Millie Niss – Skyway

skyway
Skyway (2009, 39 MB, 1:53 min)

A couple of months before her untimely death last year Millie Niss
sent me this video –

‘I have been working for a long time on and off (mostly off) these
days on a video showing industrial ruins on the outskirts of Buffalo,
shot from an elevated highway which is scheduled to be torn down…’

I remember thinking how beautiful and evocative it was and I assumed
Millie would publish it on the Sporkworld Blog in due course.
Sadly this never happened.
The other day I came across it & asked Millie’s mother and collaborator,
Martha Deed, for permission to post it here, which she gave,
so it’s a pleasure tinged with sadness to do so.

We’re going to take a summer break now.
We’ll be back on September 20th but in the meantime we’ll leave you
with this memorial to a fine artist & a fine human being.

Sans Verre – Brad Tinmouth and Kaitlin Till-Landry

sacsverre
Sans Verre (2008, 7.3 MB, 1 min)

A documentation of a performance made with Lili Huston-Herterich.
By Brad Tinmouth and Kaitlin Till-Landry.

The Idea of Karen Blisset

The Idea of Karen Blisset
The Idea of Karen Blisset (2010, 77 MB, 1:13 min)

On the ever splendid Netbehaviour list there are all sorts of
interesting shenanigans as Karen Blisset, a fairly long time
contributor, offers to give her e mail log in to anyone who asks for it
in order to allow them to “be” her.
One of the interesting things about it is I’m not sure how
many people have actually taken up the offer ( and, of course, there’s
no way of telling)
(Go and join Netbehaviour to get the full works, it’s a warm and
welcoming place but one, nonetheless, with a tradition of robust
and interesting debate)
Anyway, one of this set of Karens contacts us
with a movie called ‘The Idea of Karen Blisset’.
I for one expected something quite fierce & in your
face but instead there’s this rather delicate & gentle &
lovely piece.
Very nice.
Interesting to see how it all unfolds…

PS 25th July
Since we posted this, another movie from ‘Karen Blisset’ appeared on the list:

The Idea of Karen Blisset
I am Karen Blisset (2010, 17 MB, 38 secs)

and, later the same day, yet more…

Two Loops – Michael Szpakowski

loop6sec
Loop (2010, 6 MB, 6 sec, loop)

loopwatch
Watch (2010, 19 MB, 18 sec, loop)

By Michael Szpakowski.

Jacky Sawatzky – Follow Me

jacky_sawatzky_follow_me
Follow Me (2009, 173 MB, 7:10 min)

The first section of this piece by Jacky Sawatzky, in the library,
is one of my favourite dance video moments ever,
but the whole thing buzzes with life & ideas &
there’s a winning willingness to take risks & lack of
cynicism to it all too.
More here.

Direct Language

pink tall bike
Diect Language 5.0 (2010, 74 MB, 6:26 min)

Steven Ball has re-started his Direct Language project & this was the first piece
of the new sequence.
I think it is quite breathtaking.
It strikes me as very much in a relatively recent British experimental film tradition
where a quite austere formalism can engender the most extraordinary beauty.
There’s always the danger of a failure of nerve, the pill being quite needlessly sugared
and nothing such happens here.
Not only is it haunting & lovely, there’s food for thought here too,
the lack of glibness & the refusal to cuddle up to the viewer meaning
it sustains repeated viewing.

Versions, 2010, Oliver Laric

versionsversions1
Versions (2010, 115 MB, 8:50 min)

By Oliver Laric.

Pink Tall Bike

pink tall bike
Pink Tall Bike (2010, 50 MB, 2:16 min)

One of those does-what-it-says-on-the-can movies.
Made by Mike Stoddard & Ryan Lynch who say:

”This is our latest creation made from free bikes and parts,
comprised of three womens’ frames, bed frame iron (front fork),
and an old ATV shock.
Filmed on the Woonsocket River Bikeway in Rhode Island. ‘

…not much to add except to say it’s very diverting &
WANT ONE!

Zach Layton – 2 videos

displacementcurves
Displacement Curves (2006, 18 MB, 25 sec.)

locustkaleidoscope
Day of the Locust (2006, 1 MB, 42 sec.)

By Zach Layton.

Old Fashioned Medicine

oldfashionedmedicine

Latest episode in Edward Picot’s splendid Dr Hairy sequence.

More from Rob Parrish/Hopper Video

Vampire Sun
Vampire Sun (2004, 13.7MB, 2:41 min.)

Vertigo Essay

Stuff from 2005 from Rob Parrish at Hopper Video.
Couldn’t be more packed to the gills, these movies,
with formal invention. Torn between admiration &
extreme irritation at the Edvard Grieg vocoder.
Not sure it all entirely comes off but it’s
to be commended, as is the fact that
serious thinking is clearly at work here.
Better than timidity, for sure.
(HV still going strong & well worth checking out.
We’ll revisit ourselves, I think, in the Autumn.)

molotov_alva

Pink by Charlie White

Pink by Charlie White
Pink (2006, 18.4MB, 2:36 min)

Adidas viral directed by Charlie White.
music by Greg Weeks.

More Virtual Hiking

Rush Creek
Rush Creek Wilderness Trail Movie (2006, 41.1MB, 5:43 min.)

This one, from 2006, is as splendid as the one we posted yesterday.
Like that, though, there’s a deep oddness here.
Sometimes the virtual hiker is discussed in a clinical, technical, manner,
then at others anthropomorphised shamelessly.
Then the narration: -is anyone really that deadpan?
Seems like the camping isn’t confined to tents on the trail.
But then it is also utterly beguiling & lovely – makes me, at least, yearn
to pack my boots & book a flight.

A Short History of Virtual Hiking

virtualhiking6
A Short History of Virtual Hiking (2005, 9.1MB, 3:47 min.)

Originally posted in 2006.

‘Not sure it

Two from Charlie Mars

Singer
Singer (2005, 4.7MB, 1:15 min.)

Grouik-Grouik
Grouik-Grouik (2005, 11.9MB, 1:48 min.)

Accomplished stop motion shenanigans from French
videomaker Charlie Mars, self-styled ‘Videomaker from Outerspace’.

Dan Graham – Beyond

dan_graham_beyond
Dan Graham – Beyond (2009, 40 MB, 3:02 min)

Narrated by Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz and Curator Chrissie Iles, artist
Dan Graham discusses Heart Pavilion (1991), Public Space,
Two Audiences (1976), and Opposing Mirror and Video Monitors (1974).
All were on view in Dan Graham: Beyond at the Whitney Museum in 2009.

Produced by the Whitney Museum.