2025
The visual identity for this year’s Seminar is deeply inspired by the work of Bill Brand, whose colorful public artwork MASSTRANSISCOPE embodies the spirit of movement, transition, and collective experience — ideas that are at the core of this year’s theme, Onward! As Art Director, Maliyamungu Muhande led the creative vision, drawing from Brand’s dynamic use of motion and form to shape the seminar’s visual identity. Zīle Liepins, as Designer, translated this inspiration into a striking design that reflects Flaherty’s evolving conversations, layered histories, and commitment to radical cinema.
Onward! 70th FLAHERTY FILM SEMINAR
GHOSTS IN THE GARDEN: Bill Brand Retrospective
Livestream and conversation June 12, 20025
Program available free until July 31, 2025
Introduction
1| Masstransiscope (1980)
2| Tree (1970)
3| Acts of Light Part 2: Angular Momentum (1973)
4| Chuck’s Will’s Widow (1982) silent
5| Interior Outpost (2003)
6| Skinside Out (2002) by Bill Brand and Katy Martin
7| Susie’s Ghost (2011) in collaboration with Ruthie Marantz
8| Sicomoro (2011)
9| August Garden (2019)
Ghosts in the Garden
Katy Martin and Bill Brand
Court Tree Collective - Brooklyn
June 14 - July 19, 2025
2-person exhibition
Industry City
51 35th Street, Building #5
2nd Floor, Suite B236
Brooklyn, NY 11232
Travers Park, 2017, ink and watercolor on xuan paper, 22” x 33”
Accouchement / Birthing
Blue Hydrangea, 2024, watercolor on xuan paper, 16" x 20"
Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Paris, France
January 9 - March 1, 2025
Group Show
10, rue des Beaux Arts
Paris 75006, France
The Greatest Films You’ll Never See, Volume III
The Brooklyn Rail
Film Dec/Jan 2024–25
Rail contributors share another list of films forgotten, obscured, lost, and shelved that deserve our remembering.
Coalfields (1984, dir. Bill Brand)
by Nicholas Reich
2024
Bill Brand Artist Talk
August 24th 3 - 5pm!
Court Tree Collective
51 35th Street, BLD #5, 2nd Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11232
Bill Brand will give an artist talk to celebrate the 2nd year anniversary of Court Tree Collective’s ongoing exhibition of the full portfolio of 57 limited edition Masstransiscope fine art prints based on his well-known public artwork. He will speak about what inspired him to make the public artwork Masstransiscope, the basic principles of cinema that make it work, and his success in restoring it after years of vandalism and neglect
Bill Brand’s Masstransiscope is one of New York City’s most beloved public art projects. Installed in 1980 in the subway tunnel in Brooklyn and seen from the Q and B trains, the work’s 228 hand-painted images on 57 panels are mounted in a self-contained unit that runs the full 300 feet length of the unused Myrtle Ave. station. The movement of the train in front of the exhibition creates the illusion of a 30-second animated movie. Masstransiscope works on the principle of the zoetrope: a pre-cinematic device that makes images appear to move when they are viewed through a rotating drum pierced with narrow slits
“Friends of Friends” group exhibition
March 30th - April 20th, 2024
Court Tree Collective
51 35th Street, BLD #5, 2nd Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11232
The "Friends of Friends" contemporary art group exhibition at Court Tree Collective promises to be an exciting showcase of collaborative creativity and artistic camaraderie. Featuring works by a diverse group of artists connected through mutual friendships, this exhibition offers a glimpse into the interconnected nature of our gallery. From painting and sculpture to multimedia installations and performance art, visitors can expect a dynamic array of perspectives and styles throughout the month. As our gallery continues to be a hub for contemporary art, this exhibition celebrates the power of friendship and collaboration in shaping our cultural landscape.
