Letter to Paul Arthur (Letter with Footnotes)

Reflexive considerations on the historiography of artists' films can be usefully augmented by consideration of the nature of the institutions that organize and fund fi lm retrospectives and conferences. This essay considers two such events that took place in Los Angeles in fall 2010: 'Counter Culture/Counter Cinema', a celebration of the heritage of the New York Film-Makers' Cooperative, sponsored by the museum-real estate complex; and 'Alternative Projections: Experimental Film in Los Angeles, 1945–1980', Los Angeles's celebration of its own history, sponsored by the museum-academic complex.