Still from Epilogue (2005), copyright Jordan Belson

Jordan Belson: Films Sacred and Profane
Saturday, March 26th, 19:30h
LACMA - Bing Theatre
5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90036
Presented in association with Center for Visual Music

Born in Chicago and raised in the Bay Area, Jordan Belson trained as a painter before turning his attention to film-making after discovering the abstract films of Oskar Fischinger, Norman McLaren and Hans Richter. Since 1947, Belson has explored consciousness, transcendence, and light in a visionary body of work that has been called "cosmic cinema": brimming with vibrant color, mandalas, liquid forms and mesmerizing rhythms.

In 1957-59, Belson collaborated with sound artist Henry Jacobs on the Vortex Concerts, early multimedia events that combined new electronic music with Belson’s visual effects projected on the 65-foot dome of the California Academy of Science’s Morrison Planetarium. The program at LACMA features rarely screened films including Caravan (1952), Séance (1959), Cycles (1974, made with Stephen Beck), a new preservation print of Chakra (1972), and Belson's latest film, Epilogue (2005), funded by the NASA Art Program and commissioned by the Hirshhorn Museum (produced on video). The program also includes Allures, Light, Music of the Spheres and Samadhi. Program introduced by Cindy Keefer, curator and archivist, CVM.

For more about Jordan Belson (biographies by Moritz and Keefer, bibliography, filmography, Vortex resources, new articles, etc.), or the Belson DVD, please visit the official Belson Research site at: www.centerforvisualmusic.org/Belson