The Visible Press

Ken Jacobs “I Walked Into My Shortcomings” coming soon from The Visible Press. “I Walked Into My Shortcomings” is the first book to gather the writings, teachings and interviews of Ken Jacobs (1933–2025), a towering and singular figure in American art and experimental film. Spanning seven decades of creativity, these texts complement a body of work that ranges from downtown capers and reworkings of historical found footage, to groundbreaking performances of expanded cinema and radical explorations of perception and depth. They reveal an artist relentlessly committed to transforming how we engage with the moving image. In his own inimitable words, Jacobs narrates a lifetime of experimentation while offering a gritty and incisive critique of American society and its entanglements with capitalism, representation, race and ethnicity. At once personal, theoretical and political, the book captures the urgency and wit of a practice that will continue to reshape how we see and think. “I Walked Into My Shortcomings” is edited by William Rose and has an introduction by J. Hoberman. Published by @thevisiblepress in association with@anthologyfilmarchives . Paperback 544 pages, b/w images throughout ISBN: 9780992837754 PRE-ORDER NOW ! UK & Rest of World: @thevisiblepress @thevisiblepress USA: @anthologyfilmarchives @anthologyfilmarchives Europe: @revoir_video Distribution: @public_knowledge_books [links in bio] “What a wonder! Ken Jacobs was a masterful, thrilling, maker of moving images and a great teacher. This book is a revelation – his writing is as brilliant and expressive as his movies.” (Amy Taubin) #kenjacobs #iwalkedintomyshortcomings #thevisiblepress #anthologyfilmarchives #revoir #publicknowledgebooks

Are You Havin’ Any Fun? There’s no better way to spend your Sunday than amongst friends at the Barbican to watch Ken Jacobs’ extraordinary “Star Spangled To Death”. Jacobs began to shoot footage for this monumental work on the streets of New York in the mid-1950s with friends including underground personalities Jack Smith and Jerry Sims. This original material is woven between found and appropriated films that explore the American experience, incorporating travelogues, musicals, scientific experiments, propaganda, documentary and newsreels. The work pulls no punches, necessarily transgressing latter-day trigger warnings in its brutal indictment of a nation viewed in almost perpetual decline. Too large and unwieldy to be fully realised on film, work-in-progress screenings of “Star Spangled To Death” continued for decades until the advent of digital media made its completion possible in 2004. With a total running time of over 7 hours (plus intermissions), Sunday’s screening will begin at 11am and finish around 7pm. Ken Jacobs is one of the towering figures of post-war independent cinema. His extensive filmography comprises groundbreaking films, live cinematic performances and mind-bending digital works that date from the early 1950s to his passing in 2025. This event is organised by @opencitydocs in association with @barbicancentre Screen, and is the last programme in the series “Ken & Flo Jacobs: Seeing Through Film”. “I Walked Into My Shortcomings”, our incredible compendium of Ken Jacobs’ writings, interviews and teaching, will be available at the screening for the discounted price of £30. Sunday 10 May 2026, at 11am, Barbican Cinema 2, London Tickets at .uk/whats-on/2026/event/ocdf-star-spangled-to-death #starspangledtodeath #areyouhavinganyfun #kenjacobs

Next Monday, we celebrate the work and lives of Ken and Flo Jacobs, who passed away in 2025. 𝗣𝗨𝗕𝗟𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 We welcome William Rose, editor of the new Ken Jacobs compendium 𝘐 𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘔𝘺 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴. A labour of love, over a decade in the making, the book will be available on the night. @thevisiblepress 𝗦𝗖𝗥𝗘𝗘𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚 William Rose presents 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘬𝘺 𝘚𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 (1968/2019), one of their most personal films, one they returned to throughout their lives. 𝗢𝗡𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘 On this occasion, @yancomagazine offers 𝘚𝘱𝘢𝘨𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪 𝘈𝘻𝘢 (1976) free to watch until May 31. 𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗞𝗘𝗧𝗦 offoff.be With thanks to Azazel Jacobs Photos courtesy of Azazel Jacobs #kenjacobs #flojacobs #theskysocialist

