PETER'S AWESOME SECTIONS 10/19 video art marathon response

I was very interested in the film “Site” from “Four Pieces by Morris” by Babette Mangolte. The first shot of Robert Morris occurs while he is wearing a white mask in a black room while lifting white large cardboard like walls. The centerpiece of the film occurs when the viewer is exposed to a continuous stream of audio of a construction site. The sound of jack-hammers and construction tools creates this question of what does the minimal choice of black and white color mean to me and why do I felel like the world I am witnessing is a construction site although there is a minimalist world I see ? I first see a close-up of a white cube juxtaposed with a woman laying on a white couch like a painting of Manet ’ s. The continuous strain of Robert Morris’ physicality and movement of his own walls and replacement of walls in different locations juxtaposed with the woman lying on the couch gazing back at the viewer is very interesting. Babette works gracefully with her camerawork and dances slowly around for the viewer to move with Robert Morris’ dancing with his own body. The movement of his body to me in itself represents the choice of man to react or plan. The lighting is dramatic and sound of construction creates irritation that pulls the viewer n to focus on the white cube. Perhaps this cube is logic, or perspective of mankind. Robert Morris replaces his walls as they begin to fall or lose stability. Robert moves his walls according to his own judgement. The lack of interaction between both the male and female character led me to look at the space that their disconnect occurs. This space that they don’t’ share was perhaps the cube itself and their surround world that is constantly constructing itself. The mask that Robert Morris wears in the film to me pushes away any notion of emotional state or emotions of man and parallels the cold look of the woman on the couch. Both are living in this world void of a connection of emotions. The world of construction lies on the periphery of their world and their own action or inaction is what take up their sphere of their space that we see in the film In conclusion, this work appears surreal in that the juxtapose of a man, an object like a cube and a woman, charge each other visually like actors that polarize their own positions in films. The set resembled the painterliness of a Magritte oil painting where Magritte purposely chose to juxtapose the same objects in his paintings. It was important the each character stay focused in their own worlds and pulled the viewer in to question what they are seeing. The leads the viewer to next question where the physical acts end and the meaning of the real world of both man and woman and the construction of their world begins.

In Bicycling Damascus, Rainer Ganahl is able to offer a completely new and unique look at the city of Damascus by risking his life, riding his bicycle against traffic, using both hands to video record rather than to steer. This non-fiction piece tours the many ups and downs, beauties and deformities, in order to give an understanding of society as a whole. All the different people, places, sounds make up the single entity that is Damascus. It is easy for one to take for granted what he has and where he comes from, and sitting through the entirety of Ganahl’s piece will force you to experience different styles of life. The video is filmed from a very first person perspective. Every person in the audience feels as if though they are in the driver seat of the bicycle. Each person is not faced with passive observation, but with a sense of interaction. Each person feels that with each sharp and unstable turn they are themselves dodging death. There are several explanations for why Ganahl may have chosen to shoot as he did, on a bicycle against traffic. The bicycle is a very accessible mode of transportation. Had he been inside a car he would have been less of a participant and more of a spectator. As well, being on a bicycle driving against traffic ads a great sense of danger and adds suspense to the film. Ganahl refuses to simply follow the masses, he refuses to be just another face behind a steering wheel. He dares to be different, and is met with a myriad of honks telling him to turn around and get in line. He does not. By traveling contrary to the rest of the cars, Ganahl is able to portray difficulties and hardships faced by those who refuse to conform. In this piece, the people in the cars represent the mundane, the socially accepted masses too wrapped up in themselves to offer any time or attention to the beauty of life. As well as experience the struggle that comes fighting against the masses and society, the audience does get a first hand view of many of the impoverished neighborhoods, and thus the audience begins to gain a respect for those who are forced to fight against society every day of their lives.

