Early paying audiences had no framework for understanding Warhol’s static films

Evidence

After paying my $2 admission, I entered a comfortably appointed theatre and to the rousing notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony prepared myself for the upcoming presentation. About midway through the third movement the house was darkened and a brilliant white square of light shone on the screen. It remained there, trembling slightly, for approximately 10 minutes, after which some dancing, greyish dots appeared, only to fade and be replaced by the indistinct image of a fog-shrouded Empire State Building. For the next half-hour, along with the other members of the audience, were witness [sic] to this wavering image of what the title of this presentation referred to as Empire. Upon the realization that this was going to be the whole show, I picked up my coat and left. — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now, 1928

Categorization

• XREF: Illustrates the reader’s thesis that avant-garde work requires a scene’s accumulated context to be legible — connects to why culture stagnates claims on the shelf.