ABSTRACT

Between 1992 and 1996, Bill Morrison has sourced material from the Paper Print Collection at the Library of Congress, in the context of the Ridge Theater stage productions or for the production of what was to become The Film of Her. Using different materials found in Morrison's The Film of Her folder, and drawing parallels between other ‘moments’ in the history of the avant-garde with regards to the collection (namely Ken Jacobs and Hollis Frampton's interest in those films), this essay illuminates the ways Morrison has engaged with these films and how, in a sense, his work points to a paradigm shift in the way we envision the relationship between the avant-garde, the Paper Print collection, and the archive.

KEYWORDS

Hollis Frampton, Ken Jacobs, Library of Congress, Paper Print Collection

I met Bill in a café. He presented me a thick stack of papers, letter and legal format, old faded fax sheets, typed and handwritten notes, packed in a large yellow envelope on which is indicated in black marker: the film of her. He told me there is a lot of stuff in there that may be useful for my research. He mentioned a treatment of The Film of Her when it was called Figments. He also told me about a 100-page fictional script he had written at a time when he had no idea what the film was going to be and was thinking of turning it into a feature film. He also said that a big part of that pile had to do with film and music clearances for The Film of Her. I thanked him and took the folder with me, promising to send it back as quickly as possible.