LeedsVlog #1

Woodhouse Sunset
Woodhouse Sunset (Alison Booth , 2007, 32.9MB, 1:17 min)

21 Today
21 Today (Patrick Devlin, 2007, 20.2MB, 53 secs)

Soundcheck
Soundcheck (Chris Harman, 2007, 45.3MB, 3:24 min)

At the end of last year I taught a course, which I rather pompously entitled
‘Videoblogging for Artists’, at Leeds College of Art.
The students made 5 videos each over a ten day period & some of what they
made stands up with the best.
The whole 100 or so to date are up here but I’m going to post two or three batches
of my favourites on dvblog over the next couple of weeks.

Two from Human Dog


Garage Door (2006, 4.4MB, 0:47)

Human Dog was one of the first videoblogs and has
been closed down since early 2007. Luckily, all of
the media remains online (so far). One of the best
things about the entire series of videos (and the various
serials therein) was creator Chris Weagel’s ability
to tease out the absurdity of everyday life without
hitting the audience over the head with his message.
Video that was made specifically to live online, this
is some of the best work ever produced in videoblog
format.

My View


Phil Hamilton – My View (2007, 12.6MB, 1:00)

Phil Hamilton doesn’t post video very often.
When he does, it’s just freaking cool.
Phil is now a freshman at the same school where
I’m currently finishing my graduate degree, but
I’ve never see him in real life.
This is a video of his dorm room view.
The music is also original, by him.
His work – all of it – always makes me wish
I was younger, and that is a real compliment.

Sporkworld Lumières

Lawnmowing
Lawnmowing (2008, 3.9MB, 35 secs)

Mowing in February

Our Special Mowing in February Lawnmowers
are not the of the ordinary electric rotor,
gas-powered self-propelling,
or even hand pushed whirligig
human powered variety.
Our Mowing in February models
come with specially-equipped
permanently mounted plows
suitable for use by the most dedicated
lawnmowing enthusiasts
from September through May
in those clim’es so specially endowed
to understand the meaning
of a ‘Three Season Plow’

Martha Deed

Scraping
Scraping (2008, 1.9MB, 58 secs)

Millie Niss & Martha Deed’s Sporkworld project is sui generis – entirely unbeholden to
fashion or cool & standing in a long & broad American tradition of such stubborn
(& sometimes even eccentric) beauty.
Their latest wheeze & a vastly effective one it is too, is the Sporkworld Microblog
which integrates many formerly slightly disparate areas of their activity – poetry, still
& moving imagery, filthy humour, a sense of life’s transience & tragedy & utter strangeness,
into one coherent, constantly unrolling whole.
Formally too, they are smarter than smart, as anyone with eyes will surely see –
they’ve taken the splendid Lumière form & integrated it beautifully.
It fits them like a glove.
Lawnmower in particular seems to have been crafted by a 21st century
suburban Breughel.

Kevin Flanagan – Transformations

transformations
Transformations v 1.0 (2007, 54MB, 2:47 min)

We’ve featured some of Irish artist Kev Flanagan’s work here
before.
He’s just started a new video blog which manifests a radically different
approach to that of his previous work.
Here’s an example – it’s slow (in a good sense), meditative and hypnotic.
Kev says he’s been looking at a lot of Chris Marker’s work – I can see that high
seriousness coming through, but this puts me in mind more of Tarkovsky or
particularly Tarkovsky’s sensibility in the face of natural phenomena.