My first reaction to Yoko Ono’s short experimental video “Four” was to its title regarding its subject matter. My father’s wife has always had a euphemism for beating the “crap” out of a child, “I spanked him so hard his buns split into four.” (True story.) Aside from my initial reaction I wonder what Ono hoped to convey or represent with the title “Four.” It is common knowledge that there are only two parts that comprise the main subject matter of this video. Why then, would one call it “Four?” Were there four different examples of these posteriors? Was it an angry tribute to the four members of the Beatles? Perhaps the title was meant to be experimental in itself and in its own presence. Less- than- pleasant childhood memories and present butt- musings aside, Ono’s video, made in 1967, from the Flux Film Anthology, goes where no one has gone before without ulterior enterprising stratagems. The piece of video art is more experimental in its content than more its technical aspects. The camera is in a static position, and experiences little movement through the course of the six- minute film. There is no sound, except for white noise and static. The cuts are rough, to the point, and utilitarian, to complement the images in the buff. There is no fancy editing done for this video, and titles are “bare” bones, representative of 1960s video technology. But perhaps this is the point of video art. The technology has been invented, now it is up to the artists to find new and, perhaps, shocking ways of using it. The artists, to summarize Martha Rosler, must find new ways to use this technology, as to differentiate themselves from the masses that have new- found access to this technology thanks to the mass production and availability of the technology. In this art- video, Ono places her camera in front of, or behind, depending on how one thinks of it, human “sit- upons,” and has the subjects move their posteriors. (This is how I interpreted the images on the screen. I’m hoping my interpretation is correct.) The main movement is in the posteriors, a romp of rumps, per se. Compared to other experimental videos (e.g. Barney’s “The Order”) the movement seems slight, but this is the experimental element of the video.

Rainer Ganahl’s “Bicycling Damascus,” was a very interesting piece not only because it was a very dangerous video to make but also because it is hard to link it to art. Ganahl basically rides his bicycle through oncoming traffic in Damascus with camera in one hand and the other hand for steering. At first glance, this seems like a reckless and unintelligent act by a man who is probably crazy much like the men from “Jackass”, but upon further inspection, the video brings out several important social aspects. First is the American obsession with violence in media. Many films, predominately the action genre, are judged on the amount of explosions, gunfights, high-speed chases, etc rather than on their artistic merit. On television, the news is always covered with the violent acts of the day first and with the lengthiest pieces whereas more important international and local news is short and not nearly as covered. Second, Ganahl completely disregards the America style of childhood safety when learning to ride a bike. He doesn’t look for cars, he doesn’t go with traffic, he doesn’t use hand signals, and he probably wasn’t wearing safety equipment yet he was completely unharmed. Thirdly, Ganahl depicts the differences between the streets of America and Syria. As Ganahl slowly steers through traffic, most drivers simply give him a honk or let him pass without question. Other bicyclers are even doing the same, though not with a camera in hand. The streets are jammed and it seems normal for bicyclers to be riding around as seen from the pedestrians who pay no attention. If this happened in the U.S., there would surely be more than honks and Ganahl would most likely have gotten hit or killed which is ironic since we think that America is safe and the other countries aren’t. This video is an art piece because of its reality and ability to capture today’s audience. It definitely has an unique approach to portraying the city of Damascus and Ganahl’s actions are nonconforming to general knowledge. To me, Ganahl is trying to show that our society isn’t exactly sure where we want to go but we have the ability to get there and we don’t care for the rules since Ganahl just rode around aimlessly with complete disregard.

Babette Mangolte's “Site” exemplifies the definition of video art of the 1960's and symbolically exposes his ideas how art is displaced throughout history. The cast includes Robert Morris, a famous sculpture who does most of the acting/dancing, and Carolee Schneeman, a famous theatrical artist who's known for her discussions on sexuality. Mangolte attempts to emphasize the performer's body, executed by Morris, by structuring the background sound and setting to work with the performer's slow-moving action. Throughout the video, loud sounds representing construction play in the background while Morris, dressed in construction attire, gracefully moves white wooden frames around the white setting. At times he toys around with a single frame - lifting it, dropping it, hiding behind it, dancing with it. Mangolte uses this theatrical performance of a construction worker working with wooden frames to illustrate how he views art. As the worker moves the frame into another location, Mangolte cuts a video frame and places it wherever he likes. As the worker stands in front of the frame, Mangolte displays his ideas subliminally in his artwork and as the worker hides behind the frame, Mangolte places more emphasis on the world. In “Video: Shedding the Utopian Moment” Martha Rosler discusses these two types of art. Mangolte displays his work, as the construction footage testifies, as a “narcissistic and self-referential medium, constantly presented themselves,” (Rosler 32) or more in “information than in poetry, less interested in spiritual transcendence but equally or more interested in social transformation” (32). Robbert Morris' sculpture work is primarily theatrical. His creations embody his personal disbelief in the avant-gardist concept of originality. Even though the avant-garde art movement promoted aesthetic and spiritual artwork, Morris was not satisfied. Mangolte therefore utilizes Morris' and Schneeman's historical and theatrical influence in the 1960's to symbolize the concept of art as a frame, displaced though out video time space and historical time.

