Godfrey Reggio - "Evidence"

Check out this clip by "Koyaanisqatsi" Director Godfrey Reggio. It is really erie how your gaze is challenged by the child's looking back. It makes you more conscious of the act of viewing the video and your resulting expressions-like looking at a mirror of your younger self.

via Robbie Cooper's Immersion Blog.

Video Gamers as Subjects

Robbie Cooper for The New York Times, “Name Alexander Kinch Age 12 Location Grimsby, England Game Call of Duty 4”

Last weekend's New York Times Sunday Magazine had a video piece made by Robbie Cooper that captured my attention. I was first drawn into the article through the stark images of the video gamers staring straight back at me. Then I fount the Immersion piece and was struck with the video more then the stills. While the stills are dramatic and leave a fair amount of ambiguity for the viewer to figure out the video adds the sequence of expressions that build into a more interesting piece on video games. I could see a little snippet of the player's personality in a more dramatic, unexpected and natural way then when it was a frozen moment.

The subject and viewer's gaze were a critical component to this project's success. Cooper utilized an Errol Morris technique of filming that Morris' wife termed the Interrotron. This method allows the subject to stare straight into the camera's lens wile being distracted by viewing the interviewer in front of the camera (diagram). In this case, Cooper has placed the video game screen in place of the interviewer.

Jorg Colberg has almost the complete opposite view, arguing this is a case where photography is superior to video. This depends upon the intentions of the artist. Ultimately the success of the project depends on the right selection of media, an interesting expression and a skilled and appropriate technical application. In this case I am more interested in the moving images of the video gamers as opposed to the static images made from the video. I appreciate ambiguity in the stack images in this case but I'm more drawn to the emotion (or lack thereof) expressed in the moving images.


Shauna Frischkorn“Robert (Playing Smuggler's Run 2: Hostile Territory),” C-Print, 40x30 inches

Jorg also pointed out that Shauna Frischkorn deals this the same subject–video games–but due to her use of stills, he preferred her images. I took a long look at her images of gamers. They didn't work for me. Maybe it’s the was they are reprinted on the internet. I am trying to imaging what they would look like at 30x40 sized on the wall, assuming they will hold up to the enlargement. Maybe this is a situation where the print is vastly better then the net? Still, the subject's gaze above the viewer isn't as strong as the direct gaze of Cooper's images.


Phillip Toledano, “Video Gamers”

While I was researching Shauna Frischkorn's work, I noticed she was a Fall 2007 Hey Hot Shot Winner. In the comments section of the announcement post I was pointed to Phil Toledano Gamers series, which have the opposite gaze of Frishkorn's subjects. Toledano's Gamers are looking downward toward the screen with extremely expressive faces subtly shifting the gaze and the viewer’s reaction to them.

All of the photographers mentioned above have taken slightly different topological approaches to the same subject of video gamers. Which brings me to the work of Todd Deutsch.


Todd Deutsch, “Gamers”

Deutsch's approach builds a story of gamers. The image above also fits into a similar category as the other images do, but he also takes a variety of other images: Landscapes of computer chaos, still life images of gamer trash and portraits from varying distances. I'm still digesting which approach is the best one here but its really interesting to see one contemporary subject from four (any more out there?) perspectives.

In the end who wins? The artist who first thinks of the project, the artist who executes it the best or something else I am not thinking of?

Happy Thanksgiving!

May your holiday be filled with celebration for not having to call Palin, Vice President.

John Berger's groundbreaking TV documentary WAYS OF SEEING (first episode)

Watch along with me...

I found these great BBC documentaries by John Berger via Brian Ulrich's blog - NOTIFBUTWHEN.

WAYS OF SEEING (first episode) 1/4


WAYS OF SEEING (first episode) 2/4


WAYS OF SEEING (first episode) 3/4


WAYS OF SEEING (first episode) 4/4



One of Berger's points that i find particularly interesting (at least right now) is how images get modified by what's around them - weather its music, noise or other images. This gets me thinking about comparing the art fair experience with the museum experience. I feel as though to some extent it is an argument for a curated art experience but at the same time I feel the Art fair uncurated experience can have a valid experience of a chaos curated landscape of the art.

its amazing how at an art fair you not only loose your experience of order between the images but you loose your direction and bearings very often. What effect does this have on our art experience? And what does it have when you introduce an untrained eye to this experience as their first form of viewing an artwork rather then a contemplative curated experience in a cold Chelsea Gallery or large important museum? What does John Berger think of the Art Fair experience of viewing art?

And finally where has the smart TV gone? This documentary was made in the early 1970s and it seems just as fresh today. Could a program like this ever be aired in America? Its funny to think about a show like this with ads around the segments.if there were would you look at the ads differently?

Music Video of the Month: "Toe Jam" by Fatboy Slim featuring David Byrne & Dizzee Rascal

Definitely the hottest video I have seen in a long time. It's the return of Fatboy Slim collaboration with (what!) David Byrne and Dizzee Rascal.

