Avant Gardens ed. 7
Welcome to Avant Gardens, a blog/newsletter where I explore all things strange, experimental, and exciting in the arts.
Hello my loves, I hope you are all doing well. I’ve wrapped up teaching for this semester and already life feels very different (I imagine it will take some time mentally to recover from the upcoming 150 assignments I have left to mark). But never fear, we have a lovely and random assortment of creative works for this issue of AG, I hope you enjoy :)
Ken Jacobs - Window (1964)
From the artist himself…
“The moving camera shapes the screen image with great purposefulness, using the frame of a window as fulcrum upon which to wheel about the exterior scene. The zoom lens rips, pulling depth planes apart and slapping them together, contracting and expanding in concurrence with camera movements to impart a terrific apparent-motion to the complex of the object-forms pictured on the horizontal-vertical screen, its axis steadied by the audience's sense of gravity. The camera's movements in being transferred to objects tend also to be greatly magnified (instead of the camera the adjacent building turns). About four years of studying the window-complex preceded the afternoon of actual shooting (a true instance of cinematic action-painting). The film exists as it came out of the camera barring one mechanically necessary mid-reel splice.” –K. J.
I love abstract imagery so this was quite peaceful to watch and very inspiring.
Judith Barry & Brad Miskell - HardCell (1994)
The installation work contains old, discarded dead technology, repurposed into a creature, slowly blinking back to life..
“A crate seems to have fallen from the sky, spilling its contents, mostly ‘dead technology’. As you approach, it seems to move and shift slightly as though sentient. Looking inside, various parts seem to activate as you come closer. Gradually, you realize it is one organism, trying to re-animate using a humorous and low tech version of the ‘bottom -up’ approach to producing artificial intelligence.”
You can find more of Judith’s work here and Brad’s writing here.
Paul Sharits - Tails (1976)
Sharit’s experimental short film (4 mins) was shot on 16mm and features the tail end of film tape dissolving into light flares.
Giacomo Balla - Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash (1912)
Inspired by chronophotographic studies of animals in motion, this oil painting depicts a daschund being walked. It apparently received mixed reviews (some saying it was too static) but I think it’s delightful and immediately read the intended motion.
Scott Stark - Acceleration (1993)
Some stills taken from Stark’s short film, shot on Super-8. As written by him…
“A snapshot taken in a moment of human evolution, where the souls of the living are reflected in the windows of passing trains. The camera captures the reflections of passengers in the train windows as the trains enter and leave the station, and the movement creates a stroboscopic flickering effect that magically exploits the pure sensuality of the moving image.”
I can’t find it online anywhere, so unfortunately there are only these three beautiful stills to go off. You can find more of the artist’s work here.
There it is, folks. I’m sure the day will come when I inject more thoughts into these issues, but whilst there’s marking to do and a PhD to write, I can’t promise anything :) See you next time!
