Changing Times, Time Changes: Canadian Experimental Films and Videos of the 1990s

M. Wayne Cunningham is a past executive director of the Saskatchewan
Arts Board and the former director of Academic and Career Programs at
East Kootenay Community College.

This succinct retrospective catalogue documents the March 2002
exhibition of experimental 1990s films and videos that guest curator
Gerda Johanna Cammaer programmed for the Mount Saint Vincent University
Art Gallery’s screenings at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.

Cammaer’s introductory essay elaborates on the various aspects of
time found in experimental film and television productions, which she
characterizes as “autobiographical, self-referential and often not
chronological.” In Part 1 (“Time Has No Image”), she gives
revealing capsule commentaries for each of the 12 entries, describing
the content of each and providing the artist’s biographical details.
Part 2 (“Going Back Home”) features five selections by the
award-winning French-Canadian filmmaker, Louise Bourque, who teaches
cinema at Emerson College. Also included are descriptions of Rae
Staseson’s The Dollhouse Diaries and Rick Hancox’s Moose Jaw. Part 3
(“Like a Dream That Vanishes”) deals with the show’s final seven
entries, work by film/video artists Freda Guttman, Ho Tam, Alexandra
Grimanis, Karyn Sandlos, Deirdre Logue, Mike Hoolboom, and Barbara
Sternberg.

Cammaer’s well-documented catalogue is recommended for film/video
students and archivists, curators, and anyone interested in the
experimental film/video movement in Canada.