Summer, or grief

United States, 1998

Artwork

In this single-channel videotape, a sequence of personal, light-filled images alternates with single words and short phrases in a stark white font against black background. The imagery consists of stills, pans, tracking shots, and long pulls-to-focus of everyday subjects photographed in and around the artist’s summer home in Upstate New York over the course of several summers. The text, an excerpt from `The Conversation’ by poet Allen Grossman, is an eloquent but dark meditation on loss and the passage of time. The tape is about appearance and interiority, surface and undercurrent, and the coexistence of the dark in the light, apprehension and beauty in common experience.

Content notification

Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.

Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.

How to watch

Access to this work is restricted for legal or cultural reasons.

Learn more about accessing our collection

Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

creator

Mary Lucier

Production places
United States
Production dates
1998

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

B1000121

Language

English

Audience classification

unclassified

Subject category

Digital Art

Object Types

Artwork

Materials

Single channel moving image

Holdings

Digital Betacam [PAL]; Master

Digital Betacam [PAL]; Sub-master

VHS [PAL]; Reference - timecoded

MOV file ProRes4444; Digital Preservation Master - overscan

MPEG-4 Digital File; ACMI Digital Access Copy - overscan

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/107949--summer-or-grief/ |title=Summer, or grief |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=9 November 2024 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}