Len Lye Talks About Art

From Lye's slide/tape lectures in the 1970s

During the 1970s, the last decade of his life, Lye made about 30 ‘slide-tape programmes’, using a tape recorder synchronised with a slide projector. The average talk was about seven to ten minutes in length, with a change of slide each 10-20 seconds. His aim was to leave a record of his ideas about art and a resource for educators. He was not interested in making straight-forward commercial programmes – rather, he ranged widely and often playfully, encouraging the listener to share the pleasure he himself took in imagination, in lateral thinking, in free-wheeling creativity. His distinctive style was whimsical, tongue-in-cheek, colloquial, provocative, excited by ideas, and always passionate about art.

Lye’s talks reflected the informal mood – serious but ever solemn – in which he liked to present his ideas. In selecting seven of the talks and digitising them (for ease of use), we have tried to illustrate their overall style, range and flavour. The artist made no apologies for the idiosyncratic, rough-round-the-edges aspects of the talks because he regarded art as more than a matter of slick production values. In a similar spirit, we wanted to stay true to their original look and sound.

Though Lye was well aware of the limitations of using photos to illustrate works of art, particularly those that involved movement, he liked the way a frozen image on the screen could serve as a focus or catalyst for thinking about art. He used his programmes with audiences both young and old, and was forever changing the selection and order of slides in response to feedback and to his own constantly evolving ideas.

The Talks:

Download pdf 'Notes on the Talks'