Guest curated by Herb Shellenberger

Consisting of both contemporary works investigating new technologies and underground films from the era of head-trip psychedelia, this program of artist moving image works depicts alternate realities, cosmic landscapes and humanoid beings. Featuring several films on rarely-screened 16mm prints, and guest curated by formerly London, now Pennsylvania based scholar and curator Herb Shellenberger, Not of this Earth features Scott Bartlett's Moon (1969), Willy Braque's Amnesie 25 (1967), Nicholas Brooks and Benedict Drew's Sump (2016), Ira Cohen's Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda (1968) and Molly Palmer's Some Shapes Without Edges (2016). This event marks the 4th edition of Squeaky Wheel's OTHERWORLDS sci-fi series. Be sure to join us for a special Q&A with curator, Herb Shellenberger, in person!

Herb Shellenberger has curated screenings at institutions such as Arnolfini (Bristol), International House Philadelphia, Izolyatsia Platform for Cultural Initiatives (Ukraine), Light Industry (Brooklyn), LUX (London) and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco). He is a graduate of the Central Saint Martins/LUX MRes Moving Image programme, and has previously lectured on artist film and video at the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art and Alternative Film/Video Research Forum (Belgrade). His writings have appeared in Art Agenda and The Brooklyn Rail and he has curated the series "Independent Frames: American Experimental Animation in the 70s + 80s" at Tate Modern in February 2017.

Program (76 Minutes)

Moon 1969
Scott Bartlett
15', 16mm, 1969
"Moon 1969 is a beautiful, eerie, haunting film, all the more wonderful for the fact we do not once see the moon: only the manifestation of its powers here on earth, the ebb and flow of the waters.. fiery rainbows into a cloudy sky… men and rockets transformed into shattering crystals… creating a picture if the cosmos in continual transformation."- Gene Youngblood, Los Angeles Times
"The interrelated convolutions and spasms of image, color, and sound that filmmaker Bartlett creates is the cumulative effect of his pioneer work using negative images, polarization, television techniques, computer-film, and electronic patterns all compressed into a visual punch that directs one where he normally would not go with a film — on a trip in search of the human soul." — Paul Brawley, The Booklist, American Library Association

Amnesie 25
Willy Braque
8', digital, 1967

Some Shapes Without Edges
Molly Palmer
10', digital, 2016
Some Shapes Without Edges is an episodic video sequence about the mystery, complexity and absurdity of being human. How do we absorb and transform experiences that are funny, bewildering and beautiful - confusing, frightening or sad?
The stories are sentimental and comical, silly and serious. Two statues learn about friendship from identical twins dressed as curtains. A girl with a camera multiplies, disappearing with a flash into TV infinity. Static electricity haunts objects and we take a minute to think about walking up hills…
Music, dance and gesture take over when words won't work. Small items grow huge and people shrink. The videos are set in a world where things follow a different logic - where they fit together as they do in dreams and in our heads. - Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival

The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda
Ira Cohen
23', 16mm, 1968
A classic underground film made in 1968, it is divided into three parts, the Opium Dream, Shaman, & Heavenly Blue Mylar Pavilions. A unique film by the originator of mylar photography "Combines Kabuki and Dr. Strange in the mythical realm and alchemical journey by an arcane master"-Julian Beck from Life Magazine's special end of the decade issue

Sump
Nicholas Brooks & Benedict Drew
20', digital, 2016
Sump somp, soupe….Swelp.
De-Dif-Dis-Di-Dro-
Some ******* ate other ******* and got indigestion. That is the origin of complex _______.
We suddenly saw a world which was populated by groaning things and bothersome articulations and amusing lifeforms with the simple purpose of flashing on and off and machine-animal manifestations that turned into other machines like they were yawning and an ecosystem of functions and dispositions and always no choice but to be what they were and we suddenly understood like never before.
The current is not only
a gigantic cerebral system,
but a substance capable
of thought processes.
SUMP! sss… ss… s…

About The Series
From cybernetic futures to voyages across space and time, our Fall/Winter screening series OTHERWORLDS focuses on alternative science fiction, including experimental films, rare documentaries, and cult classics.
Special thanks to Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center.