animated drawings, full of irony, humor and wisdom." (Hubert Sielecki)

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Tino Sehgal

"This is so contemporary" (2000)

The uniformed museum guards of the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi perform Sehgal's piece, also shown in the German pavillion of the 2005 Venice Biennale.

Olivier Messiaen

Messiaen on birdsong (late 1960s?)




Composer Olivier Messiaen, whose compositions in the late 1950s and early 1960s often incorporated elements of birdsong, describes and mimes the nightingale’s song, as his second wife, pianist Yvonne Loriod, plays his own transcription on the piano.

Hotel Morphila Orchester

What's in the brain (1979)



Founded in Vienna in 1978 by artists Peter Weibel and Loys Egg, Hotel Morphila Orchester plays "What's in the brain", based on William Shakespeare's Sonnet 108, in this Austrian television broadcast from 1979.

Pat O'Neill

Saugus Series (1974)





Seven short 16mm vignettes, made up of meticulously assembled still lives, and displaying O'Neill's masterful use of optical printing.

Marcel Broodthaers

Interview With A Cat (1970)
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Recorded at the Musée d'Art Moderne, Département des Aigles, Düsseldorf, 1970

Mark Leckey

Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore (1999)



Using footage of discos, northern soul nights, and raves across Britain in the 70s, 80s and 90s, Leckey's film explores the ongoing subculture, and iconography, of nightlife, leisure, and consumption.