People Watching/Harun Farocki revisited

People Watching
QuickTime Movie, 7.1Mb 4' 17", 2007

Saturday at Tate Modern, Harun Farocki (prompted by an observation of Sophia Phoca's about how much his work examines processes in the construction of meaning in images through giving as much as possible for the viewer to work with and how, it was implied, this differed markedly from the deliberate obfuscation/alienation techniques of a structural/materialist (her characterisation) approach to deconstruction of representation that has become the default background to British experimental film practice) stated that, while he couldn't be held accountable for what different individuals from different backgrounds might or might not be able to appreciate in any given media work, he considered that he makes work that anyone viewing, whether by intention or accident, would be able to follow and understand. I was reminded that at Documenta in 2007, I captured and posted video of visitors to Farocki's installation Deep Play, which bears witness to the work's wide appeal. Drawn to the broadcast television multiple live and computer generated views of the 2006 World Cup final, the viewers become entranced by the integrity of Farocki's forensic approach to the media spectacle. The video can be viewed again here or by clicking the image above, while views of the installation screens can be seen here.

A season of 22 of Farocki's films is at Tate Modern until 6 December and an exhibition of his installations at Raven Row runs from 19 November to 7 February. From the information available it's not clear whether Deep Play will be one of the works at Raven Row.

Microscape

The Big Carpet Snake came through this country long ago in the Dreamtime. At that time the sea was not here (and) the land went all the way to the mainland... On his way down from the north, his body made the channel between Hinchinbrook Island and the mainland. The big snake came down the Herbert River, went out to sea and broke up leaving parts of his backbone which are the Palm Islands and his head which is Magnetic Island. The tail of his body is at Halifax Bay.
- Wulgurukaba people, Yunbenun (Magnetic Island), Queensland, Australia

Attitude

click on image for QuickTime movie (9.7Mb)

Lucca Ambulation

The Tuscan medieval city of Lucca is one of few with its wall intact, making it possible to walk a complete circuit around the city on it. Much of daily life takes place on the wall, one might say that the wall is the peripheral centre of Lucca. On a Sunday morning Martin Blažíček and I take a walk on the wall: I walk clockwise, he walks anti-clockwise, we meet back where we started. The walk takes 49 minutes, compressed here into two and a half.
QuickTime Movie 15.7 Mb

Suspended Extended

The lecture by Professor Ham and Professor Cheese to the Danish Design School back in February gets voodled by Patalab over at dvblog.

Last Week at Wilhelmshöhe

Last Week at Wilhelmshöhe
QuickTime Movie 5.1Mb 3' 03"

People looking and moving in the low available light of Colin Powell’s fabrication

In the light
QuickTime Movie, 2.1Mb 1' 14"
Phantom Truck, The Radio.

Inigo Manglano-Ovalle’s installation is a full-scale replica of what is alleged to be a mobile biological weapons lab. The work is collated from descriptions presented to the United Nations in 2003 by US Secretary of State Colin Powell and images of trucks taken after the subsequent invasion of Iraq. This object of speculation was used to justify the US preemptive strike. It proved not to be capable of weapons’ production. The evidence “discovered” after the fact, turned out to be pure fabrication. - documenta catalogue

We enter sculptural space, watching and looking shades into movement and spatial negotiation, moving through rooms marked by darkness, red filtered daylight and the relative blue of ‘natural’ light in the distance, animated in real time by the low light setting on the video camera.

People Watching

People Watching
QuickTime Movie 7.1Mb 4' 17"

At Documenta Harun Farocki’s Deep Play shows us various perspectives on the final of the 2006 World Cup. We see the ‘clean feed’, the television networks’ raw material, we see individual players on both teams, we see computer generated representations of the game, we see maps of the flow of play. Across four groups of three screens the action proceeds in simultaneous ‘real time’, action and simulation, abstraction and manipulation. This is an intelligent and integral multiplicity, a spectacle that interrogates the processes and technology that produces it. Further to this the spectator to the installation actively engages in producing their own experience, watching is creative, we are reminded how much activity in these exhibitions consists of people looking and watching and how active is that looking and watching.

direct language 2.6

Direct Language 2.6
QuickTime Movie 1Mb 0' 59"

Outside and Unknown

On Saturday 9th June Direct Language 3.2 screened in the Outside and Unknown: from the fringes of the vlogosphere programme in the Pixelodeon festival at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, USA. The programme was curated by Jennifer Proctor. Happily for those of us unable to make the trip to LA, Jennifer sent me the programme details with links to the online versions of the videos which, now the programme has screened, I am able to post so that you can also enjoy it from the comfort of your own computer.

