Shadow Chase

Sometime in the latter half of last year Ana Cordeiro Reis (Hyaena Fierling) had asked me if I was interested in providing her with a half-an-hour of video footage that she could then compose to with a view to it being used in a live performance in the UK. Naturally the chance to work with her was all the motivation needed, and so we began discussions on the what, the where and the how.

I had recently had my work projected publicly for the first time (as opposed to being shown on a flat-screen TV in a gallery setting) and was thinking about the need to tailor the work to the environment in which it was to be shown, so my first questions were about where Ana was planning to perform. Locations in Birmingham and possibly The Gregson Institute in Liverpool were mentioned and I spent some time researching the type of places these were and the type of performances held in them, as well as looking at Ana's other recorded live performances on YouTube and Vimeo.

The spaces were fairly small and intimate (as opposed to stadium type) and the projection would not be on a huge scale. I had to consider peripheral lighting, possible people movement and