FRI, 11 November, at 19.00

Kino Šiška Cinema, small hall

Stromae: Quand c'est?

Belgium, 2015

by Luc Junior & Xavier Reyé

David Bowie: Blackstar

GB, Sweden, 2015

by Johan Renck

Tame Impala: The Less I Know The Better

Australia, Spain, 2015

by CANADA

M.I.A.: Borders

GB, India, 2016

by M.I.A.

Baauer: Day Ones

USA, 2016

by Hiro Murai

Massive Attack ft. Young Fathers: Voodoo In My Blood

GB, 2016

by Ringan Ledwidge

Michael Kiwanuka: Black Man In A White World

GB, USA, 2016

by Hiro Murai

Florence + The Machine: The Odyssey

GB, USA, 2016

by Vincent Haycock

Radiohead: Daydreaming

GB, USA, 2016

by Paul Thomas Anderson

Coldplay: Up & Up

GB, Israel, USA, 2016

by Vania Heymann & Gal Muggia

Beyoncé: Formation

USA, 2016

by Melina Matsoukas

Jamie xx: Gosh

GB, France, 2016

by Romain Gavras

Invisible Innovators

Matic Majcen

The history of music video goes as far back as the history of cinema, to late nineteenth century. It is safe to say that the short film titled The Dickson Experimental Sound Film from 1894 or 1895 is the first known example of the musical-film format, today known as the music video. This 17-second film was made by Scottish inventor William Dickson, who at the time worked at Thomas Edison’s Black Maria, the first American movie production studio in New Jersey. The film features Dickson playing a violin into the recording horn, while in front of Dickson two men dance to the music. This short film was the first attempt in history to record sound and moving image in synchronisation. The experiment failed – the current version of the film was digitalised and restored in 1998. Chance would have it that the restoration coincided with the writing of the music-video annals, and thus the clip was selected for inclusion in the national film registry as the first known musical short. Furthermore, in the Celluloid Closet documentary (1995) this short is referred to – questionably so – as an example of the first LGBT film.

Similarly to the films from the early age of cinema, The Dickson Experimental Sound Film conveys the telling truth about our present day. Namely, at the time Dickson had no idea about the considerable scope of influence his film would have on the further development of filmmaking. Music video did not make its ascent until several decades later, with the emergence of television after WWII, and the term was introduced as late as in the 1970s. Just as Brothers Lumière could not imagine their own influence on the then inexistent documentary film and just as Georges Méliès could not envisage the later-date explosion of special effects, Dickson had no way of knowing that he unintentionally made the first specimen of a future film format, to be much later called a music video.

The disturbing thought that comes to mind is that as we speak some innovator is performing a cinematic experiment, an innovation to be recognised in decades to come as a major landmark in the history of film. The thought is all the more sobering because we know that in early twenty-first century the rapid technological changes within the medium facilitate emergence of new forms of expression on a monthly basis. Therefore, by force of circumstance, we live in a period of historical ignorance, instinctively nevertheless knowing that something groundbreaking is taking place in the world, but we are powerless in our endeavour to grasp its significance.

There is no way of solving this historical paradox. There is no other alternative but to celebrate the already developed and established artistic genres and media. Our music video selection is thus a representative collection of a dozen distant descendants of the format introduced 122 years ago by William Dickson. Perhaps within a few decades they will be regarded as outstanding achievements and we will blame ourselves for not being able to acknowledge their innovative worth. But do not get me wrong. These examples of ‘old’ art are still astounding and impressive representatives of a genre which the future will possibly surpass, but whose historical relevance will never be erased.