Scanner Interview: Harry Smith at 100

We caught up with Robin Rimbaud aka Scanner ahead of his 'Harry Smith at 100' live show at the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Brighton. Harry Smith was an American bohemian filmmaker from the 1950s and 60s, who made a wealth of animations and visual collages - which Robin would soundtrack live during the show. 

Scanner: Harry Smith at 100

Harry Smith (1923–1991) was a great American eccentric, experimental filmmaker, musicologist, graphic designer, bohemian and anthropologist. He was also a collector of found objects and sounds, including the world's largest known private paper aeroplane collection. The Anthology of American Folk Music is perhaps his most famous contribution.

British artist Robin Rimbaud, also known as Scanner, has been invited by the Harry Smith Archives to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth by performing live scores to a wide selection of his films. This includes: Mahagonny, Friends of Harry Smith (Jordan Belson, Robert Frank, Jonas Mekas, Allen Ginsberg, etc.), Early Abstractions, Heaven & Earth Magic.

For this event, Scanner will be performing a live soundtrack to Smith's Early Abstractions (1946–57) and Untitled Seminole Patchwork (1965–66) films.

He runs us through his rig, which includes the Teenage Engineering OP-1, the Black Box 1010, the new Zoom L6 Mixer, MOTU M4 Sound Card and his modular equipment. Here's a taste of what we saw on the night - with Robin sound tracking Harry's Early Abstraction films:

Here's a collection of Harry Smith's 'Early Abstractions' films: 

The show was presented by ACCA, CINECITY & Spirit of Gravity. Thanks to Laura, Tony and Geoff in Brighton for helping to make this interview happen.

More information on the event: https://attenboroughcentre.com/events/5160/scanner-harry-smith-at-100

Scanner's website: https://scannerdot.com/

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