Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present

Filmed over the past two decades, this kaleidoscopic portrait wonderfully captures the lively, freewheeling spirit of avant-garde legend Tony Conrad, who passed away last year. The subtitle of the film already suggests what his attitude towards art was all about: no false assumptions about the past, no pretensions about the future, just being ‘completely in the present.’ Conrad questioned authority in every period and in every aspect of his life.
As Hubby illustrates, most notably with Conrad’s ongoing protests against the Lincoln Center, the institutionalisation of art was one of his ongoing battles. Uprooting and dismantling our western notion of musical composition was another one. Shifting from music to film, to performance, to teaching, to video, to visual art, to public television, the uncompromising artist challenged his audience to redefine film, music and time. This energetic documentary brings the inspiring Conrad one last time to Rotterdam, ‘completely in the present.’