Pioneers in Art and Science

Gustav Metzger Director Ken McMullen

Gustav Metzger witnessed the rise of Nazism as a small child in Nuremrenberg in the early 1930s. He escaped to Great Britain aged thirteen and trained as a cabinet-maker and an artist before founding auto-destructive art in 1959, which has influenced a generation of younger artists. The scale of Gustav Metzger's achievements and his contribution to contemporary culture are clearly demonstrated in Ken McMullen's comprehensive film.

Gustav Metzger speaks candidly and brilliantly of the influences which have shaped both his own work and the culture of our time. From Vermeer to Freud, from the importance of drawing to a far-reaching discussion of auto-destructive art, Metzger gives profound and lucid insights into the meaning and relevance of art, as well as highlighting the importance of understanding the destructive impulses in human society.

A pioneer in the use of computers in art, Gustav Metzger produced works from 1965 onwards called the Liquid Crystal Light Projections, which were used as the first 'light shows' by rock bands Cream and The Who at the Roundhouse, London -and defined the visual culture of the psychedelic era. Fusing art with politics and social activism, Metzger was a co-founder with Bertrand Russell of the Committee of 100, the anti-war protest group. He convened the now legendary Destruction in Art Symposium in 1966, which featured John Lennon and Yoko Ono amongst others

Ken McMullen's Metzger was commissioned by the Interdisciplinary Arts Department of Arts Council England as part of the Pioneers in Art and Science documentary series, and is designed to fully utilise the potential of the DVD format.Press Release Arts Council of Great Britain

Images available

• J-peg of a Liquid Crystal Light Projection, used as the first light shows at the Roundhouse, London and defined the visual culture of the psychedelic era.
• J-peg (B&W photo) of the first auto-destructive art demonstration: painting with hydrochloric acid on nylon, from 1960.
• J-peg (B&W photo) of director Ken McMullen J-peg of DVD cover

Back To DVD

Pioneers in Art and Science

Art, Poetry and Particle Physics Director Ken McMullen

John Berger is one of our most celebrated and respected writers and broadcasters. A former winner of the Booker Prize, he also wrote one of the most influential books on art of our time, Ways of Seeing, which became a landmark documentary series on BBC Television. In Ken McMullen's engaging and accessible film, Art, Poetry and Particle Physics, he travels to the world's biggest particle physics laboratory at CERN in Geneva.

The film charts an extraordinary and wide-ranging series of discussions and collaborations between Berger and the leading theoretical and experimental physicists John March Russell and Michael Doser. Whether discussing particle physics, poetry, the development of the atom bomb, or the ghostly theft of a glove at the grave of the writer Jorge Luis Borges,

Berger demonstrates why he is one of our foremost cultural figures as he brings an infectious and inspiring curiosity to each encounter to create a refreshingly accessible new perspective to our understanding of the value of science and culture today. Press Release Arts Council of Great Britain

Special Features

• Contains over 1hr of additional film material and interviews.
• 12pp booklet featuring an introductory text by leading science communicator Neil Calder
• poems by Jorge Luis Borges and Simone Weil
• A full John Berger bibliography