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Rodney Graham

The Phonokinetoscope (2001) by Rodney Graham (b. 1949, Abbotsford, Canada – d. 2022, Vancouver, Canada) touches upon the first attempts by Thomas Edison to synchronise cinematographic images and sound. As is often the case in his works, Graham himself is featured, cycling through the flower garden of Berlin’s Tiergarten. A handful of accessories, such as a playing card, a thermos flask, the bike or an LSD trip provide a light narrative, which follows a scenario with a high degree of precision, despite the author’s claim of apparent spontaneity. Packed with references, the film alludes to Albert Hoffmann – the inventor of LSD – and his involuntary experience of the drug while on a bike, as well as to numerous episodes taken from the history of cinema, music and art.

Artworks

  1. Rodney Graham Phonokinetoscope, 2001

    Film 16 mm, tourne-disque
    5 min
    Collection M.J.S., Paris
    Dépôt 2006 - Collection Mudam Luxembourg
    © Photos : Andrés Lejona

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