|
VideoZone2
The second Video Zone Biennial., Tel
Aviv, 2004
[a.k.a videozone 2 or Video Zone 2]
The following are a few of the screening
programs:
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here //
Program 10
Trips and Taps
Sergio Edelstein and Doron Solomons
The background of the tension between a
tourist and a scientist, the possibility of describing a journey,
a visit, or a sojourn elsewhere, close by as it may be is
being examined.
The journey's direction is not only outwards, but also (actually)
inwards and sideward, or even out of necessity, the theme
constitutes an obstacle to the journey itself. (Doron Solomons)
Program 11
Sonic Vision
Kathleen Forde
Sonic Vision features recent music videos
and experimental 16mm films from the 1930s onward. The selected
pieces fuse music and moving images into a seamlessly integrated
medium, and share an aesthetic that evokes the synesthetic
experience of seeing rhythm and sound.
Since the arrival of the ubiquitous MTV in the 1980s, moving
image artists have continually experimented with music video
as an outlet for artistic expression. Sonic Vision presents
one of the contemporary creative uses of music video via a
compilation of works that renders the beat visually. Thus,
the videos reflect a transdisciplinary model that traverses
the tradition of video as a mere backdrop for a song.
For musicians and visual artists, recent technology expanded
the potential for overhauling the established parameters of
previously independent disciplines. This technology enables
the translation of all electronic media, sound or image, into
the zeros and ones of a code.
Yet the synergistic relationship between music and image clearly
did not begin with MTV or the development of digital tools.
The artistic interest in the sound-vision relationship has
existed for well over three hundred years. Certainly, in time-based
arts, this genre developed primarily by experimental filmmakers
long before any of the current software existed or MTV was
a household name. Consequently, it becomes apparent that this
conceptual paradigm is likely to play an important role in
the field of time-based arts for many years, if not centuries,
to come.
I would like to thank the following people, whose hard work
and collaborative spirit made possible the materialization
of Sonic Vision: Michelle Silva, Dominic Angerame, Larry Cuba
and Steve Dye.
Kathleen Forde originally organized this screening for the
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's 7th Art series in May
2004.
Program 12
Electric Earth:
Film & Video from Britain (program 1)
Mark Beasley and Colin Ledwith
n the early 1980s artist Rodney Graham expressed
a neurotic dislike of cinema. Neurotic in the sense that as
the dominant art form of the Twentieth Century, cinematic
authors could "claim to effect a much larger audience
in a deeper way." The implication was that as a "visual
artist" Graham felt he was "involved in something
a little too rarefied, elitist and out-of-date." Twenty
years on and artistic relations with the moving image are
in the process of redefinition. As I write, Matthew Barney's
Cremaster series is top of the bill at the local cinema, and
user friendly film-editing programmes sit comfortably on the
computer desk-top.
The current situation (at least in the UK) could be said in
part to stem from technological advance. The advent of affordable
PC's and compatible editing equipment has seen the bedroom
become the production studio for a new generation of film
and video makers. Hundreds of pounds rather than thousands
are all it now takes to satisfactorily unite sound and vision.
Digital video allows artists to craft their vision of the
world from home. The ability to shoot ad infinitum at low
cost, erase and rewind, has resulted in a mini-revolution
in cultural production.
Electric Earth is a portrait of filmmaking to the extent that
it reflects certain shifts within a broader culture, from
the rise of the pop video to the renewed interest in the documentary
format. The exhibition equally reflects the accelerated blurring
of disciplinary boundaries. The investigative spirit of the
documentary collides with the music video, while the non-linear
film utilizes the giddy pace of the skate-promo. Unravelling
the multitude of images that slide through our consciousness
on a daily basis, artists have chosen to adapt existing forms
as means for intellectual and emotional exchange. Activity
that gives scant regard to the bankrupt philosophy of "Knowing
one's place." Is this what the first punk-poet Rimbaud
forecast in the lines, "Rumblings and Visions! Departure
into new affection and new sound!"? Rather than drown
under a sea of manufactured ideas, it is perhaps an attempt
to re-order the fit of the world, to muddy the waters and
occupy previously privileged territories.
