Experimenta

Nicky Hamlyn: Cycles of Time

+ Nicky Hamlyn in conversation with BFI National Archive curator William Fowler

A work from every decade of Nicky Hamlyn’s extensive output is included in a career-spanning programme about cyclical patterns and the radical, experimental use of different moving-image technologies.

This programme contains highspeed flicker and flashing images that may affect those who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy or have other photosensitivities.

  • Total running time 130min

Comprising over 60 films made since 1974, Nicky Hamlyn’s filmography reveals an artist deeply attuned to medium specificity and the capacity for rigorous formal exploration, resulting in highly unusual yet striking, visually poetic imagery. Hamlyn premieres Clouds, Swifts (2024, 9min) among a screening selection focused on cycles and rhythms found in urban and rural spaces, and transformed through time-lapse, single-frame animation and other strategies. Birds trace time through extended ritualised patterns and static environments come alive.