Author: Ferguson Ulrich

Chris Marker Goes

The digital/internet age creates a plethora of simultaneous obituaries of those in the know when they pass; often they are the same, re-written, wiki-pediated down to highlights obit pieces; whereas past passings would have had longer effect and more word of mouth spreadings where people would share with one another their personal favorite films or stories or screenings rather than be told what an establishment viewed as important.

Often this sudden obituary blitz effect via the internet will produce a sudden boost of “fame” and notoriety for the one, now gone, who, ironically is now unable to enjoy his new found recognition and appreciation.

Sometimes the deceased is elevated to greater grandeur than ever before. Mike Kelley suddenly became known as “L.A.’s most important artist”, a sentiment not often heard before his passing (and sadly if as much recognition was granted him the months before he chose to end it, it would likely serve as at least a distraction to his depression, possibly increasing his years).

Jeff Keen became elevated as a filmmaker now known and recognized in the U.S., something that should have happened decades ago while alive.

I propose for all artists reaching a certain age or milestone of sorts in their endeavors that a fake obituary occurs, wherein we all “act” as if the person has died, yet full knowing he hasn’t, yet celebrate as if he/she has died, which is essentially what we do anyway when they do pass. We celebrate. Let’s stop playing the “they’re dead, now we can talk more about their work” game.

And with that said, as hypocrisy would have it, I contribute to the above by the mention of Chris Marker being the latest in a seemingly string of experimenters to go this year.

Marker was a longtime experimental French filmmaker with a long list of films, photography, and writing. Essay style films was where his work really shined for me and many others, and yes Absurdism made it’s way into his work in various ways.

La Jetée tells the tale of a man haunted by memory in post-apocalyptic Paris. The entire 28 minutes of La Jetée is composed from photographs, apart from a single shot, showing the female protagonist of the film blink and wake up suddenly. Exploring themes of memory, time, and history, Marker’s time-travel tale is loved for its ability to effortlessly combine poetry and philosophy with science fiction; two seemingly oppositional themes that marry in many of Marker’s other films.  – From ArtFAGcity

Yet from nearly all the blogger obits, you can’t get away from the first and foremost mention of La jetee, a 30 minute or so short, and while experimental very much, also used as source/basis for a Hollywood feature film number. Some of  these news and blogger obits cast the idea that this was his only film made as the title would read something to the effect of “Director of La jatee, Chris Marker dies”, when in fact much more was done, and as ArtFagCity, cited above, points out some of his films were banned in both France and the U.S.

Perhaps the best write up on Markers passing was from the CinemaElectronica blog, where Jon Jost simply wrote the following, which allows, encourages, the viewer to do his own discovering:

A profound influence on many – and not just as film/media maker.  But things more important than that, though that was the tool he used.   Our brief sojourn on the planet was made richer by his.

Absurdism was more apparent in Chris’s life, as for as much recognition as he did get, he never was easily plopped into a nice, neat category. To add to this Chris rarely did interviews, and even photos of the man were rare. He was a cat lover and often used a cartoon cat image to take the place of his own (I believe an actual documentary he was in, he made the filmmakers use a cat image with altered voice in place of his own.)

Marker continued to work all the way towards the end, and was one of the few experimental filmmakers of his time to actually embrace digital technology when it first came out.

Not only that, Marker also committed perhaps the cardinal sin of the higher than thou experimental so called avant film crowd of the time. He had his own YouTube Channel in which he uploaded new experiments to.

“In another time I guess I would have been content with filming girls and cats. But you don’t choose your time” – Chris Marker

Updates #6 : Goat Worship AKA Randy Prozac

 

Our Canadian Absurdists, GOAT WORSHIP, seem to remain disbanded. Left in the wake has been the ringleader, RANDY PROZAC, who is working under the moniker “Sentimental Corporation”.

Prozac has forged ahead, absent his usual stable of performers. He instead has been animating, using Sims characters it appears, to take the place of the ex real life co-conspirators.

The pieces are incredible, and clearly it seems he is able to cover more ground, and say much more.

Currently on his website, on the PARASITE DREAMS page, there are  6 “Treatments” each about 65 minutes long.  They flow so well you can lose yourself in these pieces. And despite their length, Prozac can somehow cover prescription drug use, senior citizen sex, consumerism, terrorism, religion, and feminism, all in the first 3 minutes (see Treatment 4) and it just builds to more Absurdist heights from there.