Removed from the need to sell product, the music video has
been reconfigured as a contemporary narrative device. Arriving
in the mind long before the visual settles on the retina,
music cuts through the red tape of communication. It is an
expansive and rich language that can be as referential and
descriptive of the world as visual imagery. A recent spate
of documentaries released on the big screen, notably Stacy
Peralta's documentary epic Dogtown and Z boys (2002), and
director Nick Broomfield's diffident style, have exploded
the fragile construct of the "objective documentary."
The influence of filmmakers such as Chris Marker and Patrick
Keiller is also evident in the encyclopaediacal desire to
make connections between people, places and practices. Rather
than studio bound performance to camera, artists have chosen
to present "real life" histories on-screen. Yet,
perceived reality is constantly checked from supermarket shelf
stackers, skateboarders, city workers and gallery assistants
to the life of psychoanalyst R.D. Laing. Removed from the
need for objective truth, lives are complicated and skewed
in an attempt to define new relations to given situations.
The documentary in this sense is never straightforward. Many
of the works re-sample former texts, a technique that finds
its parallel within music culture. Artists are jumping directly
to root influences and stretching taught the content of the
original. Connecting, as Greil Marcus suggests in Lipstick
Traces, the "echoes" of the past with the conversation
of today. This is a generation at ease with the flick of the
remote control, adept at receiving and transmitting visual
non-sequitors. In this sense Electric Earth reflects the role
of the artist as a mediator or editor of existing visual signs.
Simply put, it is the desire to shift the focus of discussion
one foot to the left or right of the main picture.
Mark Beasley
Program 13
Embracing Exile -
Jewish Themes in Experimental Film and Video 1956-2003
Part 2: Urban Eden & Mysteries and Abstraction
Andrew Ingall
Exile is a state of homelessness-enforced
or self-imposed. It may also reflect the sense of not belonging
to a particular lineage, place, or belief. Jews in particular
have a profound experience with displacement. Events in 20th
century history-above all the Holocaust and the misery of
Jewish life as dhimmi under Moslem rule-reinforce the Diaspora
experience as dark, bitter, and interminable. Despite arguments
that a full Jewish life can only be experienced living in
Eretz Yisrael, Jewish culture has flourished in Europe, the
Middle East, and the Americas since the Babylonian Exile.
A longing for "home" has generated immense creativity
in scholarship, literature, and art. Examples include the
Talmud, medieval poetry of the Golden Age of Spain, Hasidism
in Eastern Europe, and early 20th century American Yiddish
Theater.
Today, in a post-Zionist world, exilic tendencies remain in
the art and culture of Diaspora Jews and are demonstrated
by the work of the fourteen experimental film and video makers
featuring in this program. Using a diverse range of formats
(Super-8, 16mm, 35mm, analog and digital video), these artists
explore themes such as family bonds, relationships to the
urban landscape, and metaphysical issues such as ontology
and theology.
Films and videos in Part One are organized around the theme
of family-a home base from which to flee and return. Families
offer a generous yerusha (inheritance) of love, neurosis,
pain, memory, and myth. Sandi DuBowski and Susan Mogul reinvent
gender roles and go so far as to reject circumscribed family
traditions. Gail Mentlik, Chana Pollack, Abraham Ravett, and
Jessica Shokrian offer loving yet somber tributes to their
elders. From a decidedly different sensibility, Neil Goldberg
and Ilene Segalove depict their families with a healthy dose
of humor.
