# Anthony McCall [anthonymccall.com](https://www.anthonymccall.com/) · [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_McCall) ( b. 1946 ) ## Description British-born, New York-based artist best known for "solid-light films" — single-beam 16mm projections whose volumetric cones and planes, made visible in haze, become sculptural forms the viewer can physically walk through. ## Key Tags #expanded-cinema #installation #projection #apparatus-inventor ## Essential Works - *Line Describing a Cone* (1973) - a projected circle drawn over 30 minutes builds into a full three-dimensional cone of light; the founding work of his solid-light practice - *Doubling Back* (2003) and later "solid-light" installations - extended the technique into multi-form, digitally-driven projection environments ## Details Began in London's early-1970s performance and film scene before moving to New York, where *Line Describing a Cone* established his central idea: that projected light itself, made volumetric by haze or smoke, could function as sculpture rather than as a support for filmed imagery. Returned to solid-light work in the early 2000s using digital projection and computer-controlled forms, extending the original 16mm pieces into larger installations. ### Concepts and Theories %% none yet %% ### Creative and Technical Practices %% none yet %% ### Collaborators %% none yet %% ### Institutional Affiliations and Associated Movements %% none yet %% ## References ### Primary Sources Bibliography %% none yet %% ### Secondary Sources Bibliography Ellard, Graham, Stephen Johnstone, and Anthony McCall. *Anthony McCall: Notebooks and Conversations*. Lund Humphries, 2015. Facsimile reproductions of McCall's studio notebooks, with production scores and installation photographs, formed from discussions between McCall and artists Graham Ellard and Stephen Johnstone. Joseph, Branden Wayne. *Anthony McCall: The Solid Light Films and Related Works*. With Jonathan Walley and Christopher Eamon. Northwestern University Press, 2005.