Sometimes the end of a cycle comes together with an action. When you carry this action in a plastic bag, it weights almost like a dead animal, and you even feel nostalgic or fearful to look inside.
The materialization of feelings is possible if you take the time not to forget them and turn them into a moment of joy.
Feed, Performance for Unreal Characters, Fog, Stroboscopes & Pulse Lights by Kurt Hentschlager at Sónar 2007
***
You are sitting inside a huge dark cube. There is no light except the projection of floating bodies. They are asexual and neither have eyes nor mouths in their faces. You hear grime and rhythmic sub-bass sounds and the dime lights on the screen flicker according to these audio incentives.
Their bodies are constantly forced to move, as if they received electric shocks, every three or four seconds. You have read before that the whole performance will last about 50 minutes, so you analyse every repetitive movement – a flow of conceptual associations starts to circulate around ideas of “primordial soup”, reproduction, control, representation, cloning, video-graphic games and media history.
Suddenly everything changes – the bodies disappear and the whole cube is covered with thick, artificial fog. Now you are the bodies. You are not able to see anything, not even your own hands in front of your face. You notice that some people leave the cube. You remember you had to sign a paper that you do not suffer claustrophobia, epilepsy and similar physical disorders. Before you get used to this completely immersive environment, cruel light-shots start to invade your visual senses. They fill the whole smoke and hit you with a stroboscopic frequency of 25, 30 per second, probably, you just realize that it is to fast for your perception.
The white space you perceive has no spatial representation, it is rather inside your head than in front of your eyes. You remember the childhood’s nightmares you could never explain, because they were just a weird and uncomfortable feeling. Finally, you get to realise what this feeling is like. You analyze it: It consists of the lack of orientation, the absolute absence of space. The cube around you becomes nothing, a „none“-space. You have lost your visual senses, the external forces reach directly your head.
From one moment to the other everything gets to an end. All you see is just black. Silence. You still smell the fog, but you know that it’s over.
filed under: barcelona festival installation media art
While I was partying with Beasty Boys and Dizzee Rascal at this year’s Sónar Festival, my beloved audience from Bochum regarded the dance video „60 seconds“ with this year’s GrandVideoSlam Award. Thank all of you so much!!!
Although on the website of the Videofestival they only mention “Fritz Gnad”, the main credits definitely also belong to Sandra Trejos!
filed under: award bochum festival me
Auch beim öffentlich-rechtlichen Fernsehen wird fröhlich ge-webzweipunkt-nullt: Polylog.tv ist ein Vorzeigebeispiel, wie man Beiträge der Sendung Polylux wiederverwerten und in eine Community einbringen kann. Außerdem besteht für Filmemacher die Möglichkeit, eigene Werke dort in der Sektion “Wildpark” zu präsentieren.
Also habe ich auch ein paar Videos hochgeladen – und siehe da: Ravalejar wird seit einigen Tagen als “Highlight aus dem Wildpark” auf der ersten Seite promotet! Somit landet das Video als handverlesene Auswahl in der “polylog-Videothek” – Ein Hoch auf die öffentlich-rechtliche Redaktion!
In the late 1990s, Gallery Mau Mau has been a counter-cultural artistic space in South Africa, where many exhibitions and happenings took place.
In Barcelona, there is a location that takes a quite similar approach and, this is probably the most obvious point, dedicates its name to this original gallery:
The Mau Mau Underground. It is an old industrial building, that now functions as a mixture between an art gallery, a lounge club, and a stylish place to enjoy independent or experimental movies and shorts.
This friday, June 1st 2007, the crew of Mau Mau Underground will be screening several of my shorts, together with some animation stuff of BoumanStudios, also from Barcelona.
The proyections will start at 22:00 and if you like to see them, here you can find how to get there. There is no entrance fee.
filed under: barcelona me screening video
From June 14th to 16th 2007 the 17th edition of the International Videofestival Bochum will take place at the lovely and unofficial capital of the Ruhr Area – Bochum.
“We once again present a selection of the latest in video art, from narrative to experimental, sets by internationally renowned VJ acts as well as a multi-varied supporting programme, comprised of lectures, workshops and a guest festival. We are particularly proud of living up to the festival’s name by screening a wealth of international contributions. In addition to three thrilling days, an unparalleled late-night programme awaits our guests. At three parties in three different locations, DJs create the right vibes with electronic beats, and VJs participating in the festival have the chance to prove their skills in homey club atmosphere.
The Videofestival considers itself a platform for enthusiasts of video-esque moving pictures and wishes to establish itself as a forum for video artists, activists, documentarists, theorists and each and every one who simply enjoy watching videos.”
Unfortunately I won’t be able to be there this year, but the video 60 seconds that I made with Sandra Trejos in Switzerland last year, will race for the GrandVideoSlam Award. I suggest everybody to see some shorts at the festival – it’s free and definitely worth a visit.
filed under: bochum festival me screening video
This year’s Digital Barcelona Film Festival will take place from May 17th to 27th, with screenings and activities in different locations around Barcelona.
Personally, I am quite happy to announce that my animation short la ciudad blanca has been selected for the short movie competition. The screening will take place on Thursday, 24th of May, at the cultural ship Naumon in Port Vell
If you are interested, you can find the whole program of the festival as a PDF-document.
filed under: barcelona festival me screening video
Videocreación a partir de la intervención urbana de Dixon en Barcelona. Presentada en distritoQuinto en Abril y Mayo 2007.
filed under: barcelona me streetart video