Some of the pieces I recall viewing a few years ago, so when trying to get an update on current work I contacted another Absurdist who informed me he hadn’t talked to Prozac in some years now, and emails were never returned. “He’s probably dead”, was the conclusion made.

Prozac’s work is a mountain of “what’s fucked in the world”, mainly the consumer laden, horrible culture trending, heavily corrupted world in which it seems most people hardly bat an eyelash at, let alone question, and instead just accept as completely “normal”. 

He’s delegated himself to his own corner of the digital world, the internet, while heavily swearing off any association with the social media trend taking place. Facebook? Twitter? No way.

All the former Goat Worship videos have been deleted from YouTube, account closed, and now he hosts his own videos on his own site which you have to be sort of a magician to navigate through.

Hence the prediction of “probably dead” could stem from perhaps the thinking that a breaking point has been crossed. Prozac’s a well written punk/rage artist taking on a huge amount of bullshit reality in 3 minutes, then not stopping for another 62. And that’s just one piece.

FUCK YOUR MENTALLY ILL

CASTRATED AND STERILIZED

MIND CONTROLLED WORLD

 

Upon further waving my wand and looking through his site, I see some “2012” signs that he is still here, and still going strong. There are music links which were done in 2012, as well as some spoken word poetry books (POEMS FOR THE MACHINES) for streaming, and much more.

I also found all the old Goat Worship videos. Instead of “Treatments”, these are divided up into “Rituals”. Numerous works, very lengthy, much more than I remember seeing on YouTube.

Here’s some comments from 2011 I stumbled across from a message board where someone had posted Randy’s site, and the forum members seemed to be blown away, though many confused, hence the attempted explanations below:

–“It’s the illusion. He’s showing you how it looks to him. Crazy right? Just because of how he’s reacting. Most of what he’s trying to represent is a natural product of society. While you want to think E! and all those sexy womenz and menz of society. Really society produces disease and diseased personalities. In the large scale of looking at the whole world.”

–“It’s all really over exaggerated to show you what it really looks like in his mind.

And then you start to see how he’s figured out how it’s society and the major people in power have shaped the population and that’s why everyone is like this. But it only stops when we decide to stop treating each-other like this.

I think he’s saying that it’s too late almost. Like there’s too many people that are so fucked up that you can’t fight them because they’ve just taken it upon themselves to steal everything to be the number 1 on top of the world. And how can you stop them all?

Change them maybe? I think this is the point of his videos. To show you the meaning behind it. “

–“And at around 9 minutes, the speech about ‘The loneliness of wisdom’, it’s surprisingly optimistic and goes against the idea Parasite Dreams is just a depressing tirade against the system. In spite of the unsettling imagery, it sums up what Parasite Dreams is about, not a struggle to ‘change the system’ but that we should disassociate ourselves from it and be aware of it to the fullest extent. The series is pleading with viewers to wake up, there is no liberal political agenda, the imagery isn’t that important, it’s all in the subtle details.”

http://www.zoklet.net/bbs/showthread.php?t=161251

 

If you want to dive right in and see what you come up with: http:://SentimentalCorp.org

(You should take a dive first to at least check out one of the best website homepages ever)

But here’s my cheat sheet as well:

New Randy Prozac films:  http://sentimentalcorp.org/parasitedreams/

Old Goat Worship films: http://sentimentalcorp.org/goat/index.php

Music/Spoken Word: http://sentimentalcorp.org/systemsdeathrecordings/

Spoken Video: http://sentimentalcorp.org/rprozac/eyesofrandyprozac.php

 

And a more thorough review of Randy’s new work (which by the way, this animated Sims also goes by “PARASITE DREAMS” and each segment was formerly called a “dream”, where it is now labeled as a “Treatment”. Blog review – http://www.iskalla.blogspot.com/2011/05/parasite-dreams-zeitgeist-and-kymatica.html

A German Absurdist Infiltration? – plus – “BERLIN SUPER 80”

A German Absurdist Infiltration? – OPEN CALLS CONSIDERATION

While film/video festivals have mostly rendered themselves irrelevant and obsolete – selections outdated and mainstream, still relying on the usual entry fee approach, not knowing how to handle, and rather ignoring since it’s easier, the plethora of artists publishing/screening their work online, etc etc etc., there is an angle that may be worth pursuing, the German angle.

