White Glove Tracking


White Glove Tracking (2007, 45.5MB, 7:34)

At a televised special in March 1983, Michael Jackson
debuted what would later become known as his
signature Moonwalk. He wore a shiny jacket,
cuffed pants, and a sparkling little white glove
while gyrating around the stage. It’s nearly
impossible to deny the brilliance of Billy Jean,
and there it was – in some kind of larger than
life, glittery manifestation of the zeitgeist.
All very exciting, no?
But tracking Jacko’s glove – this collection of videos
known under the umbrella White Glove Tracking
is an unparalleled feat, as are the resulting
remixes. 10,060 frames were tracked, the
data was collectively gathered, and all of the
source code was made available online.
Coding ensued. Here are the highlights so far.

Psycho Bob – Bob’s Big Date

bob_date.jpg
Bob’s Big Date (2008, 7 MB, 50 sec.)

“These are the adventures of a psychopath named Bob. Bob is not
a nice man; not even a little bit. This show is the video equivalent
of a Sunday comic strip.

Here Bob goes out on a date with Betty, perhaps the first woman
other than his mother to truly understand and appreciate him.”
From The AV Club.

Paul Slocum – Time Lapse Homepage

tlh_web
Time Lapse Homepage (2003, 18.4 MB, 55 sec.)

Paul Slocum‘s Time-Lapse Homepage (2003) signifies through accretion.
This high-definition video is composed of 1,000 computer screenshots
of his homepage. Complete with an upbeat score that could easily be
a corporate jingle to promote a new technology, the stills display the
building, erosion, and occasional complete overhaul of an ever-evolving
Web site. This work provides a layered historical record of something
we tend to see only in discrete units-the appearance of a homepage on
any given day-while attempting to think through Web design in the
language of earlier time-based media.’

Duncan Speakman – Is Life Boring?


Duncan Speakman – Is Life Boring? (2005, 5.3MB, 1:17 min.)

From Duncan Speakman (yes, his real name) and the now abandoned 29fragiledays.
Duncan moved onto the less populated Delicate Museum, but I enjoy his older work much more (maybe because there is simply more of it?).
No contrived voice-overs (at least not at first), I’m also given enough time to meditate on the video.
Sometimes short is too short.
This is one of the best pieces from his previous incarnation.

Dan Canyon

Quilts Never Sleep
Quilts Never Sleep (short version) (2007, 20.9MB, 3:07 min)

Me... U
Me… U (2007, 80MB, 12:45 min)

Two very different but attractive & telling pieces from Dan Canyon.
The first was part of a show of – you guessed it – quilts in London in 2006,
about which read more here.
The second could’ve been made for dvblog, well, at least for me, as I’m a fool
for all things turntablist, & features the splendidly monickered Mickey Morphingaz.

Another from Ruth Catlow

as i looked up
travel images unseen (2011, 156MB, 6:01 min)

‘5 video clips taken on a simple video camera, through a window on a coach to the
plane from Istanbul and arriving in London by train. Selected by and stitched, unseen
by the creator who will never watch the video, ever.’

The gentlest conceptualism & quite, quite lovely too.
There’s something about knowing the premise that leaves one
very open – one could say innoculates one – to its formal consequences –
here a looseness which somehow gently stretches time, makes it grainier
but conversely sharpens our attention, perhaps to make up for the
maker’s own vow of abstention.
One more in the series to come.

Aī-Hz – My Miwoo

My Miwoo
My Miwoo [Tai Chi Weekend Control] (2007, 24.6MB, 50 secs)

Aī-Hz, real name Michael Renassia,
is a French visual performer living and working in Tokyo.
His site contains possibly my favourite biographical nugget ever:

‘He is using compositing software in a diverted way, and real-time mixing
instruments with the aim to create a noisy/pop universe…’

Now, who could possibly object to that?
This piece is rather lovely – the thing that totally makes it for me
is the epiphanic moment at the end when the music/animation stops &
the person appears ..there’s a haunting sense of time suspended..
So, for me, 10/10 for visuals.
I am pretty bored ,though, with the by-the-yard avant-dance music
that accompanies so much work of this kind..it’s not bad
or anything, just pedestrian…

Abbie Hoffman and gefilte fish


Abbie Making Gefilte Fish (1973, 156.4MB, 21:04)

Footage of Abbie Hoffman making gefilte fish with Laura Cavestani
(who made the video) in his kitchen, 1973.
Like Abbie, I think art is in the everyday, and it sure is a fun
(and rather informative) twenty minutes if you’ve got it to spare.

Art for Abbie was education, constant revolution, evolution, and living for free.
Art and freedom were one in the same, inextricable from each other.
We miss you man.