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Ian Helliwell has been operating from
his current HQ in Brighton since 1992, and has produced experimental
music, super-8mm films, installations, electronic instruments
and light-show projections for concerts and club nights.
He has completed a range of short films
exploring different techniques, including hand painting, bleaching,
scratching and stop motion animation. He uses a similar 'hands-on'
working methods in his electronic music.
Having close links with Brighton’s
Cinematheque has allowed Helliwell to assemble programmes of experimental
and other rarely seen films highlighting the connections between
music and cinema. His shows include Soundtracks For Super 8
(1997), Pioneers Of Electronic Music (1998), Optical
Sounds (1998), Electronics In Film (1999), Circuit
Breaker (1999), Cities In Motion (1999), Integrated
Circuits (2000), Expo Worlds (2000), Soundtracks
For The City (2000) and Film Into Retina (2001).
This autumn the Helsinki-based Lefta
Records and Avanto Recordings will release Helliwell’s debut
EP Transition 4.
Avanto 2001 is proud to present Expo
Worlds, Soundtracks For The City and five shorts films
by Ian Helliwell. Three of these (Return To Light, Linear Phases
and Chromaburst) are world premieres.
Expo Worlds - A Film and Music Programme
Devised and compiled by Ian Helliwell
UK, 2001, 70 min
Expo Worlds – A Music And Film Programme revisits
various futuristic visions of World Fairs between 1939 and 1982.
It is comprised of film, music and slides; among the featured
works are Erkki Salmenhaara's brilliant collage composition Information
Explosion from the Montreal Expo '68, and several rare short
films, such as San Francisco World Fair (1939) and Expo
Prepares (1967). Poème Électronique (1958)
encompasses the Edgard Varèse composition of the same name
and an astounding installation of 400 loudspeakers at a Philips
pavilion.
"The World Fairs first came into existence
with the Great Exhibition held in the Crystal Palace, London in
1851. A great deal of the extraordinary imagination and creativity
that has gone into the 64 official World Fairs has been lost forever.
Much of the work was inherently ephemeral, but many pavilions
and futuristic structures that could have been preserved for future
generations, have been neglected or demolished. Through film and
music however, Expo Worlds revisits some of the significant sights
and sounds inspired by yesterday’s vision of tomorrow. While
acknowledging that these represent merely the tip of the Expo
iceberg, looking back at some of the quintessential World Fair
ingredients, such as geodesic domes, space needles, solar towers,
monorails and futurama rides, provides not just nostalgia for
a bygone age, but windows into the past and the future.”
(IH)
Soundtracks for the City
Devised and compiled by Ian Helliwell
UK, 2001, 50 min
The Soundtracks For The City series
of films give a new lease of life to old Super 8 tourist footage
found in flea markets and second hand shops. The uncut versions
of these promotional films (1940-1970), originally silent and
depicting big cities around the world, form the basis of the series.
Their fine cinematography, balanced compositions and sympathetic
postcard-like mood represent classic commissioned film, a genre
that has now all but vanished. Helliwell asked a group of musicians
he knew to compose music inspired by these nostalgic, faded city
visions.
At their best, the results are pretty
eccentric and include the Birmingham group Pram’s subtle
post-rock impressions of the Rio carnival, Tele:funken’s
precise view of Geneva’s idyllic history, Testcard’s
hectic speeding during a motobike trip from London to Paris, and
last but not least, Op:l Bastard’s stylized electro-acoustic
adventures in merry Copenhagen. MT
Geneva (music: Tele:funken, 2
min)
The Post Office Tower (m: Ian Helliwell, 3 min)
Las Vegas (m: The Itch, 3 min)
Sights of Paris (m: Raum, 2 min)
Traffic Cop (m: Jonesco, 3 min)
100 mph Through London Streets (m. Kaleidophon, 2 min)
Hollywood (m: Iain Paxon, 3 min)
Speedway To Paris (m: Testcard, 3 min)
Carnival In Rio (m: Pram, 3 min)
Around Town With Forrest Tucker (m: Robert Worby, 3 min)
Exotic Nippon (m: Kaleidophon, 3 min)
700 mph Journey By Train (m: Gus Garside, 3 min)
California Golden State (m: Virgil, 2 min)
Copenhagen (m: Op:l Bastards, 3 min)
New York N.Y. (m: Ian Helliwell, 3 min)
Fascinating Hong Kong (m: Testcard, 3 min)
Visit To London (m: Ektroverde, 3 min)
Friday 9.11. 2001 – Kiasma Theatre
18:00 - in Avantoscope I: Patterns
of Interference & Linear Phases (short films)
Saturday 10.11. 2001 – Kiasma Theatre
16:00 – in Avantoscope II: Return
To Light (short film)
Saturday 10.11.2001 - Gloria
21:00-3:00 - Avanto Club: Soundtracks
for the City (50 mins) + Chromaburst & Crossing The
Equator (short films)
Sunday 11.11.2001 - Kiasma Theatre
18:00 - Screening of Expo Worlds
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