Knitoscope Testimonies by Cat Mazza

alex360
alex360 (2010, 1 MB, 30 sec.)

efj360
efj360 (2010, 3 MB, 1:28 min.)

“Knitoscope Testimonies is the first web based video using “Knitoscope” software,
a program that translates digital video into a knitted animation. Knitoscope is a moving
image offshoot of microRevolt’s freeware knitPro. Knitoscope imports streaming video,
lowers the resolution, and then generates a stitch that correspondes with the pixels color.
The title “Knitoscope” is based on Edison’s early animation technology the kinetoscope,
which was a “coin operated peep show machine

By Cat Mazza.

Nigel Ayers – War Criminal

first line
War Criminal (2003 -2010, 22MB, 3:18 min)

When I first saw this piece from Nigel Ayers I assumed, quite wrongly, he
was involved with some heavy duty image manipulation in the cause of a
kind of conceptualist ‘activism’ (and I sat scratching my head at just how difficult it
must have been to get that image onto so many moving figures).

DOH! The facts are much weirder and much, much better…
Great stuff! Hats off! Not worthy, not worthy!

Scanner et al. – Night Jam

NightJam
NightJam (2006, 26MB, 11:28 min.)

An Artangel commissioned project from 2006 involving
sound artist Scanner working with clients of London’s
New Horizons Youth Centre, devoted to work with homeless youth.
The musical collaborators are MC Utta, MC Marcel,
MC Quick Latino, MC Magic and MC Sweetie.

Undoubtedly evocative, if a tad derivative, especially
considering the resources at play here.
The multilingual MCing is great though!

Todd Polenberg – Monster/Identity Prosthetic

Monster/Identity Prosthetic
Monster/Identity Prosthetic (2009, 54 MB, 1:13 min)

Documentation from last years Spark Festival of a rather splendid
installation by Todd Polenberg.

A Letter From Beirut

From Beirut
A Letter From Beirut (2006, 36.9MB, 4:41 min.)

This video letter was made on July 21, 2006 at the studios of Beirut DC, a
film and cinema collective which runs the yearly Ayam Beirut Al Cinema’iya Film
Festival. This video letter was produced in collaboration with Samidoun, a grassroots
gathering of various organizations and individuals who were involved in relief
and media efforts from the first day of the Israeli attack on Lebanon. It was
also featured at the Biennial of Arab Cinema, organized by the Arab World
Institute
in Paris.

Max Moswitzer – early found footage and remixed videos

zwischenlagerung
ZWlSCHENLAGERUNG EINER NULLOESUNG (1988, 10.5 MB, 4:47 min)

computergame
COMPUTER GAME (1987, 9 MB, 3:53 min)

Early videos by Max Moswitzer using found footage material, remix
and live performance.
ZWlSCHENLAGERUNG EINER NULLOESUNG was using documentary
films from 1938-1945 and was a live action performance at the
University of Applied Arts in Vienna in 1988.
COMPUTER GAME was exhibited at ARS Electronica in 1987.

More Max Moswitzer here.

Three from Writtle

Impossible Conversations
Ashleigh Smith – Impossible Conversations (2010, 75 MB, 2:30 min)

Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Emma Haggis – Out of Sight, Out of Mind (2010, 118 MB, 2:18 min)

Response
Lucy Mills – Response (2010, 108 MB, 2:02 min, silent)

So, first, I should say, Writtle is where I taught this year, but it cuts both ways:
I wouldn’t post these pieces by graduating students here on DVblog unless I
thought they were all great, which I do.
They’re also diverse, in a fascinating way.
There’s Ashleigh Smith’s haunting – stays with you long afterwards – game/real life hybrid,
Lucy Mills beauty industry critique – half mash-up, half rather brave performance,
(It’s interesting the way that all three pieces incorporate, to
some degree, elements of self performance) and Emma Haggis’s superbly made
and utterly captivating stop motion environmental piece.

In each case one can see a personal language well into its development.
(All these pieces or variants/derivatives thereof formed part of larger
installations; I’m impressed by the naturalness & lack of self consciousness
with with these three move between modes of working/presentation)

I hope they’re all still making work in ten years – given this
starting point then that would be a treat in store.