Link via Miss Jessy Nite. Yo, looks like Sao Paulo is fun!


"Toe Jam" by Fatboy Slim FEAT. David Byrne & Dizzee Rascal

Harajuku Lovers Fragrance Spot by Friends With You

Harajuku Lovers Fragrance Spot Directed by Friends with you

Check out this new spot for Gwen Stefani's Harajuku Lovers Fragrance Directed my my Miami mates, Friends with you. The beginning of last Summer they were down up here in New York filming and now its finally out in all its hyper cute glory.

Must be funny to create a product that causes reviews like this:



and

Microsoft Surface vs. Perspective Pixel

Last week one of my professors sent the class this video of Jeff Han's Perspective Pixel technology presentation at the TED conference (wiki):



While I was already familiar with this video, re-watching it reminded me that I had just seen a similar presentation on a table computer by Microsoft called Surface. The technology seems quite similar check out the video below for a closer look:  



It seems like some of this technology is now being integrated into network TV. I'm not so sure if the resulting effect does anything for journalism other then providing wow factor for the audience at home. Here is CNN using Jeff Han's Perceptive Pixel display technology:



And I just noticed tonight that another network, MSNBC seems to be using Microsoft's Surface in their video segments.



The Ubuntu on the Campus Wire blog has an interesting overview post of this discussion - Microsoft Surface vs. Perspective Pixel’s Multi-touch (Jeff Han). In another post by this blog they point us to yet another multi-touch technology, Reatrix. They had a Reatrix set up installed where I used to work at CP+B. I never really thought of Reatrix being anything that interesting much close to a marketing gimmick then anything like a transcendent technology.

It is for this reason that I think Microsoft Surface was named a Top 10 Tech Videos of 2007 by Popular Mechanics

Here is another well thought out article from the blog solids smack: Is Jeff Han’s multi-touch in cahoots with Microsoft Surface?

and then my jaw really dropped when I saw this TED video:





Photosynth is a jaw dropping technology that seems to (I can run it on my laptop) collide the real world with the internet's vast collection of images. The ending result is a new immersive space where the 2d picture becomes 3d in an entirely new way. One site that shows a bit of what this future technology will look like is Photo Tourism which lets you explore the Trevi Fountain and Notre Dame in this new Photosynth space.

What if anything does this do to Photography? I have seen several examples where photographers make a panoramic picture of something and call it art. This new technology seems to negate the standard panoramic and make it look quaint. Maybe there is room to produce new emissive environments that could be called art.

Ryan Trecartin vs Lucas Cruikshank aka Fred Figglehorn

Last year one of the most memorable shows was Ryan Trecartin's "I-BE AREA" solo show at Elizabeth Dee Gallery. One of my professors made it a required assignment to see that show and watch the entire 1 hour 48 minute video. I don't think many students in the class would have noticed the show or given the video much of their time with out the professor's encouragement. I have to say I am glad to have experienced it in the gallery and it obviously had some affect on me because I am still contemplating the videos over a year later.

Trecartin deploys an onslaught high paced editing, colorful "public access" style effects, mashed up story-lines and a slew of references to convey an experience that sticks with you. I remember leaving the gallery feeling really strange and a bit freaked. Later that term I was able to sneak into his talk at the New Museum and got a slightly clearer understanding of some of those references. Particularly interesting was the discussion of identities with in the works and how people have several identities, online, real, imagined and on line imagined identities like Avatars.

Recently, I stumbled upon a weekly YouTube series called "Fred". Created by a 15 year old Nebraskan Lucas Cruikshank (IMDB) Fred follows a 6 year old hyper active kid in mini web episodes doing thinks like sneaking into his crush's trailer home.

I like to think of "Fred" as the G rated version of a NC-17 Ryan Trecartin video. you can check out them both below.

enjoy.


Ryan Trecartin, "I-BE AREA (A SAlly Man Now)" (clip) 2007



Lucas Cruikshank, "Fred" YouTube series above "Fred Loses His Meds" 2008

NPR Music Interview: Jandek: The Man from Corwood

Fascinating interview or rather article with/on the illusive Jandek.

“Many people are famous just for being famous. But singer-songwriter Jandek has shunned recognition to such a degree that, intentionally or not, he's developed a kind of celebrity all his own.

Jandek's music isn't for everyone. It's what New York Times and Rolling Stone music critic and author Douglas Wolk calls “very dark, half-decomposed blues.”

this is his first recorded concert.

Jonathan Glazer vs. David Lynch

Jonathan Glazer's clip for Rabbit in your Headlights has some parallels with this David Lynch Clip for PS2.

TED TALKS, James Howard Kunstler

Anyone who is interested in city design should find this TED talk by James Howard Kunstler quite interesting. James Howard Kunstler is is the author of several noted books on the built enviorment including a book I own "The Geography of Nowhere."

The talk runs for about 20 minutes and not only was it interesting but I was laughing out loud in my photo studio. just view the video below or click on this direct link to the talk.