FEATURING:
Shantaye McMorrow
Jasper Stieve
Tone Tank
Chris Moore
Jaime Patino-Calvo
Jeanne Tremel
Truls Martensson
John Vitale
Nick Battis
Andrew Abbott
Fukuko Harrison
Jade Chan
Tony Starbuck
Rich Cali
Bill Brand
Jason Lustig and more……
Orphans at MoMA: Sixteen Tons—Working with 16mm
programmed by Orphan Film Symposium director Dan Streible
Museum of Modern Art, New York
To Save and Project festival
11 West 53 Street
New York, New York, 10019
Saturday, January 27. 2024 - 1 pm
MoMA, Floor T2/T1, Theater 2
Introduced by Tanya Goldman, Kimberly Tarr, Chon Noriega, Bill Brand, Elena Rossi-Snook, Larry Gottheim, and Dan Streible
Tall Tales. 1941. USA. Directed by William Watts, Willard Van Dyke
Whitesburg Epic. 1971. USA. Directed by Appalachian Film Workshop. Preserved by Appalshop Archive.
Golf. 1957. USA. Directed by Raphael Montañez Ortiz. Preserved by Bill Brand - BB Optics.
Cowboy and “Indian” Film. 1957–58. USA. Directed by Ortiz.Preserved by Bill Brand - BB Optics.
Newsreel. 1958. USA. Directed by Ortiz. All Ortiz films preserved by UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center with UCLA Film & Television Archive.Preserved by Bill Brand - BB Optics.
Your Television Traveler. 1991/2023. USA. Directed by Larry Gottheim, Preserved by SUNY Binghamton Foundation. World premiere. Preserved by Bill Brand - BB Optics.
Susie’s Ghost. 2011. USA. Directed by Bill Brand in collaboration with Ruthie Marantz. Preserved by Bill Brand - BB Optics.
If This Ain’t Heaven. 1983. USA. Directed by Roberta Cantow. Preserved by the New York Public Library. World premiere. Preserved by Bill Brand - BB Optics
Program approx. 120 min.
Bill Brand
Amarylis, Acrylic on canvas, 22" x 15" 2024
Susie’s Ghost (2011) by Bill Brand in collaboration with Ruthie Marantz
Golf (1957) by Raphael Montañez Ortiz.
2023
Show in Progress
Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Paris, France
Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre
10, rue des Beaux Arts
Paris 75006, France
October 26, 2023 - January 6, 2024
ACT III
Hessie, Katy Martin, Judth Nelson, Diana Quinby and Olga Theuriet
Thursday December 7th at 6 pm
Projection of film “Hessie Transe perce Survie’ presented by Bill Brand
Performance by Katy Martin
An Evening with Bill Brand
Maysles Documentary Center
343 Malcolm X Blvd.
New York, NY
Screening and Artist Talk
September 22, 2023 7 pm
Summer Freestyle
Court Tree Collective
Industry City
51 35th Street,
BLD #5
2nd FL, Suite B236
Brooklyn, NY
Group show
July 22, 2023 opening 3 pm - 6 pm
One year anniversary of ongoing exhibition, Masstransiscope 11” x 17” fine art print portfolio.
Prismatic Ground Film Festival
Anthology Film Archives, New York, NY
Program 6
COALFIELDS (1984) 16mm preservation print
Adam Piron YAANGA PLAYS ITSELF (2022, 8 min, digital)
Arthur & Corinne Cantrill WATERFALL (1984, 17 min, 16mm)
Erin Weisgerber DANS LES CIEUX ET SUR LA TERRE (2022, 12 min, 35mm)
Kevin Steen DARON, DARON COLBERT (2022, 14 min, 35mm)
Bill Brand COALFIELDS (1984, 39 min, 16mm)
Total running time: ca. 95 min + Q&A
Anthology Film Archives
132 2nd Ave,
New York, NY 10003
May 7, 2023, 4:30 pm
Bill Brand, Helicônia_Rostrata, ink on xuan paper, 16"x20" 2023
Millennium Film Journal #78
review excerpt from Magic Eye: The Third Annual Prismatic Ground Festival by Paul Attard
…. Likewise, with Bill Brand’s Coalfields (1984), which was shown on the same program as the Cantrills’ film at Anthology Film Archives, the festival had another seasoned avant-gardist going about his usual practice, albeit with an additional political spin. A tapestry of fragmented archival interviews—which, in turn, have been visually fragmented themselves through the use of an optical printer—are employed to tell the story of framed union man Fred Carter. Brand spoke afterwards about using experimental film techniques—one previously employed in a series of short structuralist works in the early 70s, most notably his Acts of Light trilogy—in order to help construct a new cinematic language for documentary-adjacent films; in a sense, this could, considering its mission statement, be seen as the platonic ideal for a festival like Prismatic Ground.
