Objetivo 40º (40 Degree Lens)

These Javier Aguirre films constitute a series of eight shorts that the Basque filmmaker shot between 1967 and 1971, under the overall title of Anticine (Anticinema). Alongside the collection, he published a text with the same name in which he set out his film theory. Together, these works represent one of the most radical examples of experimental Spanish cinema, which at the time was undergoing a period of intense development as Spain opened up to the outside world. With Anticine, Aguirre creates a close dialogue with concrete music, poetry, literature, the abstract-geometric side of painting and even computer-generated art. Various artists were involved: experimental musicians such as Luis de Pablo, Eduardo Polonio, Horacio Vaggione and Tomás Marco, visual poets like Fernando Millán and writers, including José Agustín Goytisolo. This is why this film series has such a fundamental role in the Museum’s collection, to help understand the collaborative environment and the ‘fusions’ that existed in Spain towards the end of the 1960s, and the way traditional values were being challenged by every means of artistic expression employed by these artists.

Lola Hinojosa