Walter De Maria's Hard Core

A pioneering figure in the development of minimal, conceptual, land art, and installation art, New York–based artist Walter De Maria was born in Albany, California, in 1935. De Maria is probably best known for his installations, such as The 2000 Sculpture, which is currently on view in the museum's Resnick Pavilion. In conjunction with that exhibition, LACMA will screen De Maria's film Hard Core, which was shot in the Black Rock Desert, Nevada, in July of 1969. Hard Core draws on elements of the Western film genre while capturing the power of the desert landscape in a 360-degree panning shot. The film is accompanied by recordings of two pieces of music that were originally performed and recorded by De Maria: Cricket Music (1964) and Ocean Music (1969).

Hard Core was commissioned by James Newman and the Dilexi Foundation, San Francisco, in association with KQED San Francisco public television, as part of a initiative to let artists create and direct their own original work for television. The first public viewing was on September 27, 1969, as part of the 7th Lincoln Center Film Festival in New York. Subsequently, it was shown on public television as originally intended.