Edward Picot – Dr Hairy’s Address to the Nation

election
Dr Hairy’s Address to the Nation (2010, 69 MB, 9:42 min)

With the UK general election coming up on Thursday
here’s Edward Picot’s Dr Hairy putting in his three penn’orth.

Whilst previous efforts have been more straighforwardly satirical
this is simply, and quite splendidly, barking…

Because it *is* funny ( the vicar punchline being my favourite)
it’s easy to overlook how much Picot has developed as
a filmmaker -there’s a quite individual and original syntax at work here,
deployed confidently and effectively throughout.

John Berryman – Dream Song #14

watchingthem
Dream Song #14 (1967, 8MB, 1:43 min)


Life, friends, is boring. We must not say so.
After all, the sky flashes, the great sea yearns,
we ourselves flash and yearn,
and moreover my mother told me as a boy
(repeatedly) ‘Ever to confess you’re bored
means you have no

Inner Resources.’ I conclude now I have no
inner resources, because I am heavy bored.
Peoples bore me,
literature bores me, especially great literature,
Henry bores me, with his plights & gripes
as bad as achilles,

who loves people and valiant art, which bores me.
And the tranquil hills, & gin, look like a drag
and somehow a dog
has taken itself & its tail considerably away
into mountains or sea or sky, leaving
behind: me, wag.

Another Dream Song by John Berryman.

see also, original post.

Marisa Olson – 2 videos

Dark Stars
Dark Stars (2006, 6.9MB, 1:30 min)

From Here
From Here (2006, 29MB, 4 min)

Two rather attractive & intriguing pieces by Marisa Olson
made at a 2006 residency at the Experimental Television Center.

Said Marisa:
“Both are made using a combination of analog & digital processes
and Dark Stars is almost completely analog.. but
then again, both appropriate found material from the internet.
From Here is the music video for Zach Layton’s remix of my song of the
same name. Dark Stars uses samples from one of those old VHS video
games”.

More from Marisa on DVblog here.

John Berryman – Dream Song #29

watchingthem
Dream Song #29 (1967, 11MB, 2:20 min)

There sat down, once, a thing on Henry’s heart
só heavy, if he had a hundred years
& more, & weeping, sleepless, in all them time
Henry could not make good.
Starts again always in Henry’s ears
the little cough somewhere, an odour, a chime.
And there is another thing he has in mind
like a grave Sienese face a thousand years
would fail to blur the still profiled reproach of. Ghastly,
with open eyes, he attends, blind.
All the bells say: too late. This is not for tears;
thinking.
But never did Henry, as he thought he did,
end anyone and hacks her body up
and hide the pieces, where they may be found.
He knows: he went over everyone, & nobody’s missing.
Often he reckons, in the dawn, them up.
Nobody is ever missing.

by John Berryman.

Pictures of Assholes – Joseph Gordon-Levitt

rock
Pictures of Assholes (2006, 6.8MB 3.44Min.)

Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt takes on those pesky celebrity-hounding paparazzi
with a novel new approach, his own video camera (and an impressive amount of patience).
In doing so, he manages to turn the entire relationship on it’s head with true situationist flair.
I found it fascinating to experience this from his perspective, and then, I was kind of shocked
that more famous people don’t do things like this and then publish it online?

I mean, if they really want us normal people to feel sympathy for what their fame and our culture of celebrity worship does to their daily lives..
In any case, Levitt is clearly a cut above, go see whatever movies he’s in.

By Mica.

Tom Frisch – Rave Culture

rave_culture
Rave Culture (1998, 16MB, 11:19 min.)

Shot on location at six Chicago parties over the course of a year,
this film explores multiple issues surrounding the rave scene,
including public opinion, promoters, drugs, police, and the culture
created by this phenomenon.
By Tom Frisch.

Residential Erection – Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung

residentialerection
Residential Erection (2008, 48 MB, 4:35 min)


What makes for a grievable life?


What makes for a grievable life? – Ashley Watson (2009, 19.2MB, 5:39)

From Ashley Watson, a truly poignant piece about
how we choose to value certain lives and not others.

