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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Bruce Conner: Light Out of Darkness

Oct 7 – Nov 25, 2021
Paul Sacher-Anlage 2, 4002 Basel, Switzerland

The American artist Bruce Connor, who died in 2008, was as versatile as he was rebellious. He has been hailed as both the “father of the videoclip” and the “artist’s artist.” Connor made assemblages, sculptures, and avant-garde films, and was often critical of the art world. He was born in Kansas in 1933, and grew up there. After college and a short stint in New York City, Connor became a presence in San Francisco. “A lot of things I’ve been involved in,” he said, “I’ve done because no one else was doing him.” This show features nine of his experimental and politically subversive films. Among them is Crossroads (1976), which compiles footage of the first U.S. underwater atom bomb tests at Bikini Atoll, in 1946. —E.C.

Bruce Conner, “Crossroads,” 1976. Film still © Conner Family Trust.