subterranean homesick blues (1967-2005, 7.5MB, 1:37 min.)
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Category Archives: observational
Interior Footage with Canine
Interior Footage with Canine (2009, 13 MB, 57 secs)
Exquisite Lumière from the ever reliable, ever astonishing, Sam Renseiw
at spacetwo : patalab.
BYE-BYE BLUE SKY – disney NASA borg
BYE-BYE BLUE SKY (2009, 17 MB, 2:40 min)
“09.11.01__”Good Bye Blue Sky” remix of the 1982 film by Pink Floyd,
in response to the 9.11 terrorist attacks, footage remixed includes video
filmed from my Brooklyn rooftop on 9.11.01…raw and heavy handed,
but is indicative of the outpouring of emotional art made in response
to the attacks by multitudes of artists.”
By [dNASAb].
Mobile Research Station no.1
10366629 (2009, 7 MB, 1:26 min)
Here’s the blurb:
In a wilderness at the heart of Berlin a strange apparition has landed. Simon Faithfull
Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore – Mark Leckey
Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore (1999, 14 MB, 14:46 min.)
‘Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore’ is a compilation of found footage
from the 70s, 80s and 90s underground music in the U.K.
By Mark Leckey, winner of the 2008 Turner Prize.
Sebastian Hernandez – DIY or Die #2 – Ladyfest
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
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.
Gas Zappers by Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung
‘Plane Days’ by Benjamin Kracun & Ewan McNicol
Plane Days (Excerpt, 2009, 6 MB, 1:22 min)
“Old friends. Young friends. Lovers and loners.
They all wait, hoping, to see something they
Regina C
Video Cat (2009, 11 MB, 1:34 min)
Aguas De Maio (2009, 9 MB, 1:19 min)
Two videos from earlier this year by Regina C
2 from Regina Célia Pinto
Mirrors (2008, 76.9MB, 4:32 min)
Broadway (2008, 11.5MB, 50 secs)
Two pieces from Brazilian artist Regina Célia Pinto
The Commoners – by Jessica Bardsley & Penny Lane
The Commoners (Excerpt, 2009, 37 MB, 1:25 min)
“In 1890, one man had the idea to collect every bird ever mentioned in Shakespeare
and release them into Central Park. The only bird to survive in the New World was the European
Starling, now one of the commonest birds in America. Its introduction is now widely considered
a major environmental disaster.
The Commoners is a moving image essay about starlings, poetry, and the purist rhetoric used
to describe “invasive species.” It is also about the paths people forge through history, intentionally
or not, as they attempt to change the natural world.”
Written & directed by Jessica Bardsley & Penny Lane.
From video_dumbo 2009.
Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price
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 (2009, 124 MB, 10:08 min)
THE HERETICS, A Feminist Publication on Art and Politics
In G.O.D. We Trust – Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung
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.
Revenge by Lernert Engelberts & Sander Plug.
A Game of Petanque with Sam Renseiw
Patafilm 718 (2009, 30.9 MB, 2:40 min)
The Petanque Discussion (2009, 9.8 MB, 53 secs)
All his work is great but we can’t publish him every day
so we wait for the very finest.
Two Petanque themed beauties, the second
being a Lumière masterclass.
Robert Croma – Night Impromptu
Night Impromptu (2009, 50.9 MB, 5:19 min)
Despite being a very fine still photographer there’s something
paradoxically counter-photographic about Robert Croma’s
video work.
Of course, as one would expect from a photographer, he’s extremely
sensitive to finish and the care which is lavished on the working over
of each of his movies is humbling and astonishing but what struck me,
getting this post ready, is how difficult it is to extract a poster image from
these that really prepares us for the coming movie as movie.
(Believe me – mostly this is not so hard, so many people semaphore
from every frame)
Then it further struck me that this a mark of the most profound cinematic
thinking, that despite the pieces’ great visual beauties they are conceived
austerely, with the greatest economy & most of all holistically; that is, entirely
at the level of the final moving image.
Of course here, as so often with Croma, finally it’s also a very moving image.
