Soda_Jerk Re- Copyright

Soda_Jerk's site is here.

R. Luke DuBois

Doing some curating for my next project, Co- Re-Creating Spaces, an exhibition opening on Nov. 17 at CentralTrak (in Dallas, TX), and enjoying the research.

The artist explains,

Kiss takes 50 iconic embraces from the history of cinema and re-animates them through a non-photorealistic rendering technique developed by the artist. The technique analyzes the footage by looking at details in the source that resemble the lips of the kissing actors and redrawing them with points tinted to match the colors of the original film. Because the computer schematizes lips in a mathematically abstract, and not particularly accurate, manner, all sorts of details fit this criteria, causing the software to highlight not only lips but hair, details in clothing, and portions of the cinematic backdrop. The artist then creates a vectorization of these 'points of interest' akin to a cats-cradle, connecting all the dots to create a work of moving string-art that entwines the actors performing the kiss in a new, geometric embrace of connecting lines. A deliberate misuse of computer vision, Kiss evokes the embrace-as-viewed, tracing the trajectory of our gaze with an abstract connectivity akin to our mirror neurons firing when we feel the romance underneath these cinematic objects. The soundtrack of the piece subjects the non-diegetic soundtrack of the kissing scenes to an auditory time-lapse effect, creating a feedback network that underscores and propels the imagery.

Fight Bite - Charlotte Iris

Seriously, Google has made it very difficult for me to even get in here to post, let alone format anything.

Anyway, quick share:

(Thanks, Sally!)

I've Got the Pwr

(Thanks, Danette!)

"Expanded Cinema"

Sorry to be so scarce here lately; I've been working on another big project. The 25th Dallas VideoFest opens on Sept. 26 with a screening of new video art works created especially for the LED display on the exterior walls of the Omni Dallas Hotel. I'll have a new piece of my own in the program, and have also been the coordinator/compiler for it, and before that, Ben Britt and I also created a template to enable myself and the other artists to make their works. We expect the audio for the initial screening to be simulcast on public radio KXT 91.7 FM public radio.

The show is called Expanded Cinema, in honor of pioneering new media art theorist Gene Youngblood (whose seminal book by the same title is seen as the first to propound video's potential as a fine art medium, and who will speak at the Dallas Museum of Art as part of the fest on Sat., Sept. 29). (Image left shot by Danielle Georgiou at a test screening.)

The show will include works by 14 artists selected by Bart, Michael A. Morris, and me, including Kari Altmann, Frank Campagna, Tim Capper, Rebecca Carter, Jeff Gibbons, Andrea Goldman, Mona Kasra, Kyle Kondas, Phil Lamb, Shane Mecklenburger, Mike Morris, Edward Setina, Jenny Vogel, and me. Expanded Cinema starts at 8:00 PM; pls watch for announcements re- a viewing location (generally, the best views will be from the south near the Houston St. Viaduct and Jefferson St. Bridge, along the far levy from the hotel).

The remaining 4 days of the 25th Dallas VideoFest will take place at the Dallas Museum of Art. The all-fest pass is a steal at $50; tickets here. In past years there've been some 250 videos to choose from; I think there may be slightly fewer this year, but with perhaps a greater proportion of the kinds you might find in an art gallery, for what that's worth, since I, Mike Morris, and Dee Mitchell helped curate in addition to the festival Director, Bart Weiss.

PS: I wrote an article for art+seek in honor of the 25th VideoFest, here, discussing some of my favorite videos shown at VideoFests past and how they relate to some of my favorites in the present, including works by Cindy Sherman, Sadie Benning, Martha Rosler, Mary Reid Kelley, and many more.

UPDATE: You can now see the piece I made for the program, Braille, here. More info about Expanded Cinema and the works in it here.

I Love the Aesthetics of this Video

If you've never seen "Naked tourist in Japanese moat," just go (sadly, embedding is not an option).

Dallas VideoFest 25th Anniversary Party!

I'm throwing a party tonite F-U-N it's called "Experiments in [Video]," bring everything that you own! (paraphrasing one of my fave videos brought to you by the Video Association of Dallas). And it's coming right up, on Sept. 14! But I'm not throwing it, AMS Pictures is; and you don't need to bring everything you own, just $25.

The event will feature a micro-fest of old VideoFest faves, a silent auction, and of course, a preview of what's to come at the 25th Dallas VideoFest! A panel of guests will also discuss their favorite VideoFest moments; the guests include:

Ed Bark, TV critic and blogger
Manny Mendoza, former DMN TV critic and filmmaker
Mark Birnbaum, filmmaker
moi, video artist
Katie Gimenez, Director of Networking at Plano Chamber of Commerce (and former DVF Festival Coordinator)

Come get prep'd for the fest, help re-create the world as a more interesting, fun place (another quote from Treetin: [s]how me something beautiful and I will go on) by contributing to a great organization, and party! – more info here, and tickets here!

Back to the Future of Video Art

The history of video art includes lots of wonderful work, much of which is rarely seen; but you'll have a few chances to catch up soon.

First, the Power Station will host four nights of video art from the past thru the present:

Aug. 30, video art from the 70's, selected by Mike Morris;
Sept. 6, from the 80's, selected by Ben Lima;
Sept. 13, from the 90's, selected by Jenny Vogel;
Sept. 20, from the 00's, selected by Nadav Assor.

All shows start at 7:30PM; the Power Station is located at 3816 Commerce, Dallas.