Their video fests blow much of what’s happening elsewhere, especially in the States, away. Just the first few opening lines describing their events makes you want to read on, as opposed to the usual U.S. fest “festival statement” where you want to puke. And months later when you see their lineup of “mumblecore” films you want to…

Anyway,

From the transmedial fest in Berlin, entry fee: Free :

transmediale is Berlin’s annual festival for cultural activities crossing art, culture and technology. Entries are now open for the transmediale 2013 programme which will consist of installations, film and video screenings, workshops, performances, talks and discussions. Even though transmediale is always interested in works exploring new technologies, either as a theme or as form, no genres or media are excluded. The exhibition programme is particularly oriented towards artworks that explore ambiguous and problematic relationships to technology and challenge common perceptions of it as a rational or creative tool.

From the Hamburg International Short film festival. Entry fee – Free :

Since its foundation 28 years ago, the Hamburg International Short Film Festival has been celebrating short films as an independent art form, while offering an opportunity for film makers from all over the world to get in touch with an eager audience and with each other. The International Competition mirrors current global aesthetic tendencies and narrative structures. The German Competition offers an overview of the state of the nation’s short films and film academies. And in our long-standing and unique No Budget Competition, that had formed the festival’s nucleus and origin in 1985, we present works made with little money but plenty of ideas and commitment.

 

From the SXSW Film Festival, Austin, TX, USA entry fee: $25/$50 for shorts :

The SXSW® Film Conference and Festival features a dynamic convergence of talent, smart audiences and industry leaders in a uniquely creative environment. A hotbed of discovery and interactivity, the event offers invaluable networking opportunities and immersion into the art and business of independent film.

Notice the word “ART”  is sure to be mentioned in the first line of the first two German fests, while in the last festival the word “art” lands in the very last sentence, and is followed immediately by the word “business”.  It’s also preceded with the usual gag worthy marketing terms “dynamic” and “hotbed”.

On that note needless to say, the German outlets are much more open to non mainstream works, and seem to encourage the more out there, avant offerings. And much of the time, they are FREE to submit, which is a sad rarity in the States.

While one of the two recent open calls below is deadlined 6 days from now and the other a week later, it’s more the planting of the idea to start thinking about an Absurdist infiltration via Germany festivals.

It’s going to take YEARS for the U.S. to catch up with film/video art online, which many already note as worthy for cinematic screening, (and there are a few festival/outlet exceptions). Many of the Absurdists here already realize this and likely see film festival submission as a step backwards.

But with what the above has to offer, the existing environment that’s open to it, and of course the obscure glory of “making it in Germany”, eh, why not…

http://www.transmediale.de/node/21237

http://www.videonale.org/node/861

We will be monitoring more upcoming German festivals and events, and perhaps emailing out a collective infiltration plan to represent and offer up some works from our small corner of alt cinema history.

In the meantime here’s some strong roots as to perhaps why, in part, Germany maintains it’s celebration for the experimental. A DVD compilation of German experimental filmmakers from the late 70’s, early 80’s, “Berlin Super 80”.

From the DangerousMinds.net website:

Berlin Super 80 is a compilation of 18 short movies shot in Super 8 by West German experimental film makers during the late 1970s/early 80s. Featuring music by Malaria, Reflections, Einstürzende Neubauten, Frieder Butzmann and Die Tödliche Doris. It’s a hit or miss affair with films that range from the brilliant to the banal. Well worth watching for the flashes of genius.

Here’s the full hour/47 min. DVD comp. online:

01. Brand & Maschmann: E Dopo? (1981)
02. Christoph Doering: 3302- Taxi Film (1979)
03. Markgraf & Wolkenstein: Hüpfen 82 (1982)
04. Yana Yo: Sax (1983)
05. Maye & Rendschmid: Ohne Liebe gibt es keinen Tod (1980)
06. Stiletto Studio,s: Formel Super VIII (1983)
07. Walter Gramming: Hammer und Sichel (1978)
08. Georg Marioth: Morgengesänge (1984)
09. Hormel/Bühler: Geld (Malaria Clip) (1982)
10. Notorische Reflexe: Fragment Video (1983)
11. Jörg Buttgereit: Mein Papi (1981)
12. Die Tödliche Doris: Berliner Küchenmusik (1982)
13. Butzmann & Kiesel: Spanish Fly (1979)
14. Manfred Jelinski: So war das SO 36 (1984)
15. Klaus Beyer: Die Glatze (1983)
16. Markgraf & Wolkenstein: Craex Apart (1983)
17. Andrea Hillen: Gelbfieber 1982)
18. Ika Schier: Wedding Night (1982)

A DVD of these films is available with a music CD of Berlin bands as part of a box set, available here.

