Trace (Fluxfilm no. 12)
Robert Watts
American, 1923–1988
1966
A three-minute silent 16mm film that presents bold white numerals (408) isolated on black, asking viewers to notice the shapes and presence of printed type as a moving image.
What hits you is the stark, high-contrast display of blocky numbers floating in the frame—their grainy edges, slight halo, and varying type qualities emphasizing the film’s materiality and turning typography into an almost abstract composition.
As a Fluxus work, it treats everyday typography as readymade subject and reduces film to a conceptual exercise—erasing narrative to foreground perception, chance, and the expanded possibilities of artists’ moving-image practice.
Medium
16mm film (black and white, silent)
Dimensions
3:01 min.
Classification
Department
Credit
The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift
Accession
2452.2008.20
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
