Of the many words used by friends and collaborators to describe Tony Conrad, who died last April at the age of 76, one of the most frequently heard is ¡°disruptive.¡± In a career that straddled experimental music, film, visual art and education, Conrad vigorously resisted the complacency that befell many of his peers from the 1960s New York avant-garde.

For Tyler Hubby, director of the new documentary ¡°Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present,¡± this presented a challenge. The filmmaker had been shooting footage of Conrad since the mid-1990s ¡ª when his musical career had enjoyed a renaissance after a lengthy hiatus ¡ª and began to work in earnest on a feature in 2010. But how do you pin down such a multifaceted, mercurial artist?

¡°Tony was very aware ¡ª and wary ¡ª?of the camera throughout filming, and in many ways was giving a performance,¡± Hubby recalls. ¡°I just kept the camera rolling to break that down a bit, but he always knew what was up and always seemed to know what was or was not in frame.¡±

In making the documentary, which also features interviews with artists such as Jim O¡¯Rourke, Moby and Tony Oursler, Hubby says he focused on key Conrad pieces that ¡°worked to empower the viewer/listener to create their own artistic experience, and not just passively receive it.¡±

The film, fittingly, uses a nonchronological structure: ¡°Since so much of Tony¡¯s work dealt with the elasticity of time, it seemed right to adopt a similar approach.¡±

The documentary gets its Japan premiere at a special event in Tokyo on Nov. 20. Keiji Haino, who played with Conrad during his final trip to Japan in 2008, will provide a live soundtrack to the latter¡¯s notorious 1966 film, ¡°The Flicker,¡± alongside a musical tribute by O¡¯Rourke.

¡°A Tribute to the Life and Work of Tony Conrad¡± takes place at Super Deluxe in Minato-ku, Tokyo, on Nov. 20 (5:30 p.m. start; ?4,000 in advance; 03-5412-0515). For details, visit .