Jeff Keen : Longtime Experimental/Absurdist Filmmaker, RIP

 

Another longtime experimental filmmaker with Absurdist leanings takes the plunge to the nether worlds. At 88 Jeff Keen passes, as he leaves behind many forms of art from painting to poetry, and most notably, 70 some film works, a number that may not sound impressive to the new video maker generation who clog their video sharing channels with 100’s of “works”, but these, mostly made on film (expensive), show some time and care in their making, with added attention to tricks and genuine experiment. It’s an impressive and I would imagine satisfying number of completed cinematic art works.

Of note was his steadfast DIY style, utilizing friends and family, found footage and objects, as well as himself in and out of costume on camera.

Keen is primarily known as a legendary underground filmmaker whose work and activities coincided with the emergence of expanded cinema. He was one of the original participants in the 60s at the London Filmmakers Co-op. The BFI and later the British Arts Council supported and enabled Keen to make films and devise a multitude of drawings and paintings. During this period, Keen maintained jobs as a landscaper in the Parks and Recreation department of his hometown, Brighton, and sometimes as a postal worker delivering mail. The artist made movies primarily on weekends with his family and friends in an ensemble cast and his painting and drawing studio was for 40 years a repository of props and art that accumulated to extraordinary effect that has been fully documented – from Experimental Cinema.

Keen seemed to garner recognition in the British experimental film world, but like many  Absurdist Video Artist’s here, his true appreciators we’re those outside the wall’s of avant institution.

“his work was often more appreciated by skaters and punks than followers of the canonical avant garde.” – the Guardian UK

Yet in the U.S. he hasn’t seemed to garner much recognition at all. In 1999, back when Underground Film Festivals mattered, the New York Underground Film Fest showed some of his work, and earlier this year his first solo U.S. gallery show, at age 88, was in New York at the Elizabeth Dee Gallery.

The Guardian has a good obit write up on Jeff Keen, written by someone who worked with Keen in 2008 to put together a massive DVD box set of his work. Here’s the Guardian article and below are some amazing shorts from Keen, from his 1967 most screened work “MARVO MOVIE”, to a later work in 1995, an interesting behind the scenes piece, and a 25 minute interview from recent years.

 

 

 

 

 

Interview with Jeff Keen:

 

 

 

 

 

Ryan Trecartin 2012 – Absurdist’s Updates 5

As far as the online world goes, nothing new has emerged on Trecartin’s YT, Vimeo, or Ubu channels.

As far as the offline world goes…

“Ryan Trecartin Joins Andrea Rosen Gallery After Several Months as a Free Agent.”

This occurred just last month in May, coming after a headline last Fall which read:

“Ryan Trecartin Leaves His New York Gallery”

These headlines, and the accompanying articles, give you a hint at the hoity hoo-rah-rah Art World, er bubble, and Ryan’s ability to slice his part of the pie within such. And apparently a significant slice at that, according to “Sources”:

“There’s not one gallery of major significance that is not going to take an interest in what he’s doing,” the source said.

Now, besides Trecartin, and Brian Bress, most of the video artists here at AVA are “Free Agents”, and Ryans October to May dry representation spell is the norm for everyone else.

Which is a shame, not for the video makers, they’re genuine outlaw artists who’ll produce no matter what, but for the galleries. After a decade of viewing video art in both museums and art galleries in both U.S. and Europe,  it’s easy to say that the work produced by the artists on this site are far more visually interesting and engaging for gallery presentation than much of what is, and has been, out there. And, as is with Trecartin’s work, the works from those here represent a far more relevant look towards modern day and beyond.

But video art being a strange thing to, ahem, “market”, it tends to take the second or third tier to the usual physical works . But Video Artists, some, tend to also produce such works, some which go along with the visuals, supplement, or are separate altogether (Ryan does create other works and it should be noted he is collaborating with artist Lizzie Fitch as part of the new representation, and I’m guessing more of the sculptural pieces will be produced as well along with the video works).

…the artists (Fitch/Trecartin) also forged a specific collaborative practice that has been responsible for a range of output: freestanding sculpture, musical compositions, and the sculptural theatres that “frame” Trecartin’s movies. Read more here.

