Patrick Lichty Season – #2

One Language, Indivisible
One Language, Indivisible (2003, 20.9MB, 2:52 min)

Corporate Ritual
Corporate Ritual (2003, 5.4MB, 1:43 min)

Corporate Ritual
America’s Most Famous Mexican (2003, 9MB, 1:41 min)

‘Two!’ I hear you cry ‘Two! – WHEN WAS ONE!?’
Well it was er..um..in April & I meant to post more
sooner only I was just plain dilatory.
Partly because the body of work Patrick has handed over
to us is simply somewhat overwhelming in volume & scope
& I’m actually a bit overawed.
So now I’ve grabbed the bull by the horns & am going to
post these three, which showcase Lichty the radical.
They’re funny, pointed and (always a good sign with political art
IMHO) really, really weird…
[Actually, coming back to revise this post, it occurred to me
I don’t think Swiftian is entirely hyperbolic]
There’ll be more before too long…

How are you?


Pete Prodoehl (2007, 17.3MB, 0:50)

From the unpredictable, sporadically-published,
and very charming tinkernet.org.

Nathaniel Stern – Sentimental Construction

 Sentimental Construction
Sentimental Construction (2007, 25.4MB, 6:31 min)

Nathaniel Stern took a bit of a hammering in various quarters for this piece,
made on a residency in Croatia.
I think there’s an probably an element of you-had-to-be-there about this
although, that said, I think the video is rather magical &
does as good a job of summoning the kind of ephemeral spell this stuff can weave
as any I’ve seen.
Lastly it has to be said the reason Nathaniel is great is because
(1) he has a frightening amount of energy, more indeed, really, than his fair share –
he starts 5 ‘isms’ before breakfast
(2) he is bold, unafraid to risk looking ridiculous & therefore quite often as an artist
he goes to much more interesting places than most…
In general I’ll take a Nathaniel “failure” over quite a lot of folks’ “success”.

K H Jeron – Röhrender Hirsch

 Röhrender Hirsch
Röhrender Hirsch (2007, 7.3MB, 9 sec)

Bracing & clever stuff from KH Jeron a.k.a Sim.
By the magic of programming he transmutes the result
of a Google image search ( presumably on Reindeer or some such)
into this video.
I originally wanted to post another vid crafted by similar means,
image searching on the contents of a text by dvblog favourite Alan Sondheim,
but the vid ,even with small picture size, is way too big for us.
Check that out here, though.

3 Beautiful Lumières

Squirrel
Squirrel (2007, 6.8MB, 47 secs)

[ by Andreas Haugstrup Pedersen ]

bubbles
Bubble machine (2007, 8.93MB, 57 secs)

[ by Brittany Shoot ]

hubertus
the hubertus hunt 2007 (2007, 4.92MB, 41 secs)

[ by Sam Renseiw ]

Andreas & Brittany’s Lumièree project has been brilliant in so many respects.
Firstly, it has engaged a load of people in making stuff.
Secondly, it has been a huge kick in the arse in terms of reflecting on what one
is doing when one is making video. It has sharpened all our eyes.
(And, curiously, speaking personally, my ears too. I think a lot harder about what
I want sound to do having now forsworn it on 25 or so occasions)
Lastly, there’s been some really great work come out of it.
Here’s one each from Andreas and Brittany and one from the frontrunner
in the productivity stakes (but not simply that – what an eye!) Sam Renseiw.

Steven Ball – Snow Factory

snowfactory1
Snow Factory (2006, 6.41MB, 53 secs)

Lyrical whimsy, which sounds lightweight, but isn’t.
It’s beautifully made by Steven Ball and has a strange
gravity not unreminiscent of the less dread-saturated
(I hesitate to say “more playful”) end of Kafka…or
Ben Marcus, perhaps…

RED ATTACK – Computer Virus Project 2.0

red_attack
Red Attack (2001, 7MB, 1:38 min.)

Joseph Nechvatal‘s 2001 Computer Virus Project 2.0 follows along the same lines as previous viral works by Nechvatal in 1992 – works where an unpredictable progressive virus operates on a degradation/transformation of an image. Using a C++ framework, Joseph Nechvatal and his programmer/collaborator Stephane Sikora have brought Nechvatal’s early computer virus project into the realm of artificial life (A-Life) (i.e. into a synthetic system that exhibits behaviors characteristic of natural living systems). With Computer Virus Project 2.0, elements of artificial life have been introduced in that viruses are modeled to be autonomous agents living in/off the image. The project simulates a population of active viruses functioning as an analogy of a viral biological system.

Jaygo Bloom – O:.O:.O:.

ooo
O:.O:.O:.(2007, 47.3MB, 59 sec loop)

Quite extraordinary dance video from Jaygo Bloom.
What I love about it is the wonderfully insouciant way
it both references and evokes early modernism
(Calder is cited as a source/inspiration by Bloom) but is also
(and could not be other than) utterly contemporary.
Great! So great it makes me totally jealous!

Camera: Patrick Jamieson and Anna Druka
Music: Hammerschmidt

The Planets – Toine Klaassen

the_planets
The Planets (2005, 1MB, 1:07 min.)

Toine Klaassen draws attention to the poetry of the unsightly, the small,
and neglected. He collects discarded objects from his surroundings
with no predetermined plan, and subsequently uses these in his work.
Often the work is created in the presence of the public
in a performance setting, in which he makes no attempt
to avoid the absurd.
Or as Klaassen himself states:
“If you catch a butterfly in your hands the powder on its
wings will brush off leaving just a tattered rag.”

Inflatables in Public Space


JooYoun Paek – Self-Sustainable Chair (2007, 4.2MB, 1:37)

Joo Youn Paek demonstrates how to use her
self-sustaining chair on a walk down the street.
This and several related excellent related projects
originate in the NYU ITP program.


Real DMB TU – Life Dress (2007, 5.2MB, 0:33)

From Anna Maria Cornelia (also known by pseudonym
Ann De Gersem), a Life Dress which allows a person
to create instant personal boundaries in public.
As a woman often bothered by unwanted attention
in public – not to mention a lover of profound design
– I am so pleased by this concept, even if the end
result might be even more unsolicited scrutiny.
The dress is featured here in a commercial for
South Korea’s mobile broadcast service, TU Media.