After graduating from Harvard in 1962 at the age of 22, Conrad became an active participant in the development of underground cinema (namely alongside Jack Smith) and minimal music (see music program). In 1966, he is particularly noted for his film The Flicker (screened at LUFF 2003 under the program Flicker Boys), influential work of structuralism film with strobe effects. After Four Square and Ten Years Alive on the Infinite Plain, two films of expended cinema that require to be projected on multiple screens, he began a series of work paracinema in 1972. The film medium is altered in various ways (hit, baked, electrocuted...), transgressing the usual techniques of printing and image development and questioning the rules and boundaries of traditional film-making. In 1975, after achieving his "structural" flicker Articulation of Boolean Algebra for Film Opticals, which explores the continuum between visual and sound, he became interested in video format and questions the authorities’ relationships - implicit viewing of a work - whilst his most recent pieces are more situated towards performance comedy.

The following program, divided into two parts, taking a look at the Tony Conrad paracinema period before turning to the artist’s video work.