About this Event
John Hansard Gallery, Screening Room
FREE
We are delighted to welcome back Simon Payne and Andrew Vallance for a special programme of single-screen 16mm films and videos, in collaboration with John Hansard Gallery as part of Southampton Film Week 2026.
Graphic Rhythms
This special film programme represents the history of avant-garde film and animation as closely entwined. It brings together several rarely-screened 16mm prints (from a collection donated to the curators) which span early abstract films through to raucous cartoons, the earliest of which date from the 1920s. Alongside these historical films, the programme also includes works by three contemporary filmmakers. All of these unique artists' films explore form and rhythm, line and texture, in structured and expressionistic ways, through exuberant and surprising means.
Programme
La Joie de Vivre, Anthony Gross and Hector Hoppin (1934, 16mm, B&W, sound, 9 min)
A Night on Bald Mountain, Alexandre Alexeieff & Claire Parker (1933, 16mm, B&W, sound, 9 min)
Reservoir Film, Lizzy Hobbs (2021, video, sound, 2min)
Kipho, Julius Pinschewer and Guido Seeber (1925, 16mm, B&W, 4 min)
Rhythmus 21, Hans Richter (1921, 16mm, B&W, silent, 3 min)
Opus IV, Walter Ruttmann (1925, 16mm, B&W, silent, 3 min)
Radio Dynamics, Oskar Fischinger (1942, 16mm, B&W, silent, 4 min)
Greyscale, Simon Payne (2025, video, B&W, sound, 3min)
Popeye: Plumbing is a Pipe, Dave Fleischer (1938, 16mm, B&W, sound, 8 min)
Noisy Tracks and Treads, Vicky Smith (2012–26, 16mm, B&W, sound, 4 min)
Curator biographies
Simon Payne and Andrew Vallance have been programming artists' film and video since 2013, when they co-curated 'Assembly: A Survey of Recent Artists' Films Made in Britain' for Tate Britain. Since then, under the banner of Contact, they have presented programmes in cinemas, galleries and other venues, internationally. The book they published in 2021, entitled Film Talks, involved representing new conversations on experimental cinema from a diverse range of film and video artists. Simon Payne's new book is Experimental Cinema: Structures, Systems and Strategies. For more information visit: https://www.contactscreenings.co.uk/
Event venue & nearby stays
City Eye, 142 -144 Above Bar Street, Southampton, United Kingdom
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.