“Bicycling Damascus,” a video piece by Rainer Ganahl, is, at a glance, a dangerous piece. Weaving his way through the streets of Damascus on a bicycle, Ganahl constantly records with the camera in one of his hands. The concept is at once amusing and troubling. Amusement and fascination comes, of course, from watching the artist ride head-on into oncoming traffic. The obsession with the possibly violent or foreign often show in American media is prevalent when the work is examined from the surface. It is troubling to the viewer, of course, once they understand that the 90-minute piece is in no way frivolous. First, and foremost, it is Ganahl’s goal to provide us with an interesting look at street life in Damascus. Syria is not a typical destination for the tourist, after all. The perspective shown by Ganahl is very successful; his cycling is fast enough to provide a brief overview of the city, while at the same time slow enough to allow the viewer time to take in what they are seeing. At the same time, “Bicycling Damascus” is a thought-provoking examination of what we in the West understand to be “safe” as opposed to the ideas of the Syrian populace. One must note, after all, that the seemingly-bizarre ride through the streets is in no way dissimilar to any other activity on the street. Other bicycles buzz by in a similar manner while the car drivers, aside from an occasional honk, deal with Ganahl as if it was perfectly normal to be cut off by a cyclist. No passers-by stare; Ganahl is completely normal to them. This bicycle trip could then be seen as a metaphor for how the Middle East relates to the West. Our upbringings train us to find fault in the ride. The ideals of “always wear a helmet,” “look both ways before you cross” and “don’t ride into the street” are purposefully absent from “Bicycling Damascus.” Taken in its entirety, Ganahl’s piece is a fascinating look at Damascus and our own preconceptions about both cycling and Syria. The artist’s expedition leads the viewer to a new place and a new perspective of his own.

The video piece “Teeth in the Wrong Places” created by Caitlin Berrigan was set in one location with very simplistic camera angles. Although the camera angles were not as complex as other video creators would have done, the impact to the audience was powerful. There were very ordinary visuals shown but the over quality that was exhibited in the piece demanded immediate cooperation from the audience. The characteristics of the video that made it attention-grabbing to the audience were the continuous camera focus on the lead character’s mouth, the constant chewing of unknown objects by the character, and the voice-over narrative told in the video. The unusual method used by the creator of the video--- camera focus on the mouth--- requested the functional participation of the audience, in which they had to use imagination to grasp the idea that was being told throughout the piece. The method also inquired the audience to perceive what the creator of the piece was trying to express. Perhaps the anonymity of what the actress was chewing throughout the piece added to the connection between the piece and the audience because there was a certain desire within the viewers to know what was being shown to them. Imagination played an important role within the piece because the strangeness of the piece persuaded people to think of many things to try to find the sense of why the work was made. The voice-over narrative used in the video added to the mood of the video. There were various emotions that were presented in the video work such as sadness, happiness, and violence. These emotions helped the audience give meaning to Berrigan’s work. The narrative of the piece made it easy for the viewers to identify the characters in the story that the lead character was referring to in her story. What also grabbed the attention of the viewers while watching the video was the intense usage of vulgar words throughout the lead character’s story. The repetition of words such as “vagina,” “penis,” “chewing,” and “eating up” asks the audience’s participation immediately because these words are usually not used in on sentence or paragraph in formal language. However, the extreme vulgarity of the story creates a sensible connection with the camera angle due to the actions being demonstrated in that frame, for instance, the uninterrupted grinding of the teeth and chewing of the mouth.

The video “Der lauf der dinge”, made by Peter Fischli and David Weiss, had a big impact on me. I think that its core idea is a compelling conceptual thought. Even though the simple narrative –built up through the interaction-reaction between objects- can at first sight appear easy and predictable, I think that every aspect of the video symbolises something deeper, something related to the concepts that constitute the universe we inhabit. First of everything the subject of the video is purposely unclear, we-viewers- can not decide or be sure about what the video is talking about. The main protagonist of the “story” are not merely the objects itself but either the overall idea of Physic and Mechanic, or the concept of Time, Nature or the idea of human Technology and Knowledge; The History. This undefined core within a designed structure seems to recall the human existential issues and at the same time, it arises problems that are linked to contemporary fields of Semiology, Sociology, and Anthropology. Where questions and critics about our technological environment, our signs, and our future as human being are constantly set. The narrative is displayed through a mechanical, ineluctable process based on small-major events that are either cause or effect of each other. Everything is calculated. The time and the narrative is in the hands of these events. Like in the structure of classic films, they are able to build up a climax –inertial/potential power- that explodes at the right moment and at the right place, so that the story can go on and pass to the next act. This testify how much a strategy in a story construction is able to hold and keep the attention of the viewers, no matter who is actually playing within the scene. There are no effects, there is no editing or music, no intricate plot, everything is reduced to a minimalist dimension: time, movement, images, and sound; everything is calibrated just enough to make this work a masterpiece.

