Fred Muram – Brownout (2006, 1.4MB, 0:38)
Fred Muram – Three Hands Feeding Me Garbage (2005, 804KB, 0:21)
Fred Muram – Still Scared of Needles (2008, 1MB, 0:27)
Three very short, very endearing works from Fred Muram,
commentary on culture and mass media, consumption, and
physical appearance.
A lot can be said in under 40 seconds.
Sadie Benning – Me and Rubyfruit (1990, 24.9MB, 5:40)
Classically beautiful and poignant video-diary-esque
early work from the innovative Sadie Benning. Me
and Rubyfruit, a reinterpretation of Rita Mae Brown’s
Rubyfruit Jungle, finds Benning lamenting the limitations
of being a young lesbian woman in modern culture.
Roughly sixteen when she made this piece, it was shot
on a Fisher-Price Pixelvision 2000 camera, making the
intense grainy footage all the more raw.
The Listening Project (2008, 31.5MB, 2:43)
It feels a bit cliched, but I’ll give this one the
benefit of the doubt, of doing relevant and
important work about the current state of
global relations.
The Listening Project is a documentary feature film
that puts a human face to world opinion of the U.S.
Filmed in 14 countries, it explores many facets of
America
LAb[au] – PixFlow #2 (2007, 132.3MB, 0:30)
PixFlow #2 is a generative artwork showing a vector field and moving particles/pixels shaping into flows as their density evolves. From the mutual influence in between vectors and particles results an unsuspected, highly evolving behavior.
a preview of the latest from LAb[au]
Sergei Sviatchenko – Street & White (2006, 4.7MB, 2:42)
Sergei Sviatchenko – 20 hours tv (2004, 1.6MB, 1:46)
Simple, beautiful pieces from Sergei Sviatchenko,
the first with a great soundtrack by the band Kashmir
and the second totally silent.
Neither is wildly entertaining, but I found both to be
so calming in their simplicity.
Originally from the Ukraine, Sviatchenko now lives
in Denmark.
Jeff Nichols – Shotgun Stories (2008, 10.3MB, 1:50)
Shotgun Stories tells the tale of two families with the
same father. One, in which the children are named
Kid, Boy, and Son, came before dad sobered up and
found Jesus. The second, his marriage to a beautiful
woman who had four more boys, was his do-over.
After his death, an explosive feud breaks out between
the grown half-siblings.
It opened to rave reviews, and from the chilling
trailer alone, I can see why.
Motion Theory – Beck – Girl (2007, 38.9MB, 3:28)
From Venice, California visual design/filmmaking studio
Motion Theory, this laid back Beck video was directed
by Mathew Cullen and Grady Hall.
Jay and Mark Duplass – The Puffy Chair (2005, 6.3MB, 2:14)
Debut feature from the Duplass brothers, a few years
old, and part of the Mumblecore filmmaking movement,
which I seem to be partial towards.
Daryl Wein – Sex Positive (2008, 16MB, 2:43)
Groundbreaking film from 24-year-old Daryl Wein.
I hate it when people mention my youthful age, but
I think since I know my motivations for doing it, I’ll
just accept that we all mean it as a compliment.
Wein’s portrait of 1980s AIDS activist Richard Berkowitz
is such a contribution to our modern understanding of the
history of AIDS and gay rights activism. One of the first
to speak out about the need for safe sex in the gay
community, Berkowitz was ridiculed and ostracized.
This excellent documentary finds Berkowitz today and
revisits his time as an S&M sex worker before becoming
an outspoken critic of the AIDS epidemic. Much of the older
footage is also courtesy of Berkowitz.
An outstanding collaboration.
Toby Segaran – WalMart Growth (2008, 6.6MB, 0:46)
Toby Segaran isn’t a media artist – he’s actually
a software developer and writer. But, he made
this excellent video clip of American WalMart growth
from 1962 to the present on his off time at work,
and the way I see it, the best work sometimes
happens when you, well, aren’t working. Similar
to these videos made with the processing language.