Ryan’s new gallery rep owner, who runs another Gallery as well,  has this to say:

“In one way, I don’t care whether Gallery 2 shows are profitable,” she said. “On the other hand, if I were to ever separate the idea of inspiration from the idea of the market,” which, in the vein of Félix González-Torres, she would never do normally, “I believe that collectors, along with the public, are making a true consensus on what’s significant.

“We want to be immortalized by art, and those generalizations about us, what we’re leaving behind to represent us and our time, have a relationship to money in that we value them. How do we value those things that are going to historicize us? So there has to be a sense of value, but that’s different from the market.” Full article here.

There’s a lot to respond to, and counter, on that note, but for another time.

We look forward to new work from the Ryan and Fitch collaboration. And what an enormous relief and refreshment it is to know, that even after all this “Art Bubble” talk of representation announcements and free agency and the measuring of monetary art worth, that when all is said and done in that nostalgic world, Ryan will quickly turn around and enter the more relevant world, by transferring a file and clicking an upload button, making his work available, in full, for everyone to view for free.

Keep an eye on the following:

Ryan Trecartin Vimeo Channel

YT Channel

Ryan on UBU

Updates 4 : TYKYLEVITS (Kari Tykkyläinen) : The Documentary

THE FINNISH PHENOMENA, known as TYKYLEVITS (real name Kari Tykkyläinen) has continued to dominate video uploads while continuing to live his Absurdist lifestyle; life on a seemingly remote compound filled with art, music, animals, his wife, and a rotating cast of beautifuls that he seems to have “shipped in” from the nearby town.

Clearly many of Tykylevits fan base (which he likely has the most “fans” out of all of us here, combined) tune in for the portrait videos of these Nordic Country models, real women, full figured, curvy, and proud; Confident, and clearly having fun. (View the documentary posted below for more on this)

Many of Tyky’s latest vids have been electric cigar box jam sessions. The steady shot video is always visually interesting as he surrounds himself with props, adorns himself with wigs, women’s clothing, or sometimes nothing. The jams can be a challenge to get through though as Tyky belts out the blues while his one or two string guitars shreek out rapid fire riffs.

Nevertheless it’s Kari’s world, Kari’s portrait:

Every day, my videos are to me like short paintings, little ideas, you just have to do them out of you, when you feel angry, make music, when you feel horny, call some woman with respect and love to make videos with you.    source: http://www.urlesque.com/2010/10/05/kari-tykkylainen-tykylevits-interview/#ixzz1xMiQ8HAC

A incredible, and beautiful 30 minute documentary with English subtitles has recently surfaced on Tyky’s channel. For the first time, we get some explanations and understandings of how things work in Kari’s world. The women, the art, and the lifestyle; truly one lived on the outside. The doc moves along quickly, and you realize there’s a good ‘nother 60 minutes that probably could’ve been added.

At the flea market, my daughter and wife get clothes for themselves…
While I shop for bra’s and stockings…

 

 

Often in his videos Tykylevits deals with the absurdity of man, the “struggles” – sometimes unwarranted but present, the blues, and the joys of child like “play”,  something a grown man is not supposed to do anymore.

 

My intention is to get people to do silly things. I want to set an example for distressed people.

Here’s the wonderful RUBENS OF THE NORTH.

 

 

And to throw in a current piece,  here we see some of the aforementioned ‘absurdity of man’; and how the object of desire, the Woman, really has control, power. And in reality it probably should be us boys, Harley men or not, down on our knees.

U p d a t e s on A b s u r d i s t s — Part 3 : BRESS and BUZZ

BRIAN BRESS

Bress has released new works for 2012 , mainly “Under Performing” which seems to be doing the rounds at various galleries and museums around the country. The usual Art rags have write ups on the video works:

Viewers familiar with Bress’s recent works, such as his breakthrough 2009 video Status Report (recently exhibited at the New Museum in New York), know him for his almost overwhelming barrages of absurdist collage. He constructs tableaux from thrift-store detritus that he then photographs and green-screens onto various backgrounds. The videos made up of these collaged arrangements often interlace three or four entirely different scenarios, resulting in something akin to channel surfing—if all the channels were public access.