Pililoti Rist’s “Cinquante Fifty” is piece of art that is as visually pleasing as it is thought provoking. The video consists of a camera swinging in front of a large building, appearing to be on some sort of crane. Occasionally the camera will pass a window of an apartment with the face of a woman pressed up against it, or an older woman looking out the window at the camera. The video is loaded with bright, vibrant colors and slow motion cinematography backed by a melodic tune. The entire video is enriched with blossoming flowers faded over the swinging camera’s view. The video is mainly focused on female figures. The two characters shown are woman, while the song in the background is sung by a woman as well. While there may be many meanings to this video, one could certainly be a study of female in today’s culture. On another level, Rist captures two different sides of society. On one hand, she is capturing a large, cement building. Inside this building there are woman either pressed against the window, or hanging out of the window, symbolizing some sort of helplessness and entrapment. In the reflection of the glass, images of a city can be seen, showing even more technology development. However, on the other hand, the video is spliced with beautifully faded images of pink tree blossoms. These shots show the beauty in nature; they are used often used in both the beginning and the end of the piece. With this approach to the video, Rist illustrates the juxtaposition of nature and technology. Considering the fact that the video was filmed in the year 2000, it seems as if she felt that technology was encapsulating woman in the world, and that technology was sheltering nature’s beauty. The woman shown inside of the building wears a very colorful dress, similar to the colors of the tree. Rist seems to be hinting at a connection between the beauty of woman and beauty of nature. All of these aspects bundled together make for a video that is highly observant of woman in today’s society.

Fischli + Weiss’ Der Lauf Der Dinge is a video piece composed of many Rube Goldberg type inventions to have a continuing storyline. The video, while seemingly a simple one representing just “The way things move,” uses and captures the movement of objects to have a sequence of actions occur. Another matter that makes this seemingly simple video interesting is its use of time. Some actions occur in a matter of seconds – sometimes many sequences occur in few seconds – and some matters take so long that the video actually cuts from the beginning of an action to when the action will trigger another movement. In either case, this sort of arrangement makes for a play with time, giving a short length to one movement that later takes a longer length of time for the same technique and movement. The anticipation of what movements the objects will make makes the viewer look forward to what will happen next in the storyline, or even plot, in a simple sense. The video is simple; from a simple viewpoint, it is nothing more than a large Rube Goldberg contraption, one particularly longer than most other contraptions that we see. However, this length of this video is also another factor that sets it apart. The viewer in the beginning may be thrown off, and perhaps even bored that nothing spectacular has happened yet. Yet it is the long length of this video that puts the viewer in a constant state of attention and anticipation of what will happen next. Though the video may have bored the viewer before, as the video continuously goes on, the viewer is amused in the process of this contraptions’ unfolding of events. What will happen next? How is this movement different from the last movement that was similar? Questions along these lines arise in the viewers’ mind as the video continues on incessantly, providing one stimulus to another, building and building upon movements that are similar to any compelling movies that we see. In analysis, this video is not much different from any conventional movies where a plotline is slowly unraveled in the view of viewers from a smaller “seed” plot that grows later to a larger scheme plot that ties the entire movie as a whole and unifying subject.

I don’t know about in Damascus, but bicycling against traffic in the busy city streets of the United States would definitely get you killed! In “Bicycling Damascus,” Rainer Ganahl rides, with camera in hand, towards oncoming traffic in the roads of Damascus. Drivers are forced to swerve out of the way to avoid hitting Ganahl, all the while honking as they pass, as he balances his bike with one hand and camera with the other through the hazards in the streets. He weaves back and forth through cars and avoids the people, almost dropping the camera on a few occasions. The exact purpose of Ganahl’s venture on the cliffs of death is ambiguous to me, maybe because we only watched fifteen minutes of the ninety-minute film. Perhaps it was a kind-of experiment to show how long and what consequences would follow him as he rode up the streets, or he was trying to make a (dangerous) statement about the uselessness of directions. That it doesn’t matter which way we go, just as long as we get there. Or perhaps he was just trying to be a rebel and not conform with all the other conformists who obey the rules of the road. Getting a view of the roads and its inhabitants from the perspective from the direction not traveled by many is an original idea probably explored by few. Through his method, he is able to get a unique look at traffic and life riding towards certain peril, exploring the streets and watching the townsfolk go on with the daily lives, who are possibly distracted by the sight of a man videotaping himself almost getting hit by oncoming cars. I’m guessing Ganahl makes it out of this alive, and successfully proves his point, whatever it may be.

