Ken Brown’s psychedelic Light Show Films (1967-69) at the Centre Pompidou, Paris
‘I hope you all remembered to bring your bongs,’ wise words from the American filmmaker Ken Brown as he introduced his psychedelic Light Show Films (1967-69) at the Centre Pompidou. As part of the International Documentary Film Festival 2011, Cinéma du Réel presented a special screening of the light shows Brown produced over a period of two and a half years for the legendary Boston Tea Party. These Super-8mm films were part of the large tapestry of light used as a backdrop to all the music that came through the Boston area in the late 1960’s. The projections enhanced live performances by Jimi Hendrix, Led Zepplin, The Who, and The Velvet Underground, who were all regulars at the Boston Tea Party. Using the same effect as the original shows, synthesizing two senses into one, the silent Light Show Films projected at the Centre Pompidou were given a live soundtrack by Le Réveil des Tropiques featuring Uspudo. Breathing new life into the films the soundtrack was an unrestrained jam thrown together with psychedelic undertones to suit Brown’s vision. True to their time, the films possess an unruly energy with hallucinatory superimpositions, pulsing lights, animations, and comic vignettes. With its abundance of graphic referencing, Ken Brown’s films are true pop culture artifacts and a testament to a time of cultural, political and artistic revolutions. Text and Video Annabel Fernandes