H/t to my friend Deb

suppendapo – Wreck & Salvage

suppendapo
suppendapo (2009, 33 MB, 2:51 min)

Are You Alive?
Wanna Stay That Way?

By Wreck & Salvage.

Because Washington Is Hollywood For Ugly People – Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung

washugly
Because Washington Is Hollywood For Ugly People (2007, 79 MB, 7:24 min)


Sebastian Hernandez – DIY or Die #3 – A Month of Sundays

A Month of Sundays
A Month of Sundays (2009, 65 MB, 4:54 min)

Last &, in my view, the best of Sebastian Hernandez’ DIY or Die
series of documentaries, which we’ve been delighted to
be able to feature here in the past few weeks.
I found them all well made, engaging and informative.
This one I also found profoundly moving.
We look forward to featuring more of Sebastian’s work
in the not too distant future.

Sebastian Hernandez – DIY or Die #2 – Ladyfest

torc
Ladyfest (2009, 46 MB, 4:39 min)

Second in Sebastian Hernandez’ neat documentary series on DIY/alternative lifestyles.
I like the genuine respect & empathy Hernandez shows for his subjects, which doesn’t,
however, preclude honest & three dimensional film-making.
Once again Hernandez’ technical skills are evident (But not in a look at me! kind of way)
In particular I love the jumpy camera work/edit in the second interview, which manages to be
aesthetically pleasing without detracting from the actual substance of the interview – indeed
it adds to it.
Looking forward very much to seeing the third!

The Yes Men Fix The World

fixtheworld
The Yes Men Fix The World (2009, 37 MB, 2:30 min)

Coming to theaters in October, The Yes Men – Fix The World.
They have an unusual hobby: posing as top executives
of corporations they hate. Armed with nothing but thrift-store suits,
the Yes Men lie their way into business conferences and parody their
corporate targets in ever more extreme ways – basically doing everything
that they can to wake up their audiences to the danger of letting greed run our world.

More vids here and here.

Gas Zappers by Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung

gaszappers
Gas Zappers (2007, 61 MB, 5:45 min)


Sebastian Hernandez –Truth or Consequences

torc
Truth or Consequences (2009, 90 MB, 10:03 min)

Very nicely made and engaging documentary, first of three,
all of which we hope to feature here, by Sebastian Hernandez,
amply fulfilling earlier promise.
Technically this work is even more assured.
I have to say personally I preferred the politics of his earlier work.
(Not that I assume Hernandez views are necessarily to be identified with
those of his subjects, so, to put it better, I preferred the folks
in the earlier movies)

There’s more context here.

Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price

Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart (2005, 9.4 MB, 2:48 min)

Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price was the documentary film sensation
that’s changing the largest company on earth. The film features the
deeply personal stories and everyday lives of families and communities
struggling to survive in a Wal-Mart world.
It’s an emotional journey that will challenge the way you think, feel.. and shop.
Directed by Robert Greenwald.

THE HERETICS – the story of the Women

the_heretics
THE HERETICS (2009, 124 MB, 10:08 min)

THE HERETICS, A Feminist Publication on Art and Politics

Lesbian Rangers – Victory at The Rock

rock
Victory at The Rock (2005, 72.4 MB, 4:45 min.)

The Lesbian Rangers.
More clips .

In G.O.D. We Trust – Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung

ingodwetrust
In G.O.D. We Trust (2009, 52 MB, 5:04 min)

In G.O.D. We Trust remixes the political and economical hardships Barrack Obama
has to overcome within various religious contexts. In the series the 44th US president keeps
reincarnating into seven various prophets, spiritual leaders and deities in order to heal the
world, including Jesus Christ, Buddha, Elegua, Lady of Guadalupe, Krishna, Mohammad and
Abraham. The series uses the pillar belief, remix the important stories and substitute the key
elements of the religious texts with current political and economical climate. Rather than
idolizing Obama, In G.O.D. We Trust examines the hope and changes the popular 44th US
president promises to deliver and the obstacle along the way.

