Lost Highways, Embodied Travels: The Road Movie in American Experimental Film and Video

Kornelia Boczkowska, Ph.D. (2015), is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of English at Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan. She has received several research grants and is the author of two books and over forty other publications on independent, experimental and avant-doc film.

• AcknowledgementsList of IllustrationsIntroduction1 Lost Highways, Embodied Travels: The Structure of This Book1 The Road Movie and the Corporeal Turn in Experimental Film1 The Road Movie as a Mainstream Film Genre2 The Road Movie as an Experimental Film Genre3 The Corporeal Turn in Experimental Film4 The Road Movie and the Corporeal Turn in Experimental Film2 Embodied Travels1 Cars and the Body2 “I Like to Remember Things My Own Way”: Saul Levine’s Mortgage on My Body3 Life Shooting and a Road Movie-Therapy-Performance: Anne Charlotte Robertson’s Niagara Falls4 Intuitive Travels: Gary Adlestein’s S-8 Diary: Wildwood 2/885 Unmediated Encounters with the World: Dana Play’s Kongostraat6 Motorcycles and the Body7 Fading Memories of a Honeymoon Trip: Brian Patrick’s Honey/Moon8 “Gotta Get Outta Here”: Charlemagne Palestine’s Island Song9 Cars and Relationships10 Intimacy That Never Is: Sophie Calle’s No Sex Last Night11 Depopulated Highways, Empty Hotel Rooms, and Unfulfilled Intimacy: Donald Winkler’s Travel Log12 Female Bodies, Automobiles, and a Failed Lesbian Relationship: Su Friedrich’s Rules of the Road13 Two Female Hitchhikers, an Escapist Driver and a Sexual Awakening: Siouxzi Mernagh’s Exit14 Break Ups, Reminiscences, and Ghosts of the Past: Walter Ungerer’s Down the Road15 The Ups and Downs of Female Solitary Travel: Jessica Bardsley’s Goodbye Thelma16 Romance in the Digital Age: Michael Robinson’s Onward Lossless Follows17 Conclusion3 Americana, Canadiana, Native Americans, and Eco-Road Movies1 Americana2 A Testimony to Chance Encounters: Chris Mullington’s Americans (Mer-Kins)3 The End of the American Dream: Chip Lord’s Motorist4 A Country of Contradictions: Lluis Escartín’s 75 Drive-a-Way5 A Disturbing Portrait of America: James Benning’s North on Evers6 In Search of American Counterculture: James Benning’s Easy Rider7 A Nostalgic Evocation of the Frontier: Bill Brown’s XCTRY8 Canadiana9 A Dead-End Trip: Philip Hoffman’s The Road Ended at the Beach10 Roads Where Nothing Ever Happens: Clive Holden’s Bus North to Thompson with Les at the Wheel11 The History of Canadian Roads Told … Backwards: Michael Snow’s Seated Figures12 Native Americans13 “The Dream of America That Never Came True”: Bruce Baillie’s Mass for the Dakota Sioux and Quixote14 A Poignant Ode to the Ho-Chunk People and Their Language: Sky Hopinka’s Jáaji Approx.15 Eco-Road Movies16 An Ascetic Roughness of Land and Nature: Nancy Holt and Robert Smithson’s Mono Lake17 A Nervous Pean to the New Zealand landscape: Lissa Mitchell’s Bowl Me Over18 A “Trans-Corporeal” Experience of Rural Ireland: Julie Murray’s Orchard19 An Ominous Terror of Ecocide, Or the Doomsday that Never Was: Fern Silva’s Tender Feet20 Conclusion4 Lost Highways1 Interstate Highways2 The Thrill of the Open Road: Hilary Harris’ Highway3 The Magic of Road Building: Anna Geyer’s Dozer4 American Freeway, Private Prisons, and the Dark Side of Automobility: James Schneider’s Median Strip5 The Crisis of Automobility: Emma Piper-Burket’s Driving Dinosaurs6 Highway Landscapes and Local Roads7 A Silent Spectacle of Death: J. J. Murphy’s Highway Landscape8 Countryside Highways and the Suspension of Movement: James Benning’s Small Roads9 An Australian Rural Dirt Road in 360: Blake Williams’ Coorow-Latham Road10 Conclusion5 Through the Windshield1 Framed Views2 The Paradoxes of Movement: Gary Beydler’s Pasadena Freeway Stills3 Multiple Views of a Seashore Landscape: Ken Kobland’s Frame4 Across America in Suspended Motion: Ken Kobland’s Landscape and Desire5 Driving Meditation: Al Wong’s Twin Peaks6 Windshield Views7 The Icelandic