Punk Pacino
video_dumbo 2009
Unknown Court TV (2009, 13 MB, 3:16 min)
by Eileen Maxson.
DU3L@ G4NRYU 15L4ND (2009, 14 MB, 2:30 min)
by Jon Rafman.
Works from the magnificent video_dumbo 2009,
A weekend long screening of new contemporary video art, video installations and more.
From Sep.25 – Sep.27 In Dumbo, Brooklyn, NY.
Owen O’Toole – Super8 films
Frames (1985, 31 MB, 6:25 min)
Early experimental Super8 films by Owen O’Toole.
Short interview with him here.
South and mobile to the house of Mina
South and mobile to the house of Mina (2009, 31MB 3:18 min)
From DVblog’s own Doron Golan, this is simply stunning.
What I find so exciting is that Doron combines here
(and I haven’t spoken to him about this piece so I don’t know
whether he himself sees it this way) his fascinating & often intense
recent studies in image manipulation with something of the improvisatory
quality & narrative forward motion of earlier pieces.
In a world where so much work is predicatable and safe, what a delight
& what a tonic for the head and heart both, to see work that stretches out
like this and which so resolutely rejects the safe, the dull, the glib & the banal.
Dave Milner – Redmires to Hillsborough and Back
Redmires to Hillsborough and Back (2008, 274MB 21:09 min)
I love this piece, partly for sentimental reasons in that it
features the town (and in fact at two points the street)
of my birth and upbringing, but it’s not simply that.
I like the formal device upon which Dave Milner hangs this austere
& accurate portrait of a greyish October Sheffield.
Austere, but not without warmth or humour: Milner’s tussle with his SatNav,
his under the breath impatience at the traffic & the various other small
en-route mishaps lend a three dimensionality and a narrative forward
motion to what could be easily have been either a dry exercise or simply
a bit of ,for want of a better word, internet folk art…
Milner’s site, with both contemporary and (slightly) historical photos
of Sheffield and other places is compelling too.
Again, I plead guilty to a personal interest in the places times and
themes but it’s the thoroughness devoted to an evocation of place
and time that is both effective and moving.
Oliver Laric – Versions
Versions (2009, 57 MB, 6:25 min)
By Oliver Laric.
From The Internet Pavilion of La Biennale di Venezia.
Private Screening
Charlene Rule – Private Screening (2009, 10.9MB, 1:38)
Lovely view from Scratch TV.
Two tiny Sporkworld loops
A Small Spork Lumiere (2009, 3MB, 9 sec silent loop)
Fireworks (2009, 2MB, 43 sec silent loop)
Two from the ever reliable, delightful, and in its quiet & unassuming
(but frequently deadly – it’s the Columbo of art blogs) way, mould-breaking
Sporkworld Microblog, which if you don’t follow religiously, you should.
Ironically, given the setting, A Small Spork Lumiere could constitute a kind
of ostensive definition of dryness.
Egg Meat Cheese – Aaron Valdez
Egg Meat Cheese (2006, 11.6MB, 2:38 min.)
Aaron Valdez brings us this excellently
selected sampler from the American media diet.
(Videoblogging Week 2006, Day 2. Recorded 1:40 AM – 2 AM)
By Mica Scalin.
I Can’t Deal With This Stupid Ringing Forever – Donna Kuhn
I Can’t Deal With This Stupid Ringing Forever (2009, 56MB 2:29 min)
Donna Kuhn has joined the little pantheon (Sondheim’s another, as is Sam Renseiw)
of people whose work I’m just going
to post regularly because they are great.
No apology, no argument.
If you can’t see it, the problem is yours.
Great. Great. Great.
David Byrne Bike Cam Through Times Square, NYC.
David Byrne Bike Cam NYC (2007, 17MB, 4:55 min.)
David Byrne biked to Town Hall for his
Incident at Festival Pocket Films
Incident (2009, 44MB, 1:27 min)
DVblog’s Michael Szpakowski won the Jury Prize at the
Pocket Films Festival at the Forum des Images in Paris
last weekend for this short dream-documentary.