Requiem

The film Requiem, which George Nelson presented in 1960 as a component of the multimedia show "U.S. Versus Us," was filmed at auto scrap yards with New York photographer and film producer Len Gittleman. The ten minute film, whose oppressive, morbid atmosphere was intensified by a red filter, showed car wrecks, smashed windows, broken antennas and mirrors, peeling paint, and slashed upholstery, finally culminating in shots of burning cars. Ten years before, at a symposium of the Museum of Modern Art, Nelson had been critical of the American automobile industry and its addiction to styling.