Our Ken Jacobs book is OUT TODAY !!! “I Walked Into My Shortcomings” gathers the writings, teachings and interviews of Ken Jacobs, a singular figure in American art and experimental film. This project has taken well over a decade to complete and is a labour of love for its editor William Rose. The book is packed with text and images, and was designed by @markelkhatib . Ken’s inimitable voice leaps from every page, narrating a lifetime of experimentation while offering a gritty and incisive critique of American society and its entanglements with capitalism, representation, race and ethnicity. At once personal, theoretical, and political, the book captures the urgency and wit of a practice that will continue to reshape how we see and think. The Visible Press is thrilled that the book is now finally going out into the world, though we are all sorry that it couldn’t be published during Ken and Flo’s lifetimes. We are grateful to their son @azazeljacobs and daughter Nisi for their support, and for the partnership with @anthologyfilmarchives that made it possible now. Available by mail order and in person in the USA from @anthologyfilmarchives ; in Europe from @revoir_video Paris. UK and worldwide mail order from @thevisiblepress & in bookshops via our distributor @public_knowledge_books . [linkinbio] Ken Jacobs: I Walked Into My Shortcomings. Edited by William Rose, introduction by J. Hoberman. Published by The Visible Press in association with Anthology Film Archives. Paperback, 544 pages. ISBN 9780992837754

Ken & Flo Jacobs: Seeing Through Film 🎞️⁠ ⁠ The retrospective Seeing Through Film celebrates the work and lives of Ken and Flo Jacobs, who both passed away in 2025. It coincides with the publication of I Walked Into My Shortcomings, an anthology of Jacobs’ writings edited by William Rose for The Visible Press⁠ ⁠ One of the American avant-garde’s most prolific figures, Ken Jacobs (1933-2025) and his wife and lifelong collaborator Flo Jacobs (1941-2025) were an integral part of the New York alternative film scene. ⁠ ⁠ "What mattered most for Jacobs was the encounter between a work and an audience who were prepared to meet its demands." – William Rose⁠ ⁠ Ken & Flo Jacobs: Seeing Through Film 1⁠ Wednesday 15 April at @icalondon , 6.15pm ⁠ A programme of Jacobs’ early collaborations with Jack Smith.⁠ ⁠ Ken & Flo Jacobs: Seeing Through Film 2 ⁠ Thursday 16 April at @icalondon , 6.30pm⁠ A selection of works in New York, seen through the eyes of Ken Jacobs. ⁠ ⁠ Ken & Flo Jacobs: Seeing Through Film 3 ⁠ Saturday 18 April at @closeupfilmcentre , 2.30pm⁠ Includes The Whole Shebang, the 2019 video is a reworking of the 1982 Nervous System piece.⁠ ⁠ Ken & Flo Jacobs: Seeing Through Film 4⁠ Saturday 18 April at @closeupfilmcentre , 2.30pm⁠ This programme presents more “Eternalisms” and Jacobs at his most explicitly political.⁠ ⁠ Epilogue: Star Spangled To Death⁠ Sunday 10 May at @barbicancentre , 11am⁠ Almost 7 hours long, Ken Jacobs' magnum opus is a social critique of the USA, as poignant and relevant today as in the 1950s. ⁠

The Whole Shebang. April 2026 is Ken & Flo Jacobs Month in New York City. “The Whole Shebang” is a 14-venue salute to two of experimental cinema’s most beloved icons, organised and co-ordinated by @lamphole (Andrew Lampert). “This sweeping festival represents an unprecedented aligning of venues across the city, all of whom presented and championed the Jacobs' uncompromising output during the last six-plus decades. Featuring key works, many theatrical and world premieres, and plenty of deep cuts, “The Whole Shebang” serves as both a remembrance and an introduction to the duo's remarkable achievements and impossible-to-categorize genius.” The full schedule is online at lify.app [linkinbio]. The series has already begun on 1 April at @themuseumofmodernart and the first of several screenings at @anthologyfilmarchives is tonight. Copies of our new Ken Jacobs book “I Walked Into My Shortcomings” are available at many of the screenings, and always through the box office at Anthology. Links for mail order and other stockists in our bio. #nervousken #kenandflojacobs #thewholeshebang #iwalkedintomyshortcomings

