Chris Burden

November 19, 1971, F Space, Santa Ana, California: “At 7:45 p.m. I was shot in the left arm by a friend”.

The life and work of enigmatic Dutch/Californian conceptual artist Bas Jan Ader, who in 1975 disappeared under mysterious circumstances at sea in the smallest boat ever to cross the Atlantic. As seen through the eyes of fellow emigrant filmmaker René Daalder, the picture becomes a sweeping overview of contemporary art films as well as an epic saga of the transformative powers of the ocean.

The TV Commercials 1973–1977 (1973–77/2000) is a compilation of four video works—TV Ad (1973), Poem for L.A. (1975), Chris Burden Promo (1976), and Full Financial Disclosure (1977)— that were aired as purchased spots on television between 1973 and 1977. Burden notes: “During the early ’70s I conceived a way to break the omnipotent stranglehold of the airwaves that broadcast television had. The solution was to simply purchase commercial advertising time and have the stations play my tapes along with their other commercials.”

In this short compilation, Chris Burden introduces and narrates selected clips from his public art performances including 'Shoot', 'Bed Piece', and 'Fire Rolls', among others.

A film about a sculpture by Chris Burden.

A probing portrait of Chris Burden, an artist who took creative expression to the limits and risked his life in the name of art.

During the 1980 exhibition of Burden's monumental kinetic sculpture The Big Wheel at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York, Burden and Feldman were interviewed by art critic Willoughby Sharp. Burden articulates the process of creating The Big Wheel, a 6,000-pound, spinning cast-iron flywheel that is initially powered by a motorcycle, and discusses its relation to his earlier performance pieces and sculptural works. Addressing his motivations and the meaning of this potentially dangerous mechanical art object, Burden discusses such topics as the role of the artist in the industrial world, "personal insanity and mass insanity," and "man's propensity towards violence."

May 7th, 1974, School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Chris Burden relentlessly dunks his head in a filled-up sink, trying to breath water.