Part Two of the program is divided into two sections: The
first-"Urban Eden"-is a collection of works that
examine the pleasure and pain of city life. Despite economic
challenges, artists and other "rootless cosmopolitans"
embrace the city's energy, creativity, and diversity. Neil
Goldberg's Hallelujah Anyway No. 2 and Shalom Gorewitz's Levinas
in Yorkville demonstrate the resilience of urbanites living
and working under stressful conditions. Inspired by another
exiled Jewish philosopher, Walter Benjamin, Jem Cohen strolls
the city streets, capturing images and stories with his camera.
The metropolis is a refuge for exiles, immigrants, and other
outsiders who use the urban landscape as a laboratory to test
new ideas, identities, and lifestyles.
The second section - "Mysteries and Abstractions"
- delves into illumination and obscurity, dreams and ghosts,
mourning and loss. Filmmakers Wallace Berman, Benny Nemerofsky
Ramsay, and Phil Solomon share an interest in both metaphysical
and material aspects of light and darkness. According to Lurianic
kabbalah, the universe was born through the process of tzimtzum-contraction
and concealment. Whether responding to theological displacement
or existential alienation, these artists-like the kabbalists-choose
to withdraw from society in order to create.
We, their audience, gather as a community to experience their
inner worlds.
Program 14
Body Vision
Part 2: Urban Eden & Mysteries and Abstraction
Marcel Odenbach
I have in my possession a book from 1962,
entitled: Westafrikanische Impressionen. The book consists
of texts by African poets and images of Africa created by
German artists. The impact of the liberation euphoria is felt
throughout the book.
The early 1960s political and cultural optimism and conciliatory
mood are faithfully reflected in this book. This short-lived
period was soon forgotten due to later dictatorial, belligerent
and postcolonial developments that for years now have been
confronting us only with images of wretchedness.
The introduction to this book ends with a quotation of Heinrich
Heine that had been as relevant in 1962, nearly 150 years
after it was written, as it is today, more than 40 years later:
"Ein Zeitalter, wenn es neue Ideen bekommt, bekommt auch
neue Augen" (An age, whenever it gets new ideas, also
gets new eyes). This phrase may well represent the vision
of the artists I've selected for this program.
In fact, this quasi autobiographical comment was meant to
open the original text I had started writing at an early stage
of my work on this project, upon receiving an invitation to
curate an African video program for VideZone 2. But already
during the artists and works' selection, it seemed to me that
classification based on geographical criteria is both problematic
and limiting. Basic questions had arisen, such as what is
Africa, who is an African, etc.. And than, the artists' reaction
ruled out the option of a "purely African" selection
and reinforced my initial skepticism.
But what can you do with half a program? You can try to salvage
it. One option was to display the experience accumulated in
the thematization process, which seemed to me substantial
enough and representative of many artistic insights. Identity
questions play a significant role in art discourse, especially
in light of the growing globalization.
The works for my "African program," came from artists
with whom I've had previous working relations, be it as a
teacher or a colleague. Thus I've used their reactions as
a stylistic tool, and removed the "geographical"
limitation. Africa, after all, could be anywhere and everywhere.
Therefore, a purely African program became a mixed German-African
friendship program in more than one sense: stretching between
a real Grassman from Cameroon and a real Bavarian from Germany,
a real German-Chinese from Peru and a real Kenyan living in
Germany.
However, even a subjective and totally personal selection
may have a center of gravity. We are talking, on the one hand,
about young artists who have arisen my interest over the years,
and, on the other hand, about works that left an indelible
impression in my mind.
The resulting selection is not the fruit of a far-fetched
compromise, but rather a program that makes perfect sense
to me, even though, admittedly, some of its contexts became
clear to me only in retrospect.
All participating artists employ similar methods. The works,
the short as well as the long ones, the German as well as
the African ones, were all born of the same thought: they
conceive art and video as a means for self-reflection and
as an opportunity for addressing critically their environment.
All of the videos use an almost poetical language, they tell
a story, be it a one-movement-long story, or one based on
complex cinematic editing models. None of them deal with the
medium itself, or indulge in formalistic games, and the content
is always the underlying condition for visualization.