For “Under Performing,” Bress presented eight “portraits” (all 2012) in a mostly uniform format: framed flat- screen monitors. Most are about 28 by 22 inches and are displayed vertically. In one case, a pair of monitors forms a cryptic diptych of isolated, snowbound figures. Two family groupings—a cubist-faced set bobbing in a painted surf and four featureless inflatables, posed Sears-portrait-studio-style, replete with patterned sweaters and bad-haircut wigs—are hung in a horizontal orientation.  – excerpt from Art in America

Of note is his use of flat screen TV’s as visual picture frames for gallery purposes, an idea bounced around by other Absurdists here, and one as “Art in America” notes, has oddly (or not) been taken full advantage of:

Video artists have been inexplicably slow in taking advantage of certain possibilities inherent to flat-screen technology, specifically that of creating wall-hung screens with looping videos that occupy the space where one expects to find a painting. The bulk of Brian Bress’s recent show, “Under Performing,” addressed this peculiarity with the complex humor and formal inventiveness of his work from the last half-decade, but with a sharpened sense of focus.

Brian is always good about posting his work on YouTube after the gallery hoo-ra-ra wraps up, so hopefully we’ll get to view the recent works online in the near future.

For now it looks like someone took the liberty to give us a some glances of the latest work UNDER PERFORMING, unfortunately these appear to be shot off a smart phone sideways, and not converted back to right side up. Nevertheless:

——————-

 

BUZZ COASTIN

Speaking of someone who should have multiple flat screens on gallery walls, looping together his seemingly limitless plethora of Absurdist mash…

Besides a few recent past weeks, Buzz has been continually churning out video re-works. Vimeo (as opposed to YouTube where Coastin has been heave hoe’d from numerous times) allows him much more leeway to play with the amateur/semi-pro porn mashing, where he takes a clip which is intended to be the “turn on” scene before the real action, and replays, edits and alters it to absurd proportions, sometimes waking up the viewer to realize how ridiculous getting turned on by a piece of flesh rounded and contorted to a certain shape can be. Meanwhile we hear audio snippets of Marshall Mcluhan, Robert Dobbs, and others in the background, sometimes vaguely, sometimes clear.

Buzz’s recent BUTTRESS FOR THE ALLZ AT ONCE works off this formula.

McLuhan who frequently talked about the “instant replay”, is essentially what Buzz employs by his continuum of repeated edits replayed in various over saturated, upside down fashion.

In “PEPPEY PERCEPTION” we do get the real action remixed into holograms of sorts while some excellent audio pieces of MCLUHAN talking about how artists predict the future play alongside the video saturation (note – McLuhan audio starts after the 1 minute mark).

The recent 15 MINUTES OF FAMEROUS can be seen as a companion piece to the above as Robert Dobbs explains the importance of Andy Warhol in a way you’ve likely never heard before. 

PEPPY PERCEPTION


15 MINUTES OF FAMEROUS

BUTTRESS FOR THE ALLZ AT ONCE


U P D A T E S on A B S U R D I S T S (PART 2) – ANDY HECK BOYD

More updates on our absurdist video artists continue, this time it’s:

ANDY HECK BOYD

BOYD has been pumping out videos, but not the one’s we are used to seeing, rather videos of his completed artwork (drawing/painting), and also as of recently, some experimental vlogging which include his art, himself in his surroundings, and everything from random thought nuggets to bits of his personal past.  They work.

He hasn’t left filmmaking though, as the above video reveals. Boyd recently completed HOWARD (2012)  a 14 min. short featuring a headless main character who deals with the art conundrums which Andy seems to possibly be dealing with – be a painter or be an absurdo-weirdo video artist? He makes fun of the latter putting Headless in front of a video camera as he dances around absurdly, then gets tired so sits down in a chair for a supposed serious scene with a kermit the frog-head actor, but Headless can’t help himself; he plays with his balls while mumbling absurdities, eventually falling over the chair and passing out. Kermit-head says “I think you should go back to painting”. 

HOWARD has probably the best use of font/lettering in all Boyd’s pieces. Big colored block letters, making the dialogue pop out while interesting and easy to read. It also has some laugh the fuck out loud enormous penis shots that come out of nowhere, great absurdist dialogue, and some good music collaboration (shaun parker), which probably could have been used more throughout the whole film. It’s a big work which shows, I think, that Andy will still be pumping out video art, even as his paintings, especially portraits, continue to get better.