Highway and the Sensation of Velocity: Þór Friðriksson’s Hringurinn8 A Roller-Coaster Ride Down the Trans-Canada Highway: Stephen Arthur’s Tran Scan9 A Full-Body Immersion in the Western Canadian Landscape: Stephen Arthur’s Vision Point10 Driving on a Rainy Day11 Driving in a Thunderstorm and Female Mobility: Faith Arazi and Madeleine Mori’s Through a Field12 A Mesmerizing Movement of Raindrops on the Car Windows: Ann Deborah Levy’s Rain Painting13 The Wiper’s Swing and an Erratic Ride on a Vancouver City Bus: Chris Gallagher’s Seeing in the Rain14 Squirming Raindrops and a Bleak View of the Frontier: Bruce and Lorie Baillie’s Commute15 Car Crashes16 From Violent Death to Creative Transformation: Robert Nelson’s Hot Leatherette17 A Crash into the Driver-Car’s Mind: Eric Patrick’s Stark Film18 A Near Deadly Crash and the Afro-American Experience: Paige Taul’s The Promise19 The Tourist Gaze20 A Flashy World of Clichés and Hasty Sight-Seeing: Barbara Hammer’s Tourist21 The Hustle and Bustle of Being on the Move and Haptic Aurality: Christina Battle’s Traveling thru with Eyes Closed Tight (Map #2–January 03 thru January 06)22 Conclusion6 Through the Side Window1 Fleeting Impressions of Canada: Joyce Wieland’s Reason Over Passion2 Culture Clash and Embodied Memories of Vietnam: Lynne Sachs’ Which Way Is East: Notebooks from Vietnam3 Scattered Recollections of a Family Vacation: Michael Stickrod’s Vacation Tapes4 Driving and Landscape Painting5 Impressionist Views of the Country Barn: Larry Gottheim’s Barn Rushes6 The Color Field Painting on Interstate 5: Martha Rosler’s Flower Fields7 Still Lifes of the Swedish Rural Countryside: Gunvor Nelson’s Light Years8 A Cathartic Road Trip and Impossible Panoramic Vistas of the American Southwest: Peter Rose’s The Geosophist’s Tears9 Driving in the Desert10 Seeing with a Filmmaker’s Eyes: Stan Brakhage’s Visions in Meditation #2: Mesa Verde11 A Spiritual Encounter with the Divine: Jon Behrens’ Desert Abstractions12 The Uncanny Desert Glare: Cathy Lee Crane’s On the Line13 An Apocalyptic Mediation on the American Wilderness: Kate McCabe’s You and I Remain14 “The Intense Reality of Desert” and the Juju Charms: Apostoly Peter Kouroumalis’s Desert Road15 City Driving16 Flows, Rhythms and Textures of New York City: Marie Menken’s Go! Go! Go!17 The Whirling Streets of New York City: Bill Morrison’s City Walk18 Glimpses into the Streets of San Francisco’s Latino Mission: Martha Rosler’s Secrets from the Street: No Disclosure19 Inside the Driver-Car’s Mind: Steven Woloshen’s Shimmer Box Drive and Zero Visibility20 An Exquisite Road Trip Across Four Continents: EXcinema’s The Spaces Between Cities21 Driving at Night22 A Vibrant Light Show of Chicago’s Nightlife: Mort and Millie Goldsholl’s Night Driving23 A Hypnotizing Collage of Seattle’s Nocturnal Lighting: Jon Behrens’ The Movement of Light at Night24 A Head-On Confrontation with the Speeding Highway: Bill Morrison’s Night Highway25 A Sinister Night Drive and a Mysterious Owl: Michaela Grill’s Carte Noire26 Conclusion7 Inside Cars1 Mirrors, Windows, and (Movie) Screens2 A Haunting Ride to a New Orleans Cemetery and Back: Bill Morrison’s Ghost Trip3 An Eerie Venture into the Cockpit and the Driver’s Mind: Jon Behrens’ The Colors of Boulder in the Summer4 By the Side Window5 A Cinematic Gaze, Automotive Visuality, and Blues Improvisation: Larry Gottheim’s Harmonica6 A Claustrophobic Car Interior … After Dark: Saul Levine’s Driven7 From the Back Seat8 An Eventless Drive Around Downtown Manhattan … Over and Over Again: Alfred Leslie and the Frank O’Hara’s The Last Clean Shirt9 An Aimless Journey across the Country: James Benning’s The United States of America10 A Perception-Altering Tour of Canada and the United States: Chris Gallagher’s Undivided Attention11 Backseat Passengering12 A Bumpy Ride and the Impossible Sublime: Lluis Escartín’s Mohave Cruising13 Cross-Eyed Viewing of the Bay Bridge: Ken Jacobs’ Berkeley to San Francisco14 ConclusionConclusionFilmographyReferences