laser tag (2006, 17.6MB, 4 min.)
The Graffiti Research Lab is dedicated to outfitting graffiti writers,
artists and protestors with open source tools for urban communication.
Dr Hairy – Appraisal Parts 1 & 2
Appraisal Part #1 (2011, 232MB, 10:14 min)
Appraisal Part #2 (2011, 151MB, 9:40 min)
Edward Picot’s bizarre and wonderful Dr Hairy series, the adventures of a hirsute
UK general practitioner coping with NHS (the NHS we love, don’t misunderstand us)
bureaucracy, continues with these first two episodes of Appraisal.
Picot’s comic timing just gets better & better (& occasionally strays into some
almost Beckettian territory) – it’s fascinating to watch a long
project like this unfold. If you missed the preceding episodes they’re here (as are some other
gems, some equally amusing, some altogether different in style and mood)
The Ice Cream Lift – Kristen Baumlier
Ice Cream Lift (2003, 6.3MB, 2:07 min)
“In 1996, I started working on a project idea to change the
aesthetics of exericise. I became a “fitness guru” and made my
own 55-minute workout video where all 12 workouts used food as
exercise equipment. The music in the video is from bands that I knew
in CA, or bands that I listened to while working in my studio.”
Kristen Baumlier from Buns of Butter.
Two from Marcin Rychlicki
C Point (2011, 32MB, 1:15 min)
Cyber Hero (2011, 43MB, 1:25 min)
My name is Marcin Rychlicki, , I’m 29 years old and
I live in Warsaw. For nearly three years I’ve been
creating videos for the Internet under the names
DJ Gacmaster and GacPax. An important element
of my movies is music. For some of them ,
for example, ‘Cyber Hero’, I composed it myself.
I’m trying to combine traditional music video with
the unconventionality of video art. From 2001
to 2006 I was a drummer in hardcore band C. Point.
I made this video for one of our songs: ‘Today’
*****************************************************
Both pieces great but C Point is a particular delight.
(My prejudice showing through of course, but I don’t
generally associate this musical genre with the kind
of gentle wit on display here.)
Not sure I completely understand Cyber Hero which is
apparently some sort of rejoinder to this (Huh?), but I
love the music.
The Cinema Effect: Realisms at Caixa Forum Madrid, Spain
The Cinema Effect (2011, 44 MB, 5:28 min)
An exhibition that reflects on the influence and impact of cinema in constructing
our visual culture, highlighting how cinematographic language has taken on various
artistic forms including video and installation art. The show features work by Julian Rosefeldt,
Isaac Julien, Runa Islam, Kerry Tribe, Paul Chan, Omer Fast, Mungo Thomson and Ian Charlesworth.
The show has been curated by Kerry Brougher, Anne Ellegood, Kelly Gordon, and Kristen Hileman.
from VernissageTV.
Regina Célia Pinto –Andante Grazioso
Andante Grazioso (2011, 26MB, 3:47 min)
Gosto muito do trabalho de Regina Pinto, simples e elegante
na superfície, ele toca o coração (e acopla a mente) e,
aparentemente, é isso que nos prende.
Esta profundidade lúcida, a embalagem luminosa do diário,
não é conseguida sem trabalho, mas Regina é demasiado
cuidadosa e modesta (no comportamento, não na ambição)
mas, visivelmente, está fazendo algo difícil, e este fato é,
ele próprio, parte de sua arte. Encantador!
Like so much of Regina Célia Pinto’s work, simple and elegant
on the surface, this touches the heart (and engages the mind)
seemingly without effort.
Of course ‘seemingly’ is the catch. This lucid depth, the luminous
encapsulation of the everyday, is not achieved without labour,
but Regina is too careful and modest (in demeanour, not ambition) an
artist to make heavy weather of it, and this fact is itself part of her art.
Lovely!
Joshua Fishburn – Layers. Machinima
Layers (2007, 23 MB, 5:23 min)
“Layers is a mashup narrative machinima created with footage from Metal
Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2), Military footage from an Apache Helicopter
in Iraq (Public Domain/Department of Defense), and Shadow of the Colossus
(PS2). Recorded almost entirely through a sniper scope from the game, it
extends the conversation about the relationship between increasingly
sophisticated military technology and the drive towards visual realism in
videogames. What happens to the relationship between killer and victim
when they are separated by real and virtual distances? Adding the layer
of virtuality through the videogame complicates this relationship even further.”
by Joshua Fishburn.
Emily Murdoch – Before Honeymoon
Before Honeymoon (2011, 29MB, 1:39 min)
Another piece from a Writtle student, this from Emily Murdoch.
I think this is tremendous not only technically (I especially love the use of light)
but aesthetically too. It clearly owes a debt to Lewis Klahr but one can
see a very distinctive individual voice emerging too.
I do hope Emily continues to make art (and in particular moving image).
I find her work rich and moving.
Christina McPhee – Shed
Shed is a long-term video and drawing project.
Christina McPhee talks about ‘Shed’ and her work in general.
from VernissageTV.
