Bruce Conner(1933-2008)
- Director
- Actor
- Cinematographer
Bruce Conner was born in McPherson, Kansas, in 1933 and studied art at
Wichita University, the University of Nebraska, the Brooklyn Art
School, and the University of Colorado. Moving to San Francisco in
1957, Conner became involved with the Beatniks. He continued to live
and work in San Francisco, until his death in 2008.
Conner first made a name for himself in the 1950s with
assemblages/sculptures of found objects. In the late 1950s, he began
making short movies that proved highly influential and established him
as one of the seminal figures in the history of independent,
avant-garde filmmaking. Conner's first film,
A Movie (1958), a visual collage created
from bits of B-movies, newsreels, and other footage, has been listed on
the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Connor was also
responsible for Crossroads (1976),
produced with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, which
turned the destructive and sinister atom-bomb test in Bikini Atoll into
elegiac visual poetry.
Wichita University, the University of Nebraska, the Brooklyn Art
School, and the University of Colorado. Moving to San Francisco in
1957, Conner became involved with the Beatniks. He continued to live
and work in San Francisco, until his death in 2008.
Conner first made a name for himself in the 1950s with
assemblages/sculptures of found objects. In the late 1950s, he began
making short movies that proved highly influential and established him
as one of the seminal figures in the history of independent,
avant-garde filmmaking. Conner's first film,
A Movie (1958), a visual collage created
from bits of B-movies, newsreels, and other footage, has been listed on
the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Connor was also
responsible for Crossroads (1976),
produced with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, which
turned the destructive and sinister atom-bomb test in Bikini Atoll into
elegiac visual poetry.