Will Goss – from Magenta’s Caress

Posted on November 2, 2012 by michael

Beanstalk [from Magenta’s Caress #3] (2010, 125 MB, 3:50 min)

This is great. It forcibly calls to mind the early work of the sainted Hal Hartley
and whilst it’s arguable that some of what’s on offer here is like a sort
of condensed supercharged bucket of HH’s stylistic tics I find none of that
irritating in the way I might have expected, rather it’s a definite plus, by some odd
counter-intuitive magic. It’s the very over-the-topness of it all that lends
it its huge charm.
More from Will Goss soon.

5 Lumières

Posted on November 1, 2012 by brittany

Me and Pop (2004, 3.88MB, 1:00min)

Maker’s site

Sleeping (2007, 2.34MB, 57 secs)

Maker’s site

Gallo (2007, 5.17MB, 55 secs)

Maker’s site

Dance of Death (2007, 5.53MB, 1:00 min)

Maker’s site

A Week’s Worth (2007, 4.93MB, 1:00 min)

Maker’s site

The rules for Lumière videos are as follows:

* 60 seconds max.
* Fixed camera
* No audio
* No zoom
* No edit
* No effects

In the spirit of the Lumière brothers and comparable in some ways to Dogme 95,
the Lumière video project emerged from a documentary perspective,
as Auguste and Louis Lumière blazed the trail in this genre.
In the tradition of the the cinematographe, the first movie camera,
which was arguably used and possibly built by the brothers, all
21st C Lumiere videos should be made only using features available in
camera (ie, no external editing, including bumpers and titles, should
be included).
Lumière videos hope to expand upon the ways that online video allows for
the advancement of personal narratives by capturing the everyday, and sometimes
unexpected, within a specific framework of constraints, less conflicted by sometimes
unnecessary editing.

See all Lumière videos.

Two futurespots

Posted on October 30, 2012 by brittany

futurespots – Splinters (2006, 10.1MB, 1:44)

futurespots – Flash (2006, 3.7MB, 1:10)

From the futurespots archives, two older works
from what is now a defunct videoblog.
These days, Christopher Black’s experimental
and interactive media can be found on his personal site.

More from Anthony Rousseau

Posted on October 29, 2012 by michael

Climax (2006, 6.2MB, 1:11 min)

We’ve featured Anthony Rousseau’s excellent work here before
this is one of many great pieces you can see on his blog.
I’ve focussed in on this one because I think it’s particularly interesting
in its capacity to be genuinely disturbing in a number of ways over a short spell of time.
Made from appropriated Prelinger footage, Rousseau says it is
Une construction filmique dont la ligne directrice est la
traduction d’angoisses et de peurs infantiles.

‘A filmic construction of which the directorial line is the translation of childhood fears and anguish’

Now, before I read that, I was thinking what Rousseau had done cleverly
& to powerful effect was to deploy many of the tropes of the horror genre
so we fear for, not with, the child.
But then I suppose many of those devices are indeed rooted in
our peurs infantiles & in fact we do both.
Smart. Smart, rich, good.

Curt Cloninger – Pop Mantra #4 (Rain Down On Me)

Posted on October 25, 2012 by michael

Rain Down On Me: 10:00 am (2012, 22MB, 1:27 min)

Rain Down On Me: 3:43pm (2012, 20MB, 1:01 min)

Rain Down On Me: 6:00pm (2012, 110MB, 6:32 min)

Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, 14 September 2012, 10am – 6pm:
Curt Cloninger repeatedly performs a short excerpt from the
Radiohead song “Paranoid Android” for eight hours blindfolded.
The performance is the fourth in an ongoing series.
Video documentation by Alice Sebrell

Full documentation

Tony Arnold – New Work

Posted on October 23, 2012 by michael

Talkin’ Singularity Blues (2012, 186MB, 8:13 min)

Robert Loggia [trailer] (2012, 43MB, 1:39 min)

We’ve shown work -very individual and promising work –
from Tony Arnold before and we’re delighted to do so again.
There’s an energy and freshness to his work and a kind
of volcanic flow of creativity which is invigorating.
The first of these pieces is accompanied by music from
Arnold himself, which I like very much. The second is a trailer
for a full length piece which you can view in its entirety here.

‘Miniatures’ by Steven Hoskins

Posted on October 22, 2012 by doron

Miniatures (2006, 11MB, 2:35 min.)

‘Early experimental work in multi-frame/multi-track asynchrony.’
More works from video artist Steven Hoskins on Video Art Net.

Jon Rafman – Ad-Vice for a Prophet

Posted on October 17, 2012 by michael

Ad-Vice for a Prophet (2005, 78.6MB, 6:59 min)

I wrote the text below in, I think, 2008.
[In case you didn’t notice we’re intermittently re-posting stuff previously
posted on weekends in line with our 5 day a week current policy
– it also takes a bit of the pressure off which, two old guys,
we feel, we feel].
Since then Rafman has gone on to achieve a measure of well deserved
celebrity, showing at the Saatchi Gallery in London amongst other
prestigious venues, especially with his 9 eyes of google street view
I notice the piece we feature here no longer appears on his CV or website.
A shame – it has many merits – not least of which is an embryonic
version of the sensibility which underpins his more current work
although I entirely understand why artists occasionally attempt
to take a broom to old work.

Great piece by Jon Rafman.
I love the refusal to commit to a tone, the playfulness & humor, the wistfulness &
sometimes the vaguest air of menace too.
There’s a curious feel. An air of detachment, as if nothing can be said
directly but that everything is mediated & distanced by the act of editing
and presenting, serving up, (as with the ads).
The whole thing feels haunted by movie history.
I’m curious to know whether this is all found footage, whether some of it is
original or what.

Anyway, tremendous. Lots of other interesting
work on his site.