Kelvin Helmholtz Clouds (2008, 5.6MB, 24 secs)
It’s funny – even when Sondheim does picturesque there’s
something very defiantly personal about his take on it.
Here it’s the way that the sequence of images just occasionally
looks as if it hadn’t been thrown together at random but
most of the time it does.
And this does not matter -in fact it’s an asset -there’s a shamanic
urgency to everything Sondheim does which is wholly engaging.
Cell Portraits (2005-7, 28.7MB, 4:18 min)
Beautifully assured piece of documentary film making from Richard Jochum in 2007,
a portrait of the scientist Jan Schmoranzer preparing microscopic images
of cells (& and eating lunch, drinking coffee &c.)
I particularly like the lighness of touch shown here, the gentle wit.
Jochum’s openness to the humanity, the quirkiness and individuality of the
participants ( the..um..dance), raises the level of the piece from
an interesting educational short to something much richer.
To be slightly controversial, it’s dully predictable someone left
a comment on Jochum’s site along the lines of ‘I’d like to get some of those
images for my wall’ The final slide images, laden with scientific interest as I’m
sure they are, are in my view the bit of the piece with the least artistic
interest (or at least such interest as they have derives from their place
in the process and the film’s account of it rather than their pretty-pattern-ness).
Tweets in Space (2012, 52MB, 2:27 min)
Scott Kildall and Nathaniel Stern of Wikipedia Art return with another
project both odd, lyrical and utopian.
“Tweets in Space” will beam Twitter discussions from participants worldwide
towards GJ667Cc: a planet 22 light years away that apparently might support
earth-like life.
Anyone can take part, simply by adding #tweetsinspace to their tweets during
two performance times in September, when Stern and Kildall will be doing live
projections at the International Symposium on Electronic Art in New Mexico,
and boldly tweeting where none have tweeted before.
They say:
“This differs from every past alien transmission in that it is not only
a public performance, but also performs a public: it is a real-time
conversation between hopeful peers sending their thoughts to everywhere
and nowhere.
Our soon-to-be alien friends will receive unmediated thoughts and responses
about politics, philosophy, pop culture, dinner, dancing cats and everything
in between.
By engaging the millions of voices in the Twitterverse and dispatching them
into the larger Universe, “Tweets in Space” activates a potent discussion
about communication and life that traverses beyond our borders or understanding.
It promises more than could ever be delivered.”
This is their fundraising video – please consider making a donation to make the
project happen and also publicise and share it on lists, facebook, twitter, etc.
Duchamp’s Fountain (2011, 93MB, 1:59 min, silent)
Fascinating bit of footage from Kev Flanagan arising out
of a piece of work by Rob Myers (together with Curt Cloninger one
of the two smartest people I know) –here’s the original post
from his blog to give some context.
The whole thing sparked an interesting discussion on the Furtherfield
(see Monday’s post) originated Netbehaviour list this week.
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
Beautiful Katamari Royal Rainbow (2008, 17MB 5:08 min)
Mad as a box of badgers but also very smart & winning, Joan Healy is a one-off.
We’ve featured her before, here’re some new vids of her work.
Even more here…
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.
‘This is a cartoon representation of the process
used to link amino acids to make a protein.’
Flavoprotein (2006, 1.3MB, 4 sec loop)
‘This is a model of one of the proteins used
in the electron transport chain. Basically, where
we get most of our energy to survive as living organisms.’
Bilayer (2006, 3.3MB, 3 sec loop)
‘This is the general structure of our cell membranes.’
Beautiful animations -teaching materials- of chemical
processes & structures by Professor James K. Hardy
of the University of Akron. Thanks to Professor Hardy for
the accompanying explanations of what each animation
actually represents.
The whole series is a delight.
