Ken Jacobs
In Memoriam
September 30, 2026
Until his death in October 2025, Ken Jacobs was one of the longest surviving links to the emergence of post-war independent filmmaking. From the 1950s until the present day his incredible body of work, and his presence as a teacher and active member of the film community, taught generations how to see.
Whether shooting original material or reinterpreting found footage, he animated the screen with energy, improbability, and wonder. Whimsical early films with Jack Smith (Little Stabs at Happiness, Blonde Cobra) gave way to formal studies (Tom, Tom the Piper's Son, Soft Rain) and, late in life, an explosion of mind-bending digital video. Having been schooled in Abstract Expressionism, his search for new visual phenomena led him to invent and investigate various 3D technologies. He developed the 'Nervous System' for live performances that conjured illusions of depth from conventional film footage, and the 'Nervous Magic Lantern' that used only projected light to create impossible, abstract imagery.
These two programs celebrate the lives of Ken and his wife and collaborator Flo, who also passed away earlier last year. It also marks the publication of I Walked Into My Shortcomings (The Visible Press, 2026), a monumental anthology of Jacobs' writing, teaching, and interviews. The book narrates a lifetime of experimentation while offering an incisive critique of American society and its entanglements with capitalism, representation, race, and ethnicity. (Mark Webber)
With Mark Webber in attendance
Until his death in October 2025, Ken Jacobs was one of the longest surviving links to the emergence of post-war independent filmmaking. From the 1950s until the present day his incredible body of work, and his presence as a teacher and active member of the film community, taught generations how to see.
Whether shooting original material or reinterpreting found footage, he animated the screen with energy, improbability, and wonder. Whimsical early films with Jack Smith (Little Stabs at Happiness, Blonde Cobra) gave way to formal studies (Tom, Tom the Piper's Son, Soft Rain) and, late in life, an explosion of mind-bending digital video. Having been schooled in Abstract Expressionism, his search for new visual phenomena led him to invent and investigate various 3D technologies. He developed the 'Nervous System' for live performances that conjured illusions of depth from conventional film footage, and the 'Nervous Magic Lantern' that used only projected light to create impossible, abstract imagery.
These two programs celebrate the lives of Ken and his wife and collaborator Flo, who also passed away earlier last year. It also marks the publication of I Walked Into My Shortcomings (The Visible Press, 2026), a monumental anthology of Jacobs' writing, teaching, and interviews. The book narrates a lifetime of experimentation while offering an incisive critique of American society and its entanglements with capitalism, representation, race, and ethnicity. (Mark Webber)
With Mark Webber in attendance