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Refractions of shapes move across the screen, light glitters from a watery surface, and a baby is born. This selection of short works showcase filmmakers experimenting with abstraction and light effects.

Lichtspiel Schwarz-Weiss-Grau (Light Play:Black, White, Grey) 1930

This short film by Hungarian artist Laszlo Moholy-Nagy combines his kinetic sculpture 'Light Prop for an Electric Stage' 1930 with light, shadow and film to produce a moving abstract painting.

6 minutes | All Ages

Rhythm in Light 1934

A pioneer of visual music and electronic art, Mary Ellen Bute along with producers Melville Webber and Ted Nemeth, plays with the focus of the camera and harnesses prisms, sparklers, eggbeaters and cellophane to create a beguiling abstract work set to Greig’s Peer Gynt Suite.

5 minutes | All Ages

Synchromy No. 2 1935

In a darkened background, illuminated shapes dance across the screen. Artist filmmaker Mary Ellen Bute begins her work with the maxim: the following film is designed by a modern artist to create moods through the eye as music creates moods through the ear.

2 minutes | All Ages

Window Water Baby Moving 1959

A film steeped in awe, love and physicality by experimental American filmmaker Stan Brakhage, Window, Water, Baby, Moving is a revelatory film about the birth of his daughter.

13 minutes | Ages 18+ | Scenes of childbirth

I Without End 2008

6 minutes | Ages 18+ | Animated sexual scenes

I Without End...Meanwhile 2008

Iranian-American artist Laleh Khorramian’s tender and sensual films capture an erotic encounter between two figures made from orange peel. As the orange peel ages, dries and transforms over time, the peel couple sway toward and away from candles and light and each other. I Without End and I Without End…Meanwhile examine the element of fire within an animation series exploring the elements of earth, air, water and fire.

4 minutes | Ages 18+ | Animated sexual scenes