moiMovies, compilation #1 (2005, 5MB, 2:19 min.)
Consisting of short video juxtapositions of old images of
the artist andrecordings of her voice, Mo
Category Archives: portraiture
Passage to Ill – Nathaniel Stern
Passage to Ill (1999, 5.5MB, 2:34 min)
“Passage to Ill was one of the first pieces I wrote as “hektor“,
playing the cynical romantic and trying to get in bed with “Ill”
(a punny nickname for a real person).
After seeing me perform it at the Nuyorican poet
Kate Maki – We are Gone
We Are Gone (2008, 55.8MB, 2:50 min)
I was drawn to this because of its connection with the
sublime Howe Gelb ( he produced & plays on the album & it’s on
his OW-OM label), but it’s winning beyond that very good intial reason.
Ms Maki’s song & performance are quite lovely in their passionate restraint
& the video, directed by Scott Cudmore & shot by Lee Towndrow on,
I gather, though I’ve lost the link to the page that told me so, the ‘video’
setting of a stills cam, matches the song in passion, restraint & loveliness.
Cudmore and Towndrow pass, with flying colours, a very simple test
-anyone who can’t produce something affecting with the most minimal
of technical resources probably shouldn’t be making movies at all…
Wild Combination – A Portrait of Arthur Russell
A Portrait of Arthur Russell (trailer) (2008, 7MB, 2:11 min.)
“Wild Combination is Matt Wolf’s acclaimed documentary on seminal
avant-garde composer, singer-songwriter, cellist, and disco producer
Arthur Russell. Before his death in 1992, Arthur created music that
spanned both pop and the transcendent possibilities of abstract art.
The film incorporates rare archival footage and commentary from
Arthur’s family, friends, collaborators and admirers, including
Philip Glass, Allen Ginsberg, Jens Lekman, and many more.”
Will Luers – Commute
Will Luers – Commute (unnamed one of eight) (2001, 3.6MB, 1:00)
Will Luers – Commute (unnamed one of eight) (2001, 3.5MB, 1:00)
I set myself the task of recording the same route
to work (Brooklyn-Manhattan) eight different
mornings from winter through spring. Each
segment was edited to exactly 60 seconds.
The linear and cylical experience of the urban
commuter lends itself to the database structure.
Will Luers, also known as Taylor Street Studios and
various projects under the name SolubleFish, has a
great history of making web video. Sometimes artists
are a little miffed when we post their older work, but
I think respecting your own history is important.
Luers’s work is no different. This piece from 2001
might seem obvious in 2008, when taping your
commute seems pedestrian (hah) and obvious.
But these vignettes – eight in total – are a lovely
reflection on repetition, routine, and subtle change.
Recent work from Paul Kelly
The Video Artist (2004-8, 15.5MB, 1:19 min)
Corporate Flag (2008, 47.2MB, 4:06 min)
Narrative (2008, 19.9MB, 1:35 min)
We’ve featured a number of pieces by Paul Kelly
in the last year, although in terms of their date of
making they stretch over some 4 years.
Looking back it seems to me there’s a very striking
sense of development.
The language and technique here is leaner, tougher
& more focussed, though without any loss of the
delight in the beauty & mystery of the everyday
that is a keynote of all the work.
As a little aside I know Paul has been making stuff
for Brittany (of this manor) & Andreas’s
Lumi
Dan Osborne’s Investigations
Investigations (2008, 40.1MB, 2:05 min)
Perfect piece of film making by Dan Osborne.
Interesting to compare it to the piece by him we posted
earlier this year.
There’s a lot in common, true, but what strikes me is both the
real elegance & the very precise focus of this new piece.
In contrast with the (admittedly very attractive) sprawl of
the earlier work there is not a second here that doesn’t feel
purposeful & controlled.
Interesting to see how this body of work develops.
the whether|man
10_10_07 (2007, 8MB, 1:16 min.)
From Astoria, Queens, it’s the whether|man.
More vids here..
Brian Gibson – Lincoln
Lincoln (2008, 69MB, 7:36 min)
Typically exquisite bit of work from poet of the video
& occasional contributor here, Brian Gibson.
Konono No 1
Konono No 1 Promotional Video (2005, 14MB, 4:20 min)
I was a bit wary of the rather glib “Congotronics” marketing
surrounding the absolutely fantastic music coming from Konono No 1
and other bands (including the Kasai All Stars) from Kinshasa,
Democratic Republic of the Congo*** – there’s so often a touch
(or more) of paternalism in these things as western rock luminaries
find some beautiful flower of music and well intentionedly but stupidly
trample and traduce it as they make it “palatable” for western consumers.
However I was completely won over by this article, which makes clear
producer Vincent Kenis’s deep knowledge of and devotion to the music
and its performers.
Furthermore it’s the kind of scholarly yet readable account of something
that one so often yearns to find on the net & so rarely does.
Watch the vid then read the article.
I bet you end up buying some of the music.
*** the much trumpeted comparison with avant-rock &c is marketing horseshit of the highest order of course – why the hell should two things that have developed in virtually completely separate social, political, economic & cultural circumstances be comparable in any meaningful sense simply because they share common surface features? Worse still, the comparison could be taken to imply that this music was somehow evolving towards the condition of western avant-rock..euurgh!