This screening is a celebration of international vloggers who push the limits of what the moving image can mean, especially in an online context. They treat video as poetry, painting, theater, soapbox, and laboratory. They fly under the radar, create for small audiences, and use the web as a venue for experimentation. You may not recognize all of their names, but they're producing some of the most groundbreaking work on the web, fusing videoblogging, filmmaking, and artistic practice.
- Jennifer Proctor

FutureSpots
Chris Black
Praise and Sensation 1:10

Direct Language
Steven Ball
Direct Language 3.2 :45

en video
Juan Luis Casañas Ballester
Luz 1:10
Tacto 1:05

String-Swords
Seth Diehl
eyes open :50

Video Haiku
Kevin O
Pigeon Mob 1:30
Hot Dog Rollers 2:00
Train Bridge 2 1:55

the wave
Jimi Bogdanov
Film # 55 2:25
Film # 57 2:00

vorspiel
Rasmus Jørgensen
Just that moment 1 :30


the fever 5k
Jason Talbot
VII :50

The DIY Animation Workshop
Andrew Lynn
sundance 1:25
Global Good War :45
Paper Dream 1:25
A Frog is a Frog 1:00

David Howell Studios
David Howell
Morning Walk 1:00

Matt Black's Video Sketchbook
Matt Black
Phở Lunch 1:16

R, S, T, & V
Violet Lucca
victoria's secret 3:10

Mmmff
Zach Kmiec
Wikitchen 2:50

El Gringo Loco
Jeremy Smith
Technical Difficulties :40
Guitar Mix Up :40
The hand that feeds you :40
Closer Train 1:00

DeanWolf.net
Dean Wolf
kaleidobirds :30
tree stencil 090606

Scenes of Provincial Life
Michael Szpakowski
Woodland Oratory :35 (silent)
The Garden, May 20th :28
Home Movie :30 (silent)

SpaceTwo: Patalab
Sam Renseiw
On motion analysis and treadmills 1:26
The snow queen's psychogeography 1:49
The lapse of time between two instances 1:48

The Film of Tomorrow
Trine Bjørkmann Berry
Stretching Before and After 1:20

Kinetocast
Mack McFarland
watch to alleviate aesthetic static 1:00
to watch after the White House Press Briefing or with the apathetic 1:25
to watch in preparation of deep fall 1:25

This Side of the Cave
Juan Carlos Gonzalez
video: inspector is coming 2:25

direct language 4.5

Direct Language 4.5
QuickTime Movie 7.5Mb 1' 21"

direct language 4.4

Direct Language 4.4
QuickTime Movie 16.8Mb 2'54"

direct language 4.3

Direct Language 4.3
QuickTime Movie 22.5Mb 3' 37"
An installation by Petr Nikl and a performance by Eric La Casa, Jean-Luc Guionnet and Philip Samartzis, Orbis Pictus - interactive exhibition of musical instruments, Czech Museum of Music, Prague, 21st April 2007.

direct language 4.2

Direct Language 4.2

QuickTime Movie 11.4Mb 2' 00"

Daydream Voodle 01

Daydream Voodle 01 QuickTime Movie 2.4Mb 1' 03"

Two days before the word had been invented we had all made our first voodle at the Carlsberg brewery in Copenhagen on Friday 23rd February 2007. Professor Ham develops a good description and working definition of the voodle over on Brut Smog.

Daydream Workshop

Snow Factory Quicktime Movie 53 secs, 6.4Mb
Copenhagen, 25th February 2007

direct language 4.1

Direct Language 4.1
QuickTime Movie 984kb 00' 28"

direct language 4.0

Direct Language 4.0
QuickTime Movie 2.9Mb 01'17"