Andy’s art site can be found at: http://andyheckboyd.tumblr.com/

HOWARD (2012) by Andy Heck Boyd

UPDATES on A B S U R D I S T S (part 1) : COLLAPSE / TOPARTZER / ELLIOTT

Here are some updates for some of our video artists:

COLLAPSE / (AMERICAN FILMS)

This outfit has, oddly, been dead quiet lately with no new work having been sent in or posted anywhere online.

But it looks as if that’s going to change, very soon.

Stills are now surfacing from a recent short which are part of a series of works dealing with women, and blood. These will be the first in a number of short experimental absurdist works which are to be filmed and edited throughout the summer, and there’s hints of a feature film for the fall.

Apparently these will be a major departure from the satirical, corporate-political angle Collapse has penetrated forth in the past. Perhaps recognizing the limits of satire in an already over saturated doomed to likely fail situation, the guys, and new crew of gals, have risen above with a fresh focus on art for arts sake. From here on out it looks as if the gloves are off and now it’s all about fucking shit up for the sake of creative fun; adding COLOR to Collapse, rather than whimpering over the same old song and dance.

(Coincidentally, well known peak oil and Collapse activist and author Michael Ruppert, recently hung up his own doom/gloom pursuits, coming to similar conclusions, and opting for more art and spiritual based outlets.)

MATTHEW TOPARTZER

We got a release copy months back, and now CELWERY is available on Amazon for download or purchase, at least for now. Go HERE.

As he states in the description, CELWERY is an unfinished film, and likely more of an installation work better suited for screening in a multimedia fashion. Matt writes:

i’m still gonna do a multimedia film. it’ll probably be done in powerpoint and ported into the flash media format. and i’m gonna continue on divergent paths regarding both linear and non-linear film production.

So the amazon release is likely temporary, and will be taken down soon, as CELWERY will get reworked into something larger. He’s amassed a lot of other footage as well, and there are also 2 more potential films from Topartzer coming this year. Likely we’ll have one completed film this summer to share.

In the meantime we’ve learned Matt’s a prolific author and also heavy into experimental music. Here are links for his books as well as music downloads:

SCHIZOPHRENIA AND PRIMITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

THE SILENCE of THE DEMOCRATIC IMAGINATION

FANTASY, FYOO CHER ISM

HOT POT AND UNDYING IMAGINARY FLOWER

MUSIC:

http://soundcloud.com/visualgrandma

http://soundcloud.com/luckychickenaudio

http://luckychickenaudio.com/

ELI ELLIOTT

Things are beginning to emerge as well for Eli Elliott, and it appears his latest location has him in a position to get a bit more messy with “textural” based vid works; little dialogue or speaking and instead more visual, and physical, exploring. He has at least a half dozen pieces set to film, and has already warmed up with a jar of petroleum jelly.

If he can harness himself away from his riding in circle routine (see video piece below) there is a longer work he says he’d like to shoot based around one of the weirdest states of the nation currently. Besides the recent real life Zombie attack, the state offers a regular mix of oddity and stagnant nature which resonates perfect with the Absurdity of the times.

Amos Vogel – Subversive Art Cinema’s Author and Curator Passes On

While AVA has been silent lately, some of us on the road, some writing for forthcoming projects (and yet others continuing to create video art at a pace I’m still trying to catch up with), it sucks that a reason for a new writing is yet another RIP…

This time it’s Amos Vogel, who sort of wrote the Bible document of underground film, entitled FILM AS A SUBVERSIVE ART. I once wrote a letter to Nick Zedd in the mid 90’s asking his recommendations for learning/seeing more underground things, the first recommendation he listed in his handwritten letter back to me was Vogel’s book.

For a while it seemed to be out of print, and even when the internet gave birth to Amazon and online booksellers I recall used copies going for a few hundred bucks. It since went down in price, but now I see it’s going for 50 or so used, perhaps due to the recent passing.

Jon Jost whose short film was featured in Vogel’s book, wrote a nice, and concise write up over on his blog, both on Amos Vogel and the state, or non state, of subversive art cinema

His death comes at a time when the commercialization of everything in the name of  “the Market Economy” has bludgeoned the kind of cinema he supported into a near-death coma.   I imagine he looked at the “independent” cinema which in its various guises and labels of the last few decades, as a sad denouement for the kinds of work he dreamed of, a sign that indeed the insidious forces at work in “the Market Economy” reduced most young filmmakers to imagining that a modest shift in television sit-com formulas constitutes “creativity.”

Jon’s blog post here – http://cinemaelectronica.wordpress.com/2012/04/29/rip-amos-vogel/