Meanwhile, on Sept. 14 at 7PM, AMS Pictures will host a 25th anniversary bash for the Dallas VideoFest featuring 3 rooms with screenings of favorites from past festivals, a panel briefly discussing their faves, and a program previewing Director Bart Weiss's picks from this year's festival. Tickets to this fundraiser are only $25 per person or $40 per couple.

And that brings us to the Dallas VideoFest itself, which is making new history by opening on Sept. 26 with a program of video art works created especially for and displayed on the four curved walls of the Omni Hotel, Dallas.

The remaining 4 days of the festival, most of which is dedicated to contemporary works, will take place at the Dallas Museum of Art. The all-fest pass is a steal at $50; tickets here. More details about the VideoFest to come.

And Now for Some Nomi:

Far as I can tell . . .

this is factually accurate:

The Palestinian Situation

I've been hearing of conflicts between Israel and its neighbors my whole life, but the news media never explained enough for it to make sense, and I'm afraid I never took the time to fully inform myself.

I was of course horrified by the Holocaust; the images from the death camps were burned into my brain at an early age, and they and the history that goes with them should never be forgotten. And I read Exodus, which portrayed the founding of the modern Israel in thrilling terms; and I could certainly understand why Jewish people would feel the need for their own state, where they could never again be a persecuted minority.

But from the start, I had trouble understanding why it was fair to force the people already living in those lands to give them up in order to create the new state. If Westerners were so keen to support the project, whey didn't they donate their own lands, instead of taking from others?

The history of this situation is long, with many twists and turns, and I remain embarrassingly ignorant about most of it; but during the last few years, I've come across a couple of items that seemed helpful enough to share.

The first was a video by artist Ursula Biemann, X-Mission (2008) (viewable at the foregoing link), which explores among other things the effects of the division of the Palestinian people among geographically dispersed locations and their partial re-connection via new communications technologies.

The second is the image at left, from Michal Vexler at +972 (click on it for a more legible version), which shows how Palestinians have been divided into five categories of citizenship with different rights and subject to different restrictions.

"100 meters behind the future"

. . . a new work by eteam,

is a live film . . . shot, acted, directed, edited, screened, watched and deleted in real time. It’s a film about delay, the expansion of cinema and the paranoia that creeps in when the mash-up of several time zones and realities escapes the logical explanations of the captive audience.

The screening room is the front row of a van in which one or two people are being driven around while following the action in double view - through the windshield of the car and the screen of the device they hold in their hands. They simultaneously see what is happening right now and what has happened 10 seconds ago.

The project was part of the “For Real” program at the International Film Festival in Rotterdam, 2012. Read more about the program here.

Video and more details re- eteam's project here.

For the Kidless (or Others)

I just discovered that Devo, Flaming Lips et al. have been doing mtv for a kids' show called YoGabbaGabba. Dancing is encouraged.



You can also learn to draw an elephant with Mark Mothersbaugh.

Pogomix Does It with Pulp

As usual, as great to see as to hear.

Chad Hopper a.k.a. PALFLOAT

I went to see what Chad Hopper's been up to and found this website, and the image right, and this music, and a bunch of other cool stuff, and a solicitation to help pay cancer bills. Go there for more cool stuff, and consider donating. (You can also click on the "Chad Hopper" label below.)

More from NYC: the New Museum

The New Museum had a lot of great shows, too, with exhibitions of work by Klara Lidén, Tacita Dean, Nathalie Djurberg, Phyllida Barlow, and others; I think my favorite was Lidén's, though perhaps partly because her work was new to me. My photos are here; apologies for the spotty quality; again, these are more a sketchy record than representative of the work shown.

More from NYC: MoMA

Got back from another stint in New York but haven't had a chance to process the photos 'til now. Since I was there earlier this year, I had the luxury of spending a little more time in fewer places. I spent 2 days at MoMA and could have spent much more – it's literally awesome.

The knock-out show was, of course, the Cindy Sherman retrospective. She's spent a lifetime re-creating in loving detail our most ambitious creations, ourselves, transforming herself into half of humanity while calling into question every means by which we prop up our sense of reality as well as our own identities – while selectively leavening her tableaux with flaws that point toward the eerie whatever-it-is that lies beneath. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed; but MoMA has lots of visuals on their website.

I also enjoyed a series of vintage video classics by Vito Acconci, Dan Graham, Richard Serra & Nancy Holt, et al., across from the main elevators on the ground floor; videos by Noam Toran, also near the elevators, I think maybe on the second floor?; an exhibition called The Shaping of New Visions, which included wonderful videos by Paul Strand & Charles Sheeler (hokily captioned but gorgeously shot) and Man Ray, as well as three series of politically-conscious photographic works, by Harrell Fletcher, Martha Rosler, and Lee Friedlander, among other things; the Ecstatic Alphabets/Heaps of Language exhibition (where photography was unfortunately again not allowed; but the "catalogue" was cheap). And I liked the premise of the Foreclosed, Rehousing the American Dream show – that the real estate collapse could be regarded as an opportunity to re-think housing, rather than leaving it to be exploited by disaster capitalists – tho' I found the show slightly disappointing in other ways.

My own photos of some of these works are here; apologies for moiré on tv screens and other defects; these photos help me as a record, at least, and can perhaps serve others in the same way.

Sweet Brown: Nobody Got Time for That

Mr. R., Autotuned

(Thanks, Ben!)

Jon Kessler at Salon 94

And here's a post leading to images of an earlier Kessler work, seen in the 2009 Armory Show.