Although some of the works are very complex, their simplicity
is captivating. They are extremely personal, often resembling
diary entries. The body and performative thinking, namely
body language, play a major role in almost all of them. Most
of the artists use the body as a mirror for posing political,
social, gender and ethnographic questions. Many of them are
preoccupied, still or again, with (their own) emancipation,
or (their own) recognition, and not only as artists: What
does it mean to be of a certain origin? What is the meaning
of cultural heritage? What does society expect of you? Many
create memory-works that trace the past and frequently portray
everday objects as icons.
Ingrid Mwagni wonders: must the African always have a pleasant
voice, or uninhibited sexuality? David Zink Yi wonders: Must
the Chinese always be a good cook, is the German always poetical,
why is the African always endowed with a sense of rhythm?
Mawuli wonders: What is freedom, and what does slavery mean
to me? Achilleka wonders: Could only people with black skin
be considered as African, or also those with white skin, and
what if one of my legs is black and the other - white? Goddy
Leye hits himself, but cannot escape from himself, his reflection
disappears. These questions and the way they are posed create
the connection to my 1960s African book, and naturally bring
to mind Frantz Fanon and the title of his famous book, Black
Skin, White Mask, which is still utterly relevant, and not
only to those artists.
It is not by accident that Michaela Schweigert chose to make
her work in Hoyerswerde. This town epitomizes the East German
socialist planned economy and xenophobia. The 1992 images
of burning objects thrown at the windows of refugee apartments,
and of the people shouting and applauding at the sight of
the houses and their dwellers in flames are unforgettable.
With this applause ringing in our ears, we can move on to
the work of M?ller and Girardet: Here people applaud from
various galleries: Why, to whom, what for - we do not know.
It could be the applause at the end of a concert of Nikolaus
Steglich. This last work is delightful, nevertheless it makes
the applaus and my program sound a bit ominous and threatening.
The artists too may conceive of their origins, first and foremost,
as a limitation, and perceive themselves as prisoners of prejudice,
while seeing their environment as a cage (Mwangi), a box (Afatsiawo),
a portrait (Leye), skin (Zink Yi), an appartment block (Schweigert),
an automat (Steglich), or a stage (Muler).
But one can break out of limitations, one can free oneself
from things and challenge them. The artists I've selected
see their work as presenting a possibility for developing
consciousness and creative utopias, and by no means as an
illusion. Since new eyes also see in an age new ideas.
Marcel Odenbach, 2004
Program 15
The Other and the
Same
Young Media Art from Latin America
Jose Carlos Mariategui
A central aspect of today's highly populated
cities of Latin America is the desire for a western lifestyle,
leading to its imitation in the hope of shifting from the
status of "others" to that of the "same"
in an unstable equilibrium of total subjugation. During the
last decade, a new generation of media artists has emerged
in Latin America with fresh proposals concerning the technological
medium. The use of a global branding and communicational elements
makes it impossible to classify their works as "Latin-American,"
since those are omnipresent in today's art world. Thus we
witness the transformation of culture into a global spectacle,
where video is part of a homogenizing trend, of "making
one feel the same."
Fortunately, cultural distances do exist, and the regional
interaction in Latin America is quite complex. From a globalist
perspective, those distances pose a problem to standardization,
and offer an analytic tool for assessing real situations which
vary among cities, small towns and homes, and prevail even
in the "diaspora."
These differences, by which identities are passed on, are
reflected in today's ambivalent use of media art, from the
production of and participation in a "global popular
culture" to the construction of local attitudes. Consequently,
there are certain differences within the new media creation
in Latin America, as is indicated by some tendencies in recent
works.
Some of the artists are more mainstream and mass media oriented,
either with complex productions, or with minimal resources,
and their primary media of reference are film and TV. Art
has appropriated the postmodern language of a cinema situation,
and its universe portrays ideas that range from commercial
to sarcastic experimental films (cinematographic imaginary),
or adopts cartoonesque methods to depict fictionalized real
life.
