Category Archives: performance

Derek Bailey & Will Gaines

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Derek Bailey & Will Gaines #1
clip #1 (1995, 7.6MB, 32 sec.)

Derek Bailey & Will Gaines #2
clip #2 (1995, 3.2MB, 14 sec.)

Derek Bailey & Will Gaines #3
clip #3 (1995, 4.1MB, 17 sec.)

Some lovely footage of the great free improv guitarist Derek Bailey,
who died in 2005, working with be-bop hoofer Will Gaines.
As with so much Bailey did, it seems at first deeply
odd & then, in equal measure, wonderful.
Important to understand this wasn’t some sort of gimmick:
Gaines had known Bailey since the sixties & although much of his
fame was garnered firmly in the mainstream, he has spent a great
deal of time working with cutting edge improvisors.
Enjoy two wonderful artists at the top of their game.
From European Free Improvisation.

Buky Schwartz – 2 illusory videos

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buki_schwartz2
videoconstructions2 (1978, 5MB, 1:16 min.)

buki_schwartz1
The Chair (1980, 36MB, 9:54 min.)

Buky Schwartz (1932-2009), an Israeli sculptor and video artist
who passed away last year, was known for his deceptive videos
that interplay between illusory appearance and the actual ‘reality’.
The 2 vids here were exhibited at the Whitney Biennial in New York in 1981.
From the splendid Videoart.net

Markos Vamvakaris sings ‘Atakti’

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vamvakaris
Atakti (196?, 11MB, 2:23 min)

Utterly compelling clip from a 1960s German documentary featuring a
spine tingling live performance in a Piraeus taverna by the great
rembetiko singer Markos Vamvakaris.
I could watch & listen all day.

PS I think atakti means ‘bad’ or ‘naughty’

The Return of Dr Hairy

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Private Charges
Private Charges ( 2010, 51MB, 9:59)

Another bit of pointed fun from the team who brought you
the original Dr Hairy movie.
Made me laugh a lot, especially the superb timing and the
gratuitous cruelty to toy animals.
Shouldn’t need saying, especially with this one, but, US
viewers, please see the disclaimer on the original post.

Edward Picot – Bramble Jelly

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Bramble Jelly
Bramble Jelly (2010, 63MB, 5:14 min)

Lovely little pastoral from Edward Picot, as resolutely
unfashionable as ever and not any the worse for it.
More soon.

suzon fuks :: rings #1 – #6

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rings1to6
rings #1 – #6 (2007, 25MB, 6:35 min.)

“Ongoing series of one-minute unedited shots which can each stands alone.
Improvised choreography multi-reprojected on body parts, counterpointed
by texts by Fernand Shirren, Maurice Bejart’s music advisor and rhythm teacher
of many dancers and choreographers, and a significant inspiration in Fuks’ work.
made collaboratively with and performed by Helen Varley Jamieson,
James Cunningham, Scotia Monkivitch and Suzon Fuks.”

Directed by Suzon Fuks.

Jolipunk – Octopus

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Octopus
Octopus (2010, 56MB, 1:15 min)

When we previously featured a piece by Jolipunk we took the
exceptional step of including a warning that it might disturb.

This new piece is interesting on several counts –
(1) The somewhat in-your-face Oldboy reference/homage
(I can’t believe there’s anyone interested in film who isn’t at least
aware of that scene)
(2) The sharp focus once again on the mouth and mouth
related transgression.
(3) That -at least in my case – it didn’t send me running
for the sick bucket or even force me to turn away; indeed there’s
something even elegant (especially after the beats kick in
around 47 secs) about it.
(4) The jumpy editing and ambiguous music (which flits rapidly
from mood to mood, ominous at one time, quite lighthearted
at others) which serve both to distance us from simple disgust
and from a too easy identification with the Chan-wook Park sequence.

Sometimes work is “interesting” without being good – here
the things that make it the one make it the other too.

Veronique Hubert – Two Movies

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A Venir Le Monde Sera Beau
A Cube Bavards (2009, 20MB, 2:47 min)

A Venir Le Monde Sera Beau
A Venir Le Monde Sera Beau (2009, 52MB, 9:51 min)

OK -comparisons, I’m aware, can sometimes obscure as much as they illuminate but
imagine, if you will, a female, French, slightly more lapidary, Matthew Barney and it does
seem to fit the bill.
Exemplary and wonderful strangeness from Veronique Hubert.

Morrisa Maltz – Girl Space

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Girl Space
Girl Space (2010, 22MB, 3:45)

Another great piece from Morrisa Maltz, whom we first showed here last week.
This puts me in mind, stylistically, of another DVblog favourite, Donna Kuhn.
I mean that entirely positively – the content & tone are clearly different but there’s
something of the same dynamism and confidence in working with very diverse materials
in both artists.

with wavering light – Brian Gibson

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with wavering light
with wavering light (2010, 31MB, 3:03 min.)

Delicate, beautiful & assured work from occasional contributor here,
Brian Gibson.
I do particularly love the recorded-as-live harmonium, which, unlike
so much of the current use of music in movie-making serves to somehow
open out, rather than close off, the piece’s field of meanings.