Mad King Thomas/Kevin Obsatz – Eat up, Little Pearl – trailer

eat up little pearl - trailer
Eat up, Little Pearl – trailer (2012, 42MB, 3:26min)

Absolutely wonderful promotional/performance video from US performance/dance
outfit Mad King Thomas (whom I know little about but would love to see),
the vid directed, apparently, by Kevin Obsatz who was behind the
video haikus we posted in July.
Video…&..er…troupe…all great, great.

Jeremy Bailey – Transhuman Dance Recital #1

transhuman.jpg
Transhuman Dance Recital #1 (2008, 56MB, 6:30 min.)

If Jeff Koons had fallen for the Microsoft Help Paperclip rather than
vacuum cleaners or La Cicciolina, presumably the result would have
looked a lot like: ”The Jeremy Bailey Show”.

Says Jeremy Bailey: “From now on I dedicate myself to finding better
ways for humans to dance”

One Minutes – Volume #6

emily richardson over the horizon extract
Emily Richardson -‘Over the Horizon’ (extract) (2012, 75MB, 1:10min)

We’ll start this season with an suggestion for something you
can physically attend and absolutely should, too, if you’re
anywhere near London this Thursday evening (Sept 27th).

As part of the London Underground Film Sessions
The Horse Hospital are premiering Volume 6 of Kerry Baldry‘s
exemplary ‘One Minutes’ compilations of …er… one-minute-in-length
artist moving image work.
Transparency dictates I reveal I have a piece in it, but any claims
for mine aside, I can confidently predict a wonderfully varied, well
curated, roller coaster of work.

This piece is an extract from a longer work by Emily Richardson
(and, of course, splendid though it is, showing a single piece
immediately traduces one of the principal attractions of the project
which is the heady variety and contrast of it all. Here and here
is some stuff from previous volumes)

Hope to see you there!

The Framing of Luaty Beirão

History of the Demonstrations
History of the Demonstrations (2012, 211MB, 15:53 min)

Cuka
Cuka (2011, 35MB, 4:11 min)

Cuka
A Statement by Luaty Beirão (2012, 34MB, 7:05 min)

Three connected movies, which connect in a very direct way with the world about us.
For the last couple of years, simultaneously with the ‘Arab spring’ there have been
a number of similar movements around the world where ordinary folk have stood up for
the right to free speech and the right to a decent life, mostly both.
This happened on a small scale in the Southern African country of Angola where the inheritors
of the magnificent struggle against imperialism in the 70s seem to have forgotten their roots,
perhaps lulled by power and the good life it can bring to a few. A small but dogged and effective
campaign for democracy and against corruption, poverty and police state begaviour sprang up amongst
young people there.
The first video is a documentary relating the beginning, growth of this movement and subsequent
attempted government repression.
( You can find some more info , from Human Rights Watch, here)
Our second video is a track by the Angolan rapper Luaty Beirão, better known as Ikonoklasta
which is a tremendously entertaining bit of agit-prop against the regime.
It clearly struck home because the Angolan security forces have attempted to frame Beirão by
secreting a substantial amount of cocaine in a bicycle wheel in his possession on a flight
from Angola to Portugal.
The third video is Luaty Beirão’s statement upon and account of these events.
Watch the videos and draw you own conclusions – I do not for a moment believe Beirão is guilty
of anything except bravery and standing up to oppression.

We’ll leave you with these videos for the summer a reminder there’s art and there’s life and there’s
not a lot of space between.

We’re going to take a break until mid September-ish when we’ll be back with mostly
art videos but anything else that amuses, inspires or outrages us.
If you have stuff you think we’d like, send us links – we look at everything we’re sent.
It remains only to wish you all a nice and relaxing summer if you can manage it.

Simon Mclennan

the visitors
The Visitors (2012, 42MB, 3:51min)

Exquisite work from Simon Mclennan, whom we’ve celebrated here before
and will again.
Rehabilitates that near-cliché “poetic” as applied to moving image…

2 from Donna Kuhn

mailmanmoronsuperman
mailman, moron, superman (2008, 76.3MB, 3:27 min)

spinning
Spinning (2008, 47.2 MB, 2:00 min)

Two pieces from Donna Kuhn in 2008.
I wrote then:

We’ve shown a number of pieces by Donna Kuhn here previously.
I wondered to myself a couple of times, I must admit, whether the fact of
having developed such an intensely freighted and personal syntax and vocabulary might
not at some point become a block to further development, whether there was a limit to
the elaboration (and not of course simply the formal elaboration but of how much
in the way of new approaches to her subject matter this process could be made to yield) of this
admittedly extraordinarily beautiful and singular set of moves.
Well no sign of it yet – instead there is this remarkable process of intensification,
of continual, ever finer and more nuanced scrutiny, distillation and development.
It’s like watching an never ending succession of rabbits being pulled out of
hats and it’s quite, quite beautiful and moving.
All of it something of a masterclass, but the use of sound especially colors me
green with envy – wonderful!

Michael C. Place – MyStyle correction rollers


MyStyle (2008, 73MB, 3:40 min.)

Michael C. Place promotes “MyStyle” for Pritt in France in 2008.
Michael is founder of BUILD.

Barney Doodlebug at i-Kast 2012

i-kast 2012
iKast 2012 (2012, 70MB, 3:23min)

i-kast voodoodoodles
iKast voodoodoodles (2012, 89MB, 2:35min)

voodoo1
voodoo 1 (2012, 362MB, 9:58min)

Here’s some more gripping work from Michael Barnes-Wynters a.k.a Barney Doodlebug
who previously opened my eyes to a thriving live arts scene in Manchester, UK.
Featured here are two videos of a new piece by Michael which figured in i-Kast,
“a live intervention transmission for www.artplayer.tv with artists roney fraser-munroe,
naomi kashiwagi and michael barnes-wynters” in May of this year.
The first video is an excellent short documentary overview of the event
with interviews with key figures.

Michael is going to be running an event for 15-25 year olds as part of the season
in the new Tate Modern space “The Tanks” on Thursday 23 August.

Video Haiku: Four Frame Dance Project


Video Haiku – Four Frame Dance Project: Megan Mayer (2008, 22.4MB, 3:38)

Second in a series of four frame dance videos from
Video Haiku in 2008.
Lovely, inspiring, and fun.
Next week, some more recent work by Kevin Obsatz, the person behind this.

Stan VanDerBeek – 2 Poem Films

astralmanpoem
Astral Man an Illuminated Poem (1959, 22MB, 2:27 min.)

poemfieldNo2
poem field No2 (1966, 60MB, 5:42 min.)

A true innovator. Creator of countless films displaying complete artistic control.
What vision Stan VanDerBeek, what vision.