📚 LIGHT CONE BOUTIQUE 📚 𝐈 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐌𝐘 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬, 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬, 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝗞𝗲𝗻 𝗝𝗮𝗰𝗼𝗯𝘀 Premier ouvrage à rassembler les écrits, les enseignements et les interviews de Ken Jacobs (1933-2025), figure emblématique et singulière de l'art américain et du cinéma expérimental. Couvrant sept décennies de créativité, ces textes complètent une œuvre qui va des escapades urbaines et des réinterprétations d'images d'archives historiques aux performances révolutionnaires du cinéma élargi et aux explorations radicales de la perception et de la profondeur. Ils révèlent un artiste qui s'est engagé sans relâche à transformer notre rapport à l'image animée. Dans ses propres mots inimitables, Jacobs raconte une vie d'expérimentation tout en offrant une critique crue et incisive de la société américaine et de ses liens avec le capitalisme, la représentation, la race et l'ethnicité. À la fois personnel, théorique et politique, le livre capture l'urgence et l'esprit d'une pratique qui continuera à remodeler notre façon de voir et de penser. Édité par William Rose Publié par The Visible Press, Londres En association avec Anthology Film Archives, New York ✍️ Anglais 📖 544 pages 🏷 40 € 𝘓𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘪𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰 #lightcone_officiel #experimentalfilm #experimentalmusic #kenjacobs

New and improved with pictures! Re-posting link to my "Analytical Projector" text about filmmaker/artist extraordinaire #KenJacobs for @brooklynrail since images added there, and in conjunction with new book release of words by Ken @thevisiblepress and, AND! in conjunction with NYC-wide screenings and appreciation of Ken and Flo aka "The Whole Shebang," organized by @lamphole and launched with "Star Spangled to Death" @themuseumofmodernart + flickering at the following venues: @themuseumofmodernart — Apr 1–7 @lightindustry — Apr 7 @anthologyfilmarchives — Apr 8, 9, 15, 22, 23, 25 @roxycinemanyc — Apr 10 @metrograph — Apr 11 @uniondocs — Apr 12 @bam_brooklyn — Apr 14 @lallianceny — Apr 16 @spectaclenyc — Apr 18 @filmlinc — Apr 20 @movingimagenyc — Apr 26 @rockawayfilmfest — Apr 26 @millennium_film — Apr 29 @filmcoop — Apr 30 Go be there and see it/them! "Analytic Projector" link in bio and here: /2026/02/film/analytic-projector-the-nervous-systems-of-ken-jacobs/

Ken Jacobs in his own words. "I Walked Into My Shortcomings", spanning seven decades of writing, teaching, and interviews, is available this April from The Visible Press in association with Anthology Film Archives. Edited by William Rose with the utmost care and thought.⁠ ⁠ Can't even begin to tell you what holding this book in my hands is like. To turn to any page and hear my folks voices with every word, it's immense. Long in the works, I was able to tell my dad that it was going to press and he was just so happy. Pick it up at Anthology Film Archives or order online w the link in bio. ⁠ #TheWholeShebang #KenJacobs #FloJacobs #ExpandedCinema #ExperimentalFilm #NYC

THE WHOLE SHEBANG: CELEBRATING KEN AND FLO JACOBS April 8 – 25 “The Whole Shebang: Celebrating Ken and Flo Jacobs” is a fourteen-venue, city-wide expanded cinema(s) salute to two of experimental cinema’s most beloved icons. Ken (1933-2025) and Flo (1941-2025) were inseparable from the day they met in 1962, and while their passing last year leaves us bereft, it also provides a welcome opportunity to survey their decades worth of groundbreaking film and boldly digital work. Anthology’s contribution to this unprecedented multi-venue festival will spotlight key films we have preserved over the years alongside the theatrical premieres of late works and further surprises from their vast oeuvre. As a heralded filmmaker, distinguished professor at SUNY Binghamton, and undeniable presence on the scene for so many decades, Ken Jacobs exerted a major impact on global cinema culture with anarchic wonders like BLONDE COBRA (1963), STAR SPANGLED TO DEATH (1956/2004) and the structuralist classic TOM, TOM, THE PIPER’S SON (1969). Beginning with FLO ROUNDS A CORNER (1999), he went on to produce a constant stream of mind-bending digital videos that, in many ways, brought him back full circle to his early days as a painter. Florence Jacobs (née Karpf) was Ken’s partner at every turn, and his prime collaborator in the trailblazing live cinema and shadow play performances that they began presenting in the mid-1960s. Whether they were reworking early film footage with the double projection “nervous system” or projecting phantasmagorical 3-D images with their “nervous magic lantern,” Ken and Flo produced unfathomable, homespun works that pushed the possibilities of film and digital cinema beyond all expectations. Organized by Andrew Lampert. The series will also coincide with the publication of the new book, “Ken Jacobs: I Walked Into My Shortcomings”, a monumental compendium of Ken Jacobs’ writings, interviews and teaching edited by William Rose. Published by The Visible Press in association with Anthology Film Archives. For more info visit: Please note, several of the works in this series involve flashing or rapidly flickering images.