The "units" of TV information are being shortened
beyond recognition; their partiality is often confusing and
bewildering. The documentary, and especially the media documentary,
critically intervenes in TV dynamics, as it tries to visually
reconfigure recent history in order to change our attitudes
and consciousness by presenting social issues not as problems
but rather as challenges.
Situations of domination and subordination are constantly
switching positions. For this reason, some of the artists
selected are very young and probably completely unknown to
international public, while others had their works shown in
Festivals internationally and are part of the mainstream.
Nevertheless, in both cases they may use in their work similar
practices, that emanate from the "same" influences.
Finally, a note on the participation of women in this selection:
though women have been always present in video art, history
tends to remember only the names of men, hopefully this equation
is now changing.
Program 16
Electric Earth:
Film and Video from Britain
Part 2
Mark Beasley and Colin Ledwith
In the early 1980s artist Rodney Graham expressed
a neurotic dislike of cinema. Neurotic in the sense that as
the dominant art form of the Twentieth Century, cinematic
authors could "claim to effect a much larger audience
in a deeper way." The implication was that as a "visual
artist" Graham felt he was "involved in something
a little too rarefied, elitist and out-of-date." Twenty
years on and artistic relations with the moving image are
in the process of redefinition. As I write, Matthew Barney's
Cremaster series is top of the bill at the local cinema, and
user friendly film-editing programmes sit comfortably on the
computer desk-top.
The current situation (at least in the UK) could be said in
part to stem from technological advance. The advent of affordable
PC's and compatible editing equipment has seen the bedroom
become the production studio for a new generation of film
and video makers. Hundreds of pounds rather than thousands
are all it now takes to satisfactorily unite sound and vision.
Digital video allows artists to craft their vision of the
world from home. The ability to shoot ad infinitum at low
cost, erase and rewind, has resulted in a mini-revolution
in cultural production.
Electric Earth is a portrait of filmmaking to the extent that
it reflects certain shifts within a broader culture, from
the rise of the pop video to the renewed interest in the documentary
format. The exhibition equally reflects the accelerated blurring
of disciplinary boundaries. The investigative spirit of the
documentary collides with the music video, while the non-linear
film utilizes the giddy pace of the skate-promo. Unravelling
the multitude of images that slide through our consciousness
on a daily basis, artists have chosen to adapt existing forms
as means for intellectual and emotional exchange. Activity
that gives scant regard to the bankrupt philosophy of "Knowing
one's place." Is this what the first punk-poet Rimbaud
forecast in the lines, "Rumblings and Visions! Departure
into new affection and new sound!"? Rather than drown
under a sea of manufactured ideas, it is perhaps an attempt
to re-order the fit of the world, to muddy the waters and
occupy previously privileged territories.
Removed from the need to sell product, the music video has
been reconfigured as a contemporary narrative device. Arriving
in the mind long before the visual settles on the retina,
music cuts through the red tape of communication. It is an
expansive and rich language that can be as referential and
descriptive of the world as visual imagery. A recent spate
of documentaries released on the big screen, notably Stacy
Peralta's documentary epic Dogtown and Z boys (2002), and
director Nick Broomfield's diffident style, have exploded
the fragile construct of the "objective documentary."
The influence of filmmakers such as Chris Marker and Patrick
Keiller is also evident in the encyclopaediacal desire to
make connections between people, places and practices. Rather
than studio bound performance to camera, artists have chosen
to present "real life" histories on-screen. Yet,
perceived reality is constantly checked from supermarket shelf
stackers, skateboarders, city workers and gallery assistants
to the life of psychoanalyst R.D. Laing. Removed from the
need for objective truth, lives are complicated and skewed
in an attempt to define new relations to given situations.