The title of the series appropriate the US national motto, but with a twist. In G.O.D. We Trust
the word GOD is an abbreviation of Global Obama Devotion. Contrary to the artist previous
works that criticize the manipulation of religions in politics, In GOD We Trust starts from the
religious teaching and reinterpret the moral values with current affair. The result is a spiritual
journey that even Atheist cannot deny it.”

By Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung. Audio by Mr Cloak and Dagger.

MTAA and Mike Koller – iPhone Drum Circle

ipdc
iPhone Drum Circle (2009, 40 MB, 5:10 min)

On Sunday September 20 at 2pm, MTAA, Mike Koller and friends set out
a brightly colored blanket surround by a circle of chairs at McCarren Park,
Williamsburg, Brooklyn. They had amplified iPhones on which they have
downloaded touchscreen drum and bongo applications and they “jammed.”

iPhone Drum Circle (aka IPDC)

Olga Panedes Massenet – City of Fear


City of Fear (2008, 118MB 4:13 min)

Tad.. er.. earnest & a bit Burroughs lite at moments,
but gripping to watch, moves along nicely and clearly the work
of someone with serious skills, strong visual sense and something to say.
The green slime section must’ve been fun to do.
More here.

Bruce Conkle


Bruce Conkle (2009, 243MB, 5:32 min)

A very deftly made & absorbing documentary directed by Robert D’Esposito &
shot by Kevin Forrest about the excellent Portland, OR based artist Bruce Conkle.
It’s a bit of a download but worth it both as a nifty bit of filmmaking
(and everything is good – listen to that crystal clear sound!)
but also because Bruce’s work is great.
There’s a big fat HD version on the Vimeo link above ..

We’re leaving you with something chunky to contemplate
as we’re going to take a summer break now.
We’ll be back on September 14th (unless anything so
wonderful & time limited appears we just have to put our
Daiquiris down, shuffle into the house & post it…)
Have a good summer!

What Makes Me White?


What Makes Me White? (2009, 9.4MB, 3:21)

New short film by award-winning director A.M. Sands
about race, privilege, memory, and experience.
What Makes Me White? official site.

History of video blogging – Vloggercon 2005

vloggercon
europe-vloggercon (2005, 6.7MB, 1:35 min.)

by Anders from – randomshow.com.

also, history and Video blogging.

Skull Project – Paul Wirhun

skulls
Skulls (2004, 6.5MB, 3min.)

A video from my blog “My Year in Art”
documenting my interactions with artists and their work.
Paul Wirhun speaks about his work The Skull Project.

By Mica Scalin.

When Clouds Clear


When Clouds Clear (2008, 15.3MB, 2:26)

Directed by Anne Slick and Danielle Bernstein,
When Clouds Clear is a remarkably intimate portrait
of a tiny Ecuadorian village’s struggle against
mining companies that seek to take over (and destroy)
the land they have long cultivated as their home.

Shot on a lovely mix of Super 8, 16mm, and video
to show the complexities of different viewpoints, the
film is one of the most beautiful I have had the
privilege of viewing this year.

Light Criticism – the Anti-Advertising Agency

lightcriticism
Light Criticism (2007, 14MB, 2:21 min.)

Light Criticism is a project by Steve Lambert (the Anti-Advertising Agency)
with Graffiti Research Lab.
From Eyebeam R&D Open Lab.

Flooded McDonald’s


Superflex – Flooded McDonald’s (2009, 8.2MB, 0:41)

Clip from a twenty minute video of a McDonald’s
being fully submerged underwater. (Don’t worry –
they recycled the water, and no staff was present.)
What do you think it means? Is it a statement about
collective inability to act, climate change and multinational
corporations, or consumption?
Whatever the intentions, the video is oddly calming.
From Danish video collective Superflex.

A Series of Practical Performances In The Wilderness (3)

moose_and_atv
moose and atv (2005, 2MB, 46 sec.)

springwater_finale
springwater finale (2005, 6.5MB, 2:27 min.)

