Stillness in Andy Warhol's film and photography

Using the ARTIST ROOMS collection of Andy Warhol’s stitched photographs as a starting point, this research project intends to examine the place of stillness within Warhol’s oeuvre.

Lead: Dr Glyn Davis, School of Design, Edinburgh College of Art

 In particular, it strives to identify connections between his films and photography, which are usually considered in isolation from each other.

While historical accounts of Warhol’s Factory, especially during its 1960s heyday, suggest the space operated as a hive of activity, one of the dominant aesthetics and themes of Warhol’s work is a profound stillness - as demonstrated by, in particular, his lengthy structuralist film works of 1963-1964, including Sleep and Empire, and the three-minute Screen Tests, which Warhol referred to as ‘stillies’.

Elaborating his previous research on Warhol’s work, Davis will situate this project within the context of his research on the emergent relationship within Warhol’s work between cinema and slowness, stillness, duration, and boredom.