Light Field Film Festival
Program 10
curated by Light Field
Acts of Light
a trilogy consisting of Rate of Change, Angular Momentum, and Circles of Confusion
Bill Brand in person
The Lab
2948 16th Street
San Francisco, CA
Sunday, April 2, 2023 @ 9pm
2022
2021
Rencontre 2 - Talk with Artists 2
Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Paris, France
ROBERT HUOT / Meeting Nov 3 at 6:30 pm
CAROL KINNE / Meeting Nov 10 at 6:30 pm
KATY MARTIN / Meeting Nov 17 at 6:30 pm
BILL BRAND / Meeting Nov 24 at 6:30 pm
Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre
10, rue des Beaux Arts
Paris 75006, France
October 27 - December 3, 2022
Masstransiscope
Court Tree Collective
Industry City
51 35th Street,
BLD #5
2nd FL, Suite B236
Brooklyn, NY
July 23, 2022 - ongoing
Masstransiscope fine art print portfolio. For the first time ever all fifty seven of the 11”x17” prints are exhibited.
In Dialogue with Bill Brand
Visual Studies Workshop
31 Prince Street
Rochester, NY
October 27th, 2022
Screening Bill’s experimental films along with selections he has made from the VSW Film collection, creating a unique dialogue between the artist and the archive. This screening is followed by a conversation between Bill and VSW curator Tara Nelson.
Program:
The Nose (1963) by Claire Parker and Alexandre Alexeieff,
Organic Afghan (1969) by Bill Brand
Begone Dull Care (1949) by Norman McLaren and Evelyn Lambart
It Dawn Down (1974) by Bill Brand
Roulement Rourie Aubage (1978) by Rose Lowder
Split Decision (1979) by Bill Brand
Still at Work (1975) by Bill Brand
Light Licks: Amen (2018) by Saul Levine
Interior Outpost (2003) by Bill Brand
August Garden (2019) by Bill Brand
99 Minutes
Five paintings acrylic on canvas and one video by Bill Brand
It Dawn Down, 1974 by Bill Brand
NEW’
Court Tree Collective
Industry City
51 35th Street,
BLD #5
2nd FL, Suite B236
Brooklyn, NY
August 14 – Oct 3rd, 2021
NEW’ is about the most current and most recent artists that have inspired us. This is an on going curation process and NEW’ artist will be added during the exhibition. FeaturingAydo Studio ·Bill Brand·Jacob Gerard·Jeanne Tremel· Micòl Hernández · Mika Saito · Yuto and more...
Group Show
Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Paris, France
Gallery Artists
Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre
10, rue des Beaux Arts
Paris 75006, France
January 7 - February 27, 2021
Bill Brand, Acrylic on Canvas. Ornate Mailbox, 18” x 24”, 2021; Picket Fence, 18” x 24”, 2020; Bucket Garden, 21 x 32”, 2021; Lace Cap Hydrangeo, 24” x 18”, 2021.