In contemplation: Ken Jacobs LUX is pleased to share a series of upcoming screenings celebrating the remarkable avant-garde filmmaker Ken Jacobs who passed away in 2025.  This Thursday 12 March at the Barbican, Open City Documentary Festival will present a screening of Ken Jacobs’ structural film classic ‘Tom, Tom, the Piper’s Son’, 1969. Reworking a short 1905 film, Jacobs transforms simple chase sequences into a frame-by-frame exploration of the filmmaking process itself, revealing the hidden movements and materiality of early cinema.  ‘Seeing Through Film: Ken & Flo Jacobs’, a wider retrospective, will also form part of this year’s Open City Festival, taking place throughout April and May. The programme offers further opportunities to encounter Jacobs’ expansive body of work. Ken Jacobs was also a founding figure of the New York Filmmakers’ Co-op, the direct inspiration for the London Filmmakers’ Co-op (LFMC), one of LUX’s predecessor organisations. His films were among the earliest North American works distributed by the LFMC, and a retrospective of his work was shown at the Lux Centre in 2000, marking a relationship with the experimental film community in the UK that continued for decades.  ‘Tom, Tom, the Piper’s Son’ will be introduced by Mark Webber from The Visible Press which recently published “I Walked Into My Shortcomings,” an anthology of Jacobs’ writings, teachings and interviews edited by William Rose. Copies will be available to purchase on the night. @barbicancentre @opencitydocs @thevisiblepress Image: Still from ‘Tom, Tom, the Piper’s Son’, Ken Jacobs, 1969

Next Thursday at @barbicancentre , a rare 16mm film screening of “Tom, Tom the Piper’s Son” (1969-71) by Ken Jacobs. Ken Jacobs’ found footage classic is a masterful investigation of perception itself. Through various filmic manipulations, the original 1905 film “is most reverently examined,” being transformed into a two-hour study of filmmaking, vision and composition. One of the American avant-garde’s most prolific figures, Ken Jacobs (1933-2025) was a radical filmmaker who enthusiastically embraced digital filmmaking in the late 1990s. From the monumental “Tom, Tom, the Piper’s Son” to his Nervous Magic Lantern performances and more recent digital and 3D explorations, Jacobs was an artist whose work is an uncompromised declaration of love for cinema. Also an activist and teacher, Jacobs was an integral part of the New York alternative film scene since the 1950s. In 1966, together with his wife Flo, he established the legendary Millennium Film Workshop. Jacobs was also the co-founder – with Larry Gottheim – of one of the USA’s first cinema departments at SUNY Binghamton, where he taught for several decades, influencing subsequent generations of filmmakers and artists such as Phil Solomon, Mark LaPore, J. Hoberman, Art Spiegelman and Lee Ranaldo. This event is a prologue to the @opencitydocs retrospective “Seeing Through Film: Ken and Flo Jacobs" and features an introduction by Mark Webber of @thevisiblepress and @welovepulp . This will also be your first chance to purchase an advance copy of “I Walked Into My Shortcomings,” an anthology of Jacobs’ writings, teachings and interviews edited by William Rose. /product/ken-jacobs/ Screening at Barbican Cinema 3 in London, Thursday 12 March 2026, at 6:30pm. More details and tickets at /year_round/tom-tom-the-pipers-son-ken-jacobs/ #kenjacobs #tomtomthepipersson #iwalkedintomyshortcomings