Final two pieces, chapters 7 & 8, from

Invisible People


Invisible People – Larry (2008, 48.6MB, 9:21)

Invisible People is a new project from Mark Horvath
that documents homelessness in Los Angeles. The
interviews are unedited, and it can honestly be hard
to watch some of them – but isn’t that the point?
The site comes with a warning:
Caution: some content may be offensive. Our hope is
you’ll get mad enough to do something.

This particular interview is one of my favorites, as Larry
is charismatic and Mark was able to capture that easily.
But I’d encourage you to go watch the others as well.
Mark himself is in a rough financial situation that might
soon land him back on the streets too.
Seems we are often our own best advocates.

MoTV News, Episode 1 – Marisa Olson

moTVNews_episode1
MoTV News, Episode 1 (2005, 13.6MB, 6:20 min.)

During her American Idol audition training process,
Marisa Olson asked MTV News veteran Tabitha Soren to interview her and
then critique her

Monochrom – Killing Capitalism with Christmas


Kiki and Bubu and the Feelings (2008, 48.9MB, 4:48 min)

More splendid agit-puppetry from monochrom.

More from Les Filmistes

toma
La vitesse – Toma (2005, 7MB, 1 min.)

raphael
La Vitesse – Raphael (2005, 6.8 MB, 1 min.)

linda
La telephon portable – Linda (2005, 5.6MB, 1 min.)

Another round of videos from Les Filmistes Associ

By Mica.

Mischa Kuball – Public Square


Mischa Kuball – Public Square (date unknown, 4.4MB, 2:41)

Do you miss the public square, the everyperson
common space? Yeah, so did Mischa Kuball. So
he made this. It’s quite fantastic. Enjoy.

Les Filmistes

jair
Le premier idee est toujours la meilleure – Jair (2005, 2.7MB, 1 min.)

also
Les Suspense – Also (2005, 7.5 MB, 1 min.)

jim2
L

By Mica.

New York Times Special Edition – The War Is Over


New York Times Special Edition (2008, 16.2MB, 2:12 min)

Self-explanatory movie giving background & reaction
to the day before yesterday’s visionary prank ( &
how often do you hear those two words together?)
by those visionary pranksters The Yes Men.
More here.
Breathtaking & inspiring.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights


Seth Brau – The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (2008, 18.1MB, 4:31)

Really lovely piece of moving typology from
Seth Brau of the Human Rights Action Center.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
turns 60 this year. Read the full text here.
Music from Rumspringa.
Video via Osocio

Voting

voting
Voting (2008, 37.2MB, 13:37)

I know we featured the folks at Sporkworld only recently
but they just posted this and it’s wonderful
– & somewhat topical…
Watch it all – it’s deadly serious but Millie Niss
makes her points with the kind of comic timing
many would kill for.

Protest Films


Alex Pearl – Protest Film Nottingham (2006, 7.6MB, 1:36)

Protest films…usually films about people protesting
something unjust in the world.
Or, perhaps you meant Protest Films, the conceptual
robot-banner-waving collection of videos wherein
little machines “protest,” more generally speaking.
This is the first from the long-running,
Arts Council-supported series from artist
and renaissance man Alex Pearl.
If you’d like to participate or create your own
Clockwork Protest, visit the blog and email Alex
for a protest kit.

Rebecca Bray & Britta Riley – Feedback Interview


submersibledesign (2008, 6.6MB, 3:04 min.)

What happens when we think of our bodies as their own ecosystems?
Interview with Britta Riley and Rebecca Bray, artists and collaborators who also
own a company called submersible design.
From eyebeam.

Tough Enough


Lukas Blakk – Tough Enough (2006, 11.4MB, 3:41)

Lovely, poignant film from Lukas Blakk,
who always says such honest things,
even if she’s mostly too busy to post anymore.