The documentary in this sense is never straightforward. Many
of the works re-sample former texts, a technique that finds
its parallel within music culture. Artists are jumping directly
to root influences and stretching taught the content of the
original. Connecting, as Greil Marcus suggests in Lipstick
Traces, the "echoes" of the past with the conversation
of today. This is a generation at ease with the flick of the
remote control, adept at receiving and transmitting visual
non-sequitors. In this sense Electric Earth reflects the role
of the artist as a mediator or editor of existing visual signs.
Simply put, it is the desire to shift the focus of discussion
one foot to the left or right of the main picture.
Mark Beasley
Program 17
Local Identities:
Neither Here nor There
Sergio Edelstein and Doron Solomons
Although we are not clear yet as to the reasons,
self-portraits always fascinate us. Five (young) creators
look outwards, and thus also inwards, at their intimate, at
times too intimate, surroundings, at their parents, friends,
lovers, ethnic group and language. (Doron Solomons)
Program 18:
Artangel: Jeremy Deller
The Battle of Orgreave
James Lingwood
Artangel has pioneered a new way of collaborating
with artists and engaging
audiences in an ambitious series
of highly successful commissions since the early 1990s. We've
created a reputation for producing work that people really
want to see and for which they often travel miles to experience.
This commitment to the production of powerful new ideas by
exceptional artists has been at the forefront of changing
attitudes and growing expectations amongst both artists and
audiences.
By producing the best art, in the best possible conditions,
Artangel has become part of the cultural debate, both in the
UK and abroad. A pathfinder in the process of achieving a
deeper understanding of the world. Which is what art always
offers those willing to take up the challenge.
Beyond the white walls of the gallery, the black box of the
theatre or the darkened interior of the cinema, there are
other forms of expression where the relationship between artist
and place is of primary importance. This is a relationship
which Artangel actively explores in events where context and
content are often indistinguishable. An artist's response
to the qualities and conditions of a particular place is central
to the development of a project. And finding the right place
is an integral part of the commissioning process we undertake.
Program 19:
No Cold Feelings:
Films and Videos from Scandinavia
Part 2
Anna Linder
These two programs consist of films and video
works, predominately from Sweden, but also from its neighboring
countries: Norway, Finland and Denmark. The films offer us
a place for longing, a place for imagination. They give us
a pleasurable time, but hopefully also a room for reflection
and consideration.
Many people still believe that Sweden is at the forefront
of equality between women and men. That is no longer the case.
Violence is creeping upon us, it is attacking us. The statistics
of rapes perpetrated on a week like the last one is frightening.
And yet... why should we complain. Others are much worse off.
We are doing pretty ok, after all. But that is no reason to
give up our struggle, or to feel small and disillusioned.
Several films in this selection address issues concerning
violence, feminism, social criticism, homosexuality... but
in a warm and humorous way. Perhaps with a song. These films
do not wish to create more violence. They want to bring hope
and joy. Love. A few laughs along the way. And respect for
human beings.
When I was asked to curate two sections of Scandinavian film
for this festival, I immediately came up with loads of ideas.
At the same time, I thought that I would be able to stick
to a theme. It didn't work out that way. As a matter of fact,
I don't really like themes at all. They seldom work. The programs
are diverse, and might seem a bit all over the place, but
I'd like to think that their wide scope is also is their strength.
At a certain point, some things regarding my choice of films
became evident. Many of the films I've chosen use sound in
a special way. Their soundscapes are abstract and experimental.
Sound is important to me, as is music. A couple of the films
are what I would like to call investigative films - performances,
of sorts, for the camera. Several of the participating filmmakers
are also performance artists. The films have been of a great
inspiration to me during the two months I've spent working
on the selection of films, and I hope you will get the same
feeling watching them.
Films from AV-arkki's festival View04 - Festival of Finnish
Media Art View04, organized by AV-arkki, Helsinki, www.av-arkki.fi:
Pirjetta Brander, Guinea Pig; Borkur Jonsson, Postalm - Postcard
to Kristjan; Seppo Renvall, Woody.
Translated by Jenny Tunedal.
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