The short screening of “A Walk Through H” by Peter Greenaway was a visual journey through a variety of maps synced together by a bright red path. A narrator shares his story of his journey through “H,” which in our short screening remained unexplained. Although the plot was unclear, the various subplots became apparent. At points the maps would “disappear” leaving traces of a sign or the skeleton of a windmill, and the narrator himself seemed confused at some points of the purpose of the whole thing. Because of the film maker’s choice to show for the duration of the film two dimensional pieces paintings, the film in itself presents itself almost as an animation. Because of this, the piece has a very unique feeling. A very clear understanding of Marshall McLuhan’s “The Medium is the Message” was achieved through this piece. In order to film this piece, the film maker needed numerous “maps”, “windmills,” and a few shots of birds in action. He also needed to create a flowing story that connected the maps together. The connection was a journey, which is the purpose of maps in general. This journey, in narration, had occurred in the past, but through the art of story telling unfolds in the present. When the narrator had been lost, the audience feels lost, and when the narrator is anxious, the audience also feels the same thing. The pacing of the film is reinforced with fast camera movements, and fast cuts (when the narrator is running through H), as well as those memorable scenes (dissolves) in which the maps all begin to disappear and turn into the omnipresent windmills. Greenaway’s film is surreal. I cannot for one, define it in a category. Yet, it is fascinating. The repetitive showing of maps that could all together be the same, yet not the same, and making a story out of them…is well, something that I have never yet seen before.

Even though it was only shown for a short 10 minutes or so, Matthew Barney’s “Cremaster 3: The Order” showed to have great potential for being an interesting video. What made the movie interesting was not only its content, but the techniques used in filming it too. The creative use of color and types of clothing alone captured the audience’s eyes. For example the dancing women wore formal black and white clothing with fish net stockings, while the punk-metal band thugs wore thuggish ripped clothing and the strange man wore pink and white kilts and toga shirts. Other interesting aspects of the video were when it filmed all three levels of actions. On the lower level was the dancing ladies, the middle level were the fighting punk-metal band thugs and on the third level was the strange man running around carrying white sculptures. This idea of three levels may have coincided with the title “The Order”. It shows an organized scene composed of three levels, and then shows us the action which goes on in each level. The first level comprised of the organized, rhythmic dancing women who dances with such finesse and rhythm. The second is of the chaotic fighting punk band-thugs, and third was of the man in pink running around in some king of fruitless attempt to organize something. Then on the highest floor was a man who looked like a mechanic building some type of contraption, getting ready to pour what looked like Vaseline onto the characters below. Not only was this abundant amount of varied actions interesting, and kept the audience focused, it seemed to also serve the purpose of contrast. The first level contrasted the first and second, while third seemed to be a mix of both: a man running about in a confused manner while trying to somehow organize the sculptures to find the right one. The type of filming technique used, mise-en-scene and editing, were very effective since other techniques such as montage could never truly capture the flurry of action happening. Also the sound of the video used to an excessive amount or used to little. The amount used was just right for each action. For example we were allowed to hear primarily and mainly the rhythmic tap tap tapping of the shoes against the wall when the dancing girls danced. The small usage of sound allowed the audience, again, to focus on only the main subjects. Overall the actions and techniques used within the video must be a contrast to that of the title: chaotic actions organized in a orderly level, all part of a greater “order” of things.

Caitlin Berrigan’s “Teeth in the Wrong Places” uses minimal visuals for a maximal effect. The story was being told with visuals of mainly just a mouth either talking or chewing. Most of the visual experience was occurring in the mind of the viewer, thus engaging them more in the video, as they where forced to use their imagination. Perhaps this story was a metaphor, or was attempting to teach life lessons, or both. Whatever the artist’s intent in making this film, she was able to make the viewer an active participant. The viewer had to not only imagine the story, forming his/her own visuals, but also make an attempt at discerning the meaning of the fable. This in fact is an already existing story that obviously rings true with the artist as it is the one she has chosen. Therefore, this video is mainly an experiment in acting and video making in a non-traditional manner. Berrigan always seems very aware of the time factor in making the video and changes the visual often enough to keep the audience interested. It is amazing how much acting and emotion can be shown through just the human mouth. There is first indifference in the narrator, then anger and violence as well a temptation of the hunter. The use of both a male and female voice was another good choice to make the story more multidimensional. This makes it easier for the viewer to imagine the male and female characters in this story, as there is a great deal of character in the human voice. The choice of chewed and regurgitated material was also quite interesting as it was not exactly clear what it was. Had the material been recognizable, it would have been difficult to imagine it as part of the story, but because they where unknown substances, they where easily placed into the context of the story. This video was overall an interesting experiment in variations on traditional video making.