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Michael Nyman: Man With a Movie Camera

Summerhall, August 2nd-31st
Michael Nyman is best known for his work as a contemporary composer who has soundtracked a myriad of films, including several directed by the painterly Peter Greenaway, as well as scoring mainstream success for his work on Jane Campion's The Piano. Such visual motifs date right back to Nyman's work on early Greenaway oddities such as A Walk Through H. All this is compounded in the series of ten remakes of Ivan Vertov's pioneering 1929 film, Man With A Movie Camera, to make up the installation that forms Nyman's first ever exhibition in Scotland.

Nyman's original score for Vertov's experimental exploration of cinematic techniques by way of studies of Soviet urban life was first performed by his band in 2002, with a BFI DVD of the film also featuring Nyman's soundtrack, released shortly after. Vertov's original film will be shown alongside Nyman's remakes in such a way that will allow viewers to walk through the gallery space and watch all films or one. While Nyman mixes and matches his own footage, the aim of the collected works is to capture the essence of Vertov's spirit, but to make something that plays very much for today. 

The List, August 2013

ends

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