Luke Fowler, Electro-Pythagorus (a portrait of Martin Bartlett) at DCA

LUX Scotland is pleased to present the fourth of four tour dates across Scotland to launch Luke Fowler​’s new feature film Electro-Pythagorus (a portrait of Martin Bartlett) (2017).

Electro-Pythagorus is an intimate and subjective portrait of Martin Bartlett (1939 – 93), a Canadian experimental electronic musician who pioneered the use of the ​‘microcomputer’ during the 1970s and 80s. His contribution as an interdisciplinary composer, educator, and founding member of the artist-run centre Western Front is undoubtedly extensive, but his legacy risks fading from cultural memory since his death from AIDS in 1993.

Created largely from archival material as well as new 16mm film footage shot in and around Vancouver and Amsterdam, the film navigates an array of Bartlett’s archival materials including letters, correspondences, notebooks, personal photos, and a huge body of unreleased music and field recordings held at the archives of Simon Fraser University. Softly guided by Fowler’s insightful camera and montage, Electro-Pythagorus is a journey through the evolution of Bartlett’s musical time and space, creating an experimental portrait that defies one-dimensionality.

At DCA Electro-Pythagorus will be presented on 35mm and followed by a Q&A with the artist.

Electro-Pythagorus was co-commissioned by Sonic Acts/​Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam) and Western Front (Vancouver), and is supported by the Harvard Film Study Centre, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (Cambridge, MA) and Creative Scotland.