Cory Arcangel – Phasing Dancing Stand Sculptures
Phasing Dancing Stand Sculptures (2010, 30 MB, 3:09 min)
“Sculpture made from 2 over the counter “Dancing Stands” (the tacky kinetic product
display stands you can often see in down market stores) which have been modified to
spin at slightly different speeds. When these modified stands are placed next to each
other they go in and out of phase about every 4 minutes. I first showed a version of
these sculptures in my show “Creative Pursuits” at the University of Michigan Museum
of Art. This is a video of a version of these sculptures in action at my show The Sharper
Image at the Museum of Contemporary Art Miami (the music is Dj Icey, a nod to Miami)”
By Cory Arcangel.
Kid Acne – South Yorks
South Yorks (2011, 27MB, 2:40 min)
Possibly only amusing (or even intelligible) to those hailing
from the area, I’m going to post it because I do & it makes
me laugh a lot.
Bit of background on Kid Acne here.
fast moving animals – mobile opera
mobile opera (2006, 7.1 MB, 48 sec.)
from – fast moving animals.
Music: Rossini: ‘La Danza’. Voice: Beniamino Gigili
Run Wrake – Rabbit
Rabbit (2006, 56MB, 8:20 min.)
Two kids find an idol in the belly of a rabbit.
Watch this wicked animated short movie by Run Wrake.
(thanks Michael Meiser)
Delpha Hudson – Out With Mother
Out With Mother (2011, 73MB, 1:32 min)
I’m oscillating between finding this piece by Delpha Hudson really rather
beautiful and rather chilling (or both).
It’s perhaps the ambguity which makes it so effective, difficult to get a
precise fix on.
There’s no doubting that it’s a smart piece of work. I love the dual tempo thing
with the scene in the background unfolding slowly behind the more anxious and
busier foreground.
I’m assuming the speech like sound *is* sampled from an actual child -again the ambiguity
arising from, on the one hand its near musicality and on the other the
inevitable and immediate visceral response (certainly from anyone who’s ever had kids)
it provokes is a point adding to the richness of the thing.
Great. More from Delpha soon.
Wikipedia Art in London
Wikipedia Art Intro (2011, 114MB, 2:29 min)
And, appropriately following on from yesterday’s post, a little intro
to the splendid Kildall/Stern Wikipedia Art project which is showing, as part
of a two person show at London’s Furtherfield gallery (formerly HTTP)
from this Friday.
(One individual piece by each artist too – promises to be a real treat)
Private view tonight 6:30 (Thurs.) – all welcome, maybe see you there.
This piece narrated in Stern’s breathless-puppy-dog-with-an-off-the-dial-IQ
trademark delivery with reassuringly measured interventions by the
no less smart & talented Kildall.
Edit by Foster Stilp, plus suitably keyed up and excited music by Stilp and
Kevin McGillivray, who together trade as Felixsofia
Jimmy Wales – Wikipedia:Technologies of Cooperation
Wikipedia:Technologies of Cooperation (2005, 70 MB, 1:30 hr.)
Lecture at Stanford University on Wikipedia by founder Jimmy Wales.
Drake Music Commission – Distant Interiors
Distant Interiors (2011, 87MB, 2:16 min)
Drake Music is an organisation initiating and enabling a whole spectrum
of activity around disability and the arts (particularly music
but other artforms too).
This could be worthy, condescending and dull. It is none of these.
In recent years, under the inspired leadership of Carien Meijer,
DM has ensured it is situated primarily as a very forward looking
arts organisation which happens to work closely with disabled artists
to enable new and fresh work to emerge.
It has encouraged collaborations between disabled and non-disabled artists
and, in a sense, works towards its own future disappearance not only
by using technology to level the playing field but also by aspiring not
to pity or the sideshow but to serious, top level, work.
This is their first online commission, a remote collaboration between
video artist Melanie Clifford, composer Ailís Ní Ríain and artist Rebecca Key.
I like the fact that it is so confident in its austere and beautiful
language and aims, not to charm us, but to engage us.
The spiky and beautiful music is particularly exhilarating.
Steven Hoskins – 15 Years
15 Years (2011, 60 MB, 3:08 min)
Reverse aging transformation of a 15 year self-portrait sequence
of Dan Hanna, forming the basis for the movie “StartStop” (2009).
Edited in HD. Used is 32 channel split screen asynchrony to create the illusion of flow.
By Steven Hoskins.
Heath Bunting – Memorial Stone
Memorial Stone (2011, 92 MB, 38:31 min)
“As technology moves forward.. all my work is falling apart.. I’d like to move
forward as well, into a more outside adventurous practice, so this video is an
attempt to document the ruins and the remains of my internet work”
– by Heath Bunting
Estella Cumberford – Friendsource14
Friendsource14 (2011, 21MB, 1:18 min)
This piece, by Estella Cumberford, is great on a whole number of fronts.
Firstly it’s really nicely made.
The images walk that difficult line between
telling us too much and too little, and the audio
(processed, apparently, in GarageBand) is well judged,
well executed and more than a little engaging.
