Mare’s Tail

Edition of 500 numbered copies.

In 1969 both Anthony and David were at the start of their respective careers and both were inspired by the ideas of the avant garde and the new technologies becoming available to them. David experimented with the various techniques being explored in the medium of film making and Anthony tested the limits of what could be done with tape recorders. It was an open and co-operative exploration. The results of their first collaboration was the film Mare’s Tail – an unusually long 2:30 hour film of non linear multi layered audio visual collage filmed in a wide variety of locations interspersed with texts coming from readings and talks, Kabalistic texts, recorded phone calls, loops, children’s voices and other found material. The musical dimension is mainly supplied by various struck objects/noise/feedback/field recordings and samples. There are instruments too and we even get treated to a small section of what was to become a Slapp Happy tune. The blurry dreamscape/nightmare that slowly unfolds is laden with late 60s delirium. The original master tapes are long gone and all that remains is the audio track on existing copies of the film and various bits of the make up tapes, most of which were used (but some not), in the final cut. The low grade 16mm audio track (a degraded source to begin with), is further worn with age, subsequent duplication and repeated screenings. It all adds to the haze – a quality that David would have most likely approved.