Monochrom & the Bolshevik Glove Puppets

kiki and bubu and the good plan
Kiki and Bubu and the Good Plan (2008, 74MB, 7:24 min)

kiki and bubu and the shift
Kiki and Bubu and the Shift (2008, 39MB, 4:11 min)

Well, almost.
Marred only by some fashionable end-of-the-working-class-in-the-West
(who collects your trash, checks out your groceries, teaches your kids?)
nonsense, this is on the whole the finest piece of glove puppet based
agit-prop I’ve ever seen & very funny to boot.
In particular the best of these pieces,Kiki and Bubu and the Good Plan,
is an absolutely clear & devastating reply to the marketeers…
See ’em all…

Skye Bender-deMoll


Skye Bender-deMoll – Organic Brand Ownership Networks (2007, 9MB, 0:18)

We love moving charts and maps, in case you couldn’t tell.
This one, from Skye Bender-deMoll, features organic food brands
circa late 2007, and their often overlooked connections.
The yellow nodes are food processors, blue are investment firms,
green are organic brands, and red are new organic brand introductions.

via Another Limited Rebellion

Africalls

Africalls Trailer
Africalls Trailer (2008, 23.3MB, 1:57 min)

If this rather lovely trailer is anything to go by then Africalls
the movie proper, by director Pere Ortin Andres, will display a pretty high level of visual
sensitivity to its subject matter -art & artists from urban centers of Africa.
(And I can’t help feeling something visually so good is also going to be truthful &
meticulous in its account of the artists and their context. A hunch, but I bet I’m not wrong.)

Apparently it’s tied in with a book & exhibition too. Strikes me all three would be well worth
catching/booking.
Here’s the website.

The Listening Project


The Listening Project (2008, 31.5MB, 2:43)

It feels a bit cliched, but I’ll give this one the
benefit of the doubt, of doing relevant and
important work about the current state of
global relations.

The Listening Project is a documentary feature film
that puts a human face to world opinion of the U.S.
Filmed in 14 countries, it explores many facets of
America

Kill the Artist

trailer
Kill the Artist Trailer (2008, 17MB, 2:37 min)

Mike Diana
Kill the Artist (excerpt) (2008, 12.7MB, 1:09 min)

Documentary from Andreas Troeger about ‘artists who got into trouble with the law
because of their art-works’.
Personally I don’t share what I understand to be the film’s implicit
libertarianism – I’m all in favour of shutting down, for example,
Holocaust deniers, or race hate merchants generally.
Niether did I see any work in the extracts sent that I gave a damn about artistically
but of course the point is that censorship operates salami style
& often by picking the most problematic, hard to defend, cases first,
so the discussion here matters.
Nonetheless when the definitive history of political censorship of/attacks upon art in the early
twenty first century is written I can’t help feeling the Steve Kurtz case
will figure more largely than the stuff on display here.
Interested what others think.

Monochrom

irark
‘Irark’ (2003, 5.7 MB, 5 min.)

Me
‘ME’ (2001, 18.5 MB, 2:45 min.)

Simply great stuff from Austrian Monochrom.

Sex Positive


Daryl Wein – Sex Positive (2008, 16MB, 2:43)

Groundbreaking film from 24-year-old Daryl Wein.
I hate it when people mention my youthful age, but
I think since I know my motivations for doing it, I’ll
just accept that we all mean it as a compliment.

Wein’s portrait of 1980s AIDS activist Richard Berkowitz
is such a contribution to our modern understanding of the
history of AIDS and gay rights activism. One of the first
to speak out about the need for safe sex in the gay
community, Berkowitz was ridiculed and ostracized.
This excellent documentary finds Berkowitz today and
revisits his time as an S&M sex worker before becoming
an outspoken critic of the AIDS epidemic. Much of the older
footage is also courtesy of Berkowitz.
An outstanding collaboration.

Standard Operating Procedure


Errol Morris – Standard Operating Procedure (2008, 11.2MB, 2:00)

We don’t hide our love for Errol Morris – see here
and here – but there’s no need for us to apologize.
The man is a genius. His latest feature, Standard
Operating Procedure
, interviews Abu Ghraib prison
guards and tells the story behind the now-infamous
photographs of abuse from the prison, uncovered in
2003. Dubbed a “nonfiction horror film” by Morris,
this investigative film, much like A Thin Blue Line,
helped Morris once again dig deeper into a crime
file, this one just more contemporary.

When you see a picture, you don’t see outside the frame.

With the frightening pictures as a jumping off point,
Morris interviews those involved with the scandal to
get the whole story.
Can’t wait to see this one.