Bill Brand, Ornithology 6, 8 1/2 minute video on continuous display, 2021
Bill Brand, Hydrangea 2, ink and watercolor on xuan paper, 18” x 26”
Bill Brand, Hydrangea 3, ink on xuan paper, 27 1/2" x 18". 2020
2020
COVID-19 Group Show
Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Paris, France
Stéphane Bayard, Ericka Beckman, Stéphane Belzère, Gina Birch, Bill Brand, Nicole Brossard, Agnès Butet / Bernard Tran, Nick Cash, Nora Chipaumire / Ari Marcopoulos, Susan Chorpenning, Nicolas Clair, Natalie Curtis, Domingo Djuric, Véronique Goël, Nicole Hassler, Hessie / Mythia Kolesar, Sky Hopinka, Robert Huot / Carol Kinne, Marie-France Jean, Asuka Kazama, Alison Grace Koehler, Nadine de Kœnigswarter, Pat h. Mart, Katy Martin, Leslie McAllister, Helga Natz, Judith Nelson, Paul Nelson, Christine Piot, Diana Quinby, Ned Richardson, Stein Rønning, Anne Saussois, Heidi Kennedy Skjerve, Jason Stoneking, Eiji Suzue, Ryo Takahashi, Olga Theuriet, Sue Wrbican, Ni NI Yu
Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre
10, rue des Beaux Arts
Paris 75006, France
June 2, 2020 - June 13, 2020
Bill Brand: Daisy Cleaners, ink & watercolor on xuan paper, 46cm x 58cm, 2019
2019
New Works / Nouveaux Travaux
Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Paris, France
Gina Birch, Bill Brand, Natalie Curtis, Robert Huot, Carol Kinne, Diana Quinby, Katy Martin, Ned Richardson, Eiji Suzue, Olga Theuriet, Sue Wrbican
Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre
10, rue des Beaux Arts
Paris 75006, France
December 5, 2019 - February 1, 2020
Opening Wednesday December 4, 6-8 pm
Moustapha Alassane films
Metrograph, New York
Program 3 introduced by Bill Brand
No. 7 Ludlow Street
November 23-24, 2019
Program 3: November 24 at 6 p.m.
Includes North American Premiere of new restoration of Samba le Grand (1977), restored 2019. The first full-color African animation.
Turtle
a form of ephemeral art exhibition pioneered by the artist, Michael Shamberg
Cité Internationale des Arts - Paris, France
at the invitation of Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre
18, rue de l’hôtel de ville, 75004 Paris
October 12-20, 2019
Scrapbook (or, Why Can’t We Live Together)
Microscope Gallery
329 Willoughby Avenue, Brooklyn
July 12 – August 19, 2019
Zoe Beloff, Bill Brand, MV Carbon, Diane Dwyer, Bradley Eros, foci + loci, Morrison Gong (w/ J. (Jialing) Shih), Tessa Hughes-Freeland, Marni Kotak, M. Lamar, Le’Andra LeSeur, Jeanne Liotta, Simon Liu, Bruce McClure, Julian Louis Phillips, Tenzin Phuntsog, Raha Raiss
Bill Brand, Pong Ping Pong” (1971)
Expanded Cinema Performance
July 29 at 7:30 pm
Getting Inside the Frame
BILL BRAND INTERVIEWED BY ALBERTE PAGÁN
by Albert Pagán
Desist Film
(S8) MOSTRA DE CINEMA PERIFÉRICO: AN INTERVIEW WITH BILL BRAND
by José Sarmiento-Hinojosa
(S8) Mostra de Cinema Periférico
Film Festival, A Coruña, Spain
Bill Brand film screening
Thursday, June 6, 2019
CGA I Filmoteca
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Master Class Bill Brand
Friday, June 7, 2019
Afundación. Sala de prensa/ Press room
11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Round Table discussion on Restoration
Saturday, June 8, 2019
Afundación Auditorio/ Auditorium
12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
Bill Brand’s August Garden (2019) 4 1/2 min. video + work on paper 24cm x 34 cm.
Samba le Grand (1977) restored in 2019 by Bill Brand with New York University’s Moving Image Archiving and Preservation program, the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in New York, and La Cinémathèque Afrique de l’Institut Français.
Pong Ping Pong (1971) at Microscope Gallery, July 29, 2019, photo by Katy Martin
2018
photo by Linda Cummings
Art in the Open: Fifty Years of Public Art in New York
Masstransiscope (1980)
Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd St., NY, NY
November 10, 2017 - September 23, 2018
Open Daily 10 am–6 pm
Film Preservation and the Creative Impulse
Lecture by Bill Brand, Artist, Activist, Professor
Arquivo Geral da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro/Auditorium
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
June 5, 2018
3:30 PM to 5:00 PM
S8 Mostra de Cinema Periférico
The Cinema on Paper, gallery exhibition of films and scores including
BIll Brand's Moment (1972) and Zip-Tone-Cat-Tune (1972)
along with work by Lis Rhodes, Peter Kubelka, Paul Sharits, Rose Lowder, Kurt Kren, Dora Maurer and R. Bruce Elder.