You wouldn’t guess from the piece’s surface simplicity
(first impressions only of course, anyway. Examine it closely
and see how hand-made and un-algorithmic it is)
the layers of structuring and processing that went into
it but I can’t help feeling these do manifest in the sense of
its coherence, richness and general success as a work of art.
The text was sourced & assembled from status updates on F******* of
14 of the artist’s friends. This then read by her & processed as noted.
The images were then grown (organic metaphors seem somehow
particularly apposite) out of this text and rendered by a kind of
shadow screen technique.
It’s an exquisite piece of work.
Transparency dictates I tell you that I teach Estella
at Writtle. (I use the word teach loosely -as with most of
the students we have an absorbing and on-going dialogue.)
It’s work like this that makes that part of my life so rewarding.
James Seo – Asynchrony – Split (Head)
Asynchrony – Split (Head) (2006, 11 MB, 2:14 min)
“My latest project is Asynchrony. It’s a set of four interactive sketches for the
simultaneous visualization of multiple points in time within video. When combined
with time-lapse or looped video clips, each sketch generates a crudely synthesized
image of different time points in video, all within the shared space of the visual frame.
They divide the video frame into static or animated rectangular regions,
each of which can have its own time flow.”
by James Jung-Hoon Seo.
from Split Screen.
Talking About DVblog
Electronic Village Galleries Talk 6th May 2011 (2011, 164MB, 32:14 min)
Gosh -where to start?
Awhile back we were approached to assemble a selection of
work from DVblog for screening at a gallery in the UK.
This reel then took on a bit of a life of its own, showing
at the museum of club culture in Hull, UK and at the Buffalo Literary Center, New York.
(of course ‘a life of its own’ is completely unfair – it got shown because real
human beings –Kerry Baldry and Martha Deed respectively – put work into making it happen.)
Then Kate Southworth, who is running a brilliant pilot project
involving showing digital work in village halls in Cornwall, in the extreme
south-west of the UK, asked if I’d be interested in curating something
and the reel immediately sprang to mind..
To cut a long story short it was shown at the second EVG event at
Zennor village hall on 7th May and I went down to talk (at some
length, I notice with a certain degree of horror)
about digital video on the net, DVblog in particular and about the
artists involved in this selection.
Here, for better or for worse, is my talk, filmed, heroically, given my
restless delivery style, by Delpha Hudson.
If you’d like to reconstruct the programme for yourself it’s below, with links to
the original DVblog posts.
And if you’d be interested in screening it, please get in touch!
(We also have a reel of silent work which has been screened with
musical accompaniment and is available for more such outings.)
Ruth Catlow – Landscape
Landscape (2011, 114MB, 3:12 min)
Ravishing piece of work from my friend and colleague Ruth Catlow
who is also co-director of the indispensible Furtherfield.org
We’ve been talking a lot amongst ourselves and with our students about
continuities across art history and about hybrid techniques which
meld both the ancient and the newest.
Filmed in the New Forest, this piece (apart from its great beauty)
is an exemplar of this approach and pathbreaking in its way.
(More so than much which, dull-eyed, shouts and waves the latest thing
from the rooftops.)
The oldest kind of mark making, delicately but robustly realised,
captured on a tiny portable video camera in a semi-performative
way and then networked…
Beautiful and nourishing both.
Cory Arcangel – UMMA Projects: Creative Pursuits
Creative Pursuits (2010, 12 MB, 1:03 min)
Images from Cory Arcangel show – Creative Pursuits at
the University of Michigan Museum of Art.
Can I get an Amen? – Nate Harrison
Can I Get An Amen? (2004, 34.3MB, 18:08 min.)
from Nate Harrison.
This documentation of an installation by Nate Harrison,
includes an in depth lecture on the history of a single breakbeat.
It follows this small fragment of a song from its origin in a 60’s soul
recording through the invention of house and contemporary hip-hop.
It also speaks very eloquently on the important issues of copyright in
remix culture. This is fascinating to listen to.
By Mica
Jimi Bogdanov
Movie #4 (2006, 1.9MB, 44 sec)
Movie #14 (2006, 2.9MB, 1:12 min)
Interesting work from Canadian film maker Jimi Bogdanov.
Movie #4 , in particular, has a fragile & arresting beauty.
Roundabout
Roundabout (n/d, 5MB, 35 sec.)
Found in the inspiration section of VJ Forums.
William Wegman & Steve Martin
Martin on Wegman (1999, 3.75MB, 2:09 min.)
The introduction to the identity program from the PBS series
Art in the 21st Century in which host Steve Martin is featured
in this charming and quirky video by the artist William Wegman.
Alan Sondheim – Two Movies
After the Fall (2011, 44 MB, 1:01 min)
Antenna (2011, 65 MB, 57 secs)
Two very different and very beautiful movies from Alan Sondheim.
HD VIDBLOG #119 – Research
HD VIDBLOG #119 (2006, 5.9MB, 3:09 min.)
“Why would somebody make something like this?”
by Prof. Chris Weagel from “human-dog”.