VISA 0120 Foundations Media: Computation + Art

Kurt Kren – born 1929, Vienna, Austria.

courtesy of www.canyoncinema.com

Kurt Kren began filming by shooting short experimental 8mm films in the early 1950s, before switching to 16mm in 1957.
Kurt Kren’s films have been noted for their rhythmic, structural, serial and mathematical qualities that transform the material into an abstract, yet documentary-like quality. He has been noted for the innovative use of a multitude of techniques including alternating between positive and negative film, complex cutting rhythms derived from formulated mathematical diagrams and extreme multiple exposure. Kurt is noted for recording slivers of reality and edit it in such a way becomes unrecognizable to the viewer. To appreciate and admire his films is not just interpreting the meaning of the film, but to sense the films as real and physical.

© FIPRESCI 2006

In his film Selbstverstummelung or self-mutilation, Kurt Kren portrays self-infliction of harm in a surrealistic drama that I found haunting and sickly captivating. Blades, scissors and other sharp instruments are slowly inserted into the actor (Brus) in what seems like a ritualistic self-operation. This visual shock effect is punctuated by the slow, torturous pace of the actors covered in white plaster and the creepy, yet calming soundtrack.

In my concept, I choose to concentrate on the mash-up. In a similar vein of Kurt Kren’s films, I would want the viewer to not just recognize the techniques used (such as rhythmic cutting of film) or perceive what the message behind the film is; but rather perceive the film as real. My idea for the film is a juxtaposition of 2 differing sets of video to make a coherent film where what the body language of a person belies what really goes on in his head.

Sources cited: http://www.canyoncinema.com/K/Kren.html

http://www.hi-beam.net/mkr/kk/kk-bio.html

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oliviaweb

This video stems (however obliquely) from my “slow-moving-time” exercise, Breathe. I maintained my use of cross over and additive transitions and also my use of slowing down the clips to evoke a lazy, calm feeling. Here however, the character has changed (well, for starters, there IS a character) and is of a more personal nature: my relationship with my twin sister.

The short film was influenced by Brian Eno’s “Thursday Afternoon” – a part of his 14 Video Paintings (1981 & 1984)  @ http://ubu.com/film/eno_14.html –  in which he films a female  friend (also blonde) of his in extremely slow time. The piece is reflective and calm, drawing on the abstraction of the human body and the observation of female beauty. His music is a piano track – very simple yet beautiful. It is, as the Ubuweb review writes, “a nostalgic diary, a musing on the life of a person now departed”.

Naturally in my piece the intention is a bit different, though much aesthetic value remains true to Eno’s intention. One might also argue that Olivia too is “now departed” (ie. no longer by my side, sharing a room, etc.) and that the video records her like a ‘diary entry’ (ie. an afternoon together in NY).  

In blurring Olivia towards the end of the piece I hope to also allude to some of German artist Gerhard Richter’s paintings of people in his life, who he famously depicts in a similarly hazy manner:

In my view, the effect creates distance from the subject, in my case Olivia – someone I love very dearly but am separated from in our present situations.The prominent cyclical element in my film furthers this idea, stressed through the repetition of the roof-top chimneys, two at the beginning but one at the end.

I increase opacity towards the end, layering images of carnations – some of Olivia and my favourite flowers – and then just in the final moment, with an empty chair (the one that she had sat in).

I tried to stick to yellow and pink hues in the piece to create a warm, loving ambience for viewers.

I created the music with a keyboard-synthesizer and aimed to create a fluid but expressive emotion that flattens with the ‘loss’ of Olivia towards the end.

I’d love to know what you make of it all.

Isabel

BRIAN ENO: Artist Background

Brian Eno was born in 1948 in Suffolk, England. Already noted as a student at Winchester School of Arts for his questioning of contemporary perceptions of an artist’s role, Eno has become a primary figure and promoter of cultural criticism. He joined in eaerly with the 1960′s discussion of ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture (think ICA, Warhol, Rauschenberg, etc.) Largely influenced by the minimalist movement of art, his own style is largely defined by what is known as “ambient music”. He has performed in various groups and bands, worked solo, produced records (ex. Coldplay’s Viva la Vida, composed for video games (Spore), and even developed video software. He is a famous collaborator, working with the diverse names of David Bowie, David Byrne, Microsoft, and Peter Jackson. Within the context of this class, I have observed a few of his more famous videos that incorporate his music, and have tried to analyze what it is he values in video art. His use of colouration, particularly in “Thursday Afternoon” is sensual and vibrant, and the pairing of music to image seems extremely (well)calculated.

The following sources were consulted:

Brian Eno

http://www.enoshop.co.uk/

http://creativegames.org.uk/MA_CreativeTechnology/input_output/Pop/pop_eno.htm

Richter:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/arts/artexhibition-20653712-details/Gerhard+Richter:+Portraits/artexhibitionReview.do?reviewId=23654511

Christian Jankowski

Christian Jankowski and his work, Angels of Revenge. Photo / Kenny Rodger

Christian Jankowski is a contemporary multimedia artist who was born in Göttingen, Germany, in 1968. His work is largely focussed on photography, video, literature, performance, and instillation. He is very interested in mixing and meshing private and public, fiction and reality, which is epitomised in his piece ‘My Life as a Dove’, in which a professional magician transformed him into a dove, where he had no private life until his re-transformation. In his work ‘Let’s Get Physical/Digital’ in the boundaries between public and private are blurred and confused as the piece culminates in an intimate dialogue between Jankowski and his girl-friend that is transformed into actors playing parts.

One of his more famous creations is his work ‘Telemistica’. This is a video installation in which Jankowski questions several TV fortune-tellers live about the success of his upcoming artwork, which is, in fact, this very piece. It was included in the 1999 Venice Biennale.  I was particularly interested by this piece:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=32246520673

which is set on various rooftops and particularly appealed to me because of it’s sense of humour and also because of its relevance to our current assignments.  The open subtitles state that this is about “letting loose, relaxing, and contemplating on nature”, something akin to the slow passage of time.

He now lives and works in New York

The Holy Artwork, 2001. Video. 15 minutes, 52 seconds. Courtesy of Klosterfelde and maccarone, inc.

 In this 15-minute video, Jankowski approaches and collapses at the feet of a televangelist and remains there while the man completes a sermon about art and God.