On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the London Filmmakers’ Cooperative (LFMC) and the fortieth anniversary of London Video Arts (now LUX), articles are invited that reflect upon the histories, contexts and legacies of artists’ film and video practices in Britain since 1966. Both organisations played a significant role in the development of the distinctive and diverse artists’ moving image culture experienced in the UK today. This double issue of MIRAJ marks these anniversaries in order to draw forth new scholarship and research in a vital field of study and practice. This issue will be guest edited by Benjamin Cook and Lucy Reynolds.

In conjunction with ‘The Man with the Film Projector’ (23 April – 5 May 2015), Kao Chung-li’s first solo exhibition in the UK, LUX is hosting a screening and panel discussion which aims to explore the history of experimental film in Taiwan as well as Kao’s specific film aesthetics.

The screening will showcase a number of rare films, never previously shown in the UK, including Zhuang Ling’s Life Continued (1966) and Chang Chao-tang’s Face in Motion (1970). Zhuang Ling was one of the core members of Theatre Quarterly, a self-funded avant-garde magazine which introduced European art and film theory to Taiwan, and was published in Taipei by a group of young film aficionados and intellectuals in the 1960s during the martial law era. In a claustrophobic environment that exercised strict thought control, Western modernity represented for these young people an attempt to break free. Chang Chao-tang participated in Theatre’s second experimental film screening with his short film Diary (1967). He later worked at a government-controlled TV station where he made Face in Motion as a result of being bored beyond belief. Kao Chung-li’s early experimental film Home Movies (1988), which inspired Yu Wei-yen’s film Gang of Three Forever (1989), will also be shown at LUX.

The Video Art pioneer David Hall (1937–2014) who passed away in October 2014 was a crucial figure in British art of the post war period. His work across sculpture, film, video and installations pioneered new areas of practice and played a crucial role in the first chapter of video art in the UK. An impassioned teacher and influential advocate for video art, Hall was the co-organiser of The Video Show 1975, the first major international show of artists’ video in the UK. He was also co-founder of London Video Arts (now LUX) and a member of the Artist Placement Group and founded the first time based media course at Maidstone College of Art in 1972. His works has been exhibited and collected internationally. Hall was as adept working on his Television Interruptions for broadcasters from the BBC to MTV as he was presenting his work at the world’s leading museums and exhibitions, from Documenta to the Centre Pompidou.