Monthly Archives: October 2008

Laric – 50 50, 50 50 2008

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Oliver Laric – 50 50 (2007, 12.1MB, 2:06)

Oliver Laric has really grown on us over time.
In 2007, he mashed up fifty YouTube videos of
random kids lip-syncing (or really singing, sort of)
to “In Da Club,” “Candy Shop,” and “How We Do”
by the American rap artist (artist?) 50 Cent,
leaving them in their original YouTube format.
Also keep in mind that “In Da Club” is around five
years old by now. I guess the youth know what they
like, though it’s worth noting these songs are generally
foul and offensive at best. Nevertheless, due to what I’m
calling the constant influx of amateur 50 Cent covers onto
YouTube, Laric decided that he had to make a follow-up
video, 50 50 2008, seen below.


Oliver Laric – 50 50 2008 (2008, 10MB, 2:07)

Sondheim – Swirl

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Swirl (2008, 21MB, 1:05 min)

Regular visitors will be aware of how little excuse we need
to post work from the formidable Alan Sondheim.
So…it’s Wednesday… – here’s one of his recent Second Life
pieces.
His accompanying text appears below.

Jennifer and Julu: Clean yourselves, you dirty boys!
Jennifer and Julu: Clean yourselves, you dirty girls!
Julu: Hello Nikuko, you are looking wonderful this very morning.
Nikuko: Hello Julu, why you are looking odd I do think!
Julu: And my leg too hanging by a thread! Nikuko, where are you?
Nikuko: Oh dear you are half-blind Julu!
Julu: And you are All-Blind-Nikuko!
Julu: Can you see anything here? Can you see anything at all?
Nikuko: I hear your voice!
Nikuko: You do not, Julu, you do not have anything!
Julu: Maud, you must move slightly to your left, thank you.
Julu: Maud, you are not looking properly or you would move!
Nikuko: I am looking just fine, thank you!
Nikuko: I am so, I’m trying as hard as you are!
Julu: Adjust yourself!
Julu: You are adjusting yourself in a very wrong way!
Julu: It is 10:30 and you have just lost your head!
Nikuko: Ha ha ha I have lost my head over you!
Julu: And hello Nikuko, and how are you?
Nikuko: Now we will Swirl and Change.

Protest Films

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Alex Pearl – Protest Film Nottingham (2006, 7.6MB, 1:36)

Protest films…usually films about people protesting
something unjust in the world.
Or, perhaps you meant Protest Films, the conceptual
robot-banner-waving collection of videos wherein
little machines “protest,” more generally speaking.
This is the first from the long-running,
Arts Council-supported series from artist
and renaissance man Alex Pearl.
If you’d like to participate or create your own
Clockwork Protest, visit the blog and email Alex
for a protest kit.

Recombinant Rain from Millie Niss

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Recombinant Rain (2008, 7MB, 32 secs)


Source Video #1 (2008, 1.3MB, 10 secs silent)


Source Video #2 (2008, 2.2MB, 12 secs silent)


Source Video #3 (2008, 1.2MB, 14 secs silent)


Source Video #4 (2008, 2MB, 13 secs silent)

Millie Niss is one half of the daughter & mother team behind
the original & indispensable Sporkworld Microblog.
(And if you look at it for ten minutes & you don’t agree
it’s that, please check you have a pulse).
I’m not sure Millie felt that this piece was entirely successful.
(See her comments on the blog, linked above)
I’m posting it because even a borderline success from Millie
is something one can learn from. She has a formidable intellect
combined with a total & fierce independence & a complete
lack of bullshit.( Indeed I’m convinced that she wouldn’t
know how to bullshit, even if she wanted to.)
The last four pieces are tiny little studies of the rain
(delicate & lovely in their own right),
& the first is constructed from frames lifted from these
& worked over in various ways.
This piece (or actually the set of pieces, sources & first pass
at an end product alike) does it for me in a way that a lot of work doesn’t.
Simply, there’s a profound humanity to it.
Sure, it’s about the rain but it’s also about what it is
to be a human being in the world.

John Baldessari – I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art

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John Baldessari – I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art (1971, 135.3MB, 13:13)

One of my favorite older pieces from legendary artist
John Baldessari. Commissioned in ’71 to make an
installation piece, Baldessari couldn’t make the trip
and instructed students to write on the walls in his
place. Inspired by their results – that they covered
the gallery with this phrase – he made this video,
following his usual path of pointing out irony in art.
Look for follow-up pieces like “Teaching A Plant The
Alphabet” if you have the time. Classic.
Via the indispensable UbuWeb