Luis Seoane Foundation
La Coruña, Spain
May 15 - July 1, 2018
11 am to 3 pm and from 5 pm to 9 pm
Treasures of New York
Art Underground
Special | 56m 46s television broadcast aired periodically on WNET since 2012
Art Underground explores 25 years of the MTA Arts for Transit program, with artists including Faith Ringgold, Tom Otterness, Milton Glaser, Bill Brand, Andrea Dezsö, and Elizabeth Murray.
2017
photo by Katy Martin
Robert Huot, Katy Martin, Bill Brand
Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Paris, France
Robert Huot: Super-8 Diary 1982-2012
Katy Martin: Figure Painting
Bill Brand: Masstransiscope
Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre
10, rue des Beaux Arts
Paris 75006, France
April 20 - May 27, 2016
Opening Thursday April 20 at 6 pm
Conversación con Bill Brand + Prección
Clausura Tacita Dean y residencia LEC Laboratorio Experimental de Cine
Museo Tamayo
Audiotorio
Paseo de la Reforma y Gandhi s/n
11580 Mexico City, Mexico
March 12, 2017 12 pm
Preservations as a Creative Act - Cineteca Nacional, Mexico City
Taller: La preservación como acto creativo con Bill Brand
Hosted by LEC Laboratorio Experimental de Cine
Cineteca Nacional
Av. México Coyoacán 389 Col. Xoco
03330 Mexico City, Mexico
Filmoteca UNAM
Circuito Mario de la Cueva
Coyoacán, Distrito Federal, Mexico 04360
March 16-18, 2017
Clase Magistral de Bill Brand
Masstransiscope
Faro Aragón
Avenida 517, 1a. Sección de San Juan de Aragón
Mexico City, Mexico 07969
March 15, 2017 5 pm
Orphans 2017 / Orphelines de Paris
Tests,essais et expérimentations
Cinémathèque française
51 Rue de Bercy
Paris, France
March 2-4, 2017
2016
Screenings and Workshops
CRATER-Lab
Sant Guillem 17
08006 Barcelona, Spain
November 24-26, 2016
Body, Lens, Brush
Body, Lens, Brush. Works on paper and video.
Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Paris, France
2-person exhibition
Katy Martin et Bill Brand
curated by Arnaud Lefebvre
Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre
10, rue des Beaux Arts
Paris 75006, France
November 10 - December 10, 2016
Opening Thursday, November 10, 2016, time TBA
Bill Brand et Katy Martin
Light Cone, Scratch Projection, Paris, France
curated by Christophe Bichon
Studio des Ursulines
10, rue des Ursulines
75005 Paris, France
Tuesday, November 8, 2016 at 8:30 pm (20:30 h)
Orphans X : Sound
The 10th Orphan Film Symposium
Library of Congress
Packard Campus for Audio-Visual Conservation
Culpeper, Virginia
April 6-9, 2016
Artist in Residence and Group Exhibition
College of Fine Arts, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China
The Modeling of of the Medium
curated by Ding Beili
Art Museum of the College of Fine Arts of Shanghai University
99 Shangda Road, Baoshan District
Shanghai, China
residency: March 6-29, 2016
exhibition: March 25 - April 28, 2016
lecture at K11 Art Center, March 19, 2016, 3 pm
2015
Art in America - March 2015
Notes from Inside the Black Box by Vera Dika
Public Art Dialogue - Volume 5, No. 2
The Enchanting Subway Ride: Bill Brand's Masstransiscope by Annie Dell'Aria
Refracting Lumière: Avant Garde Revisions of the Lumière Brothers
Union Docs
322 Union Ave. Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
Sunday, May 10th, 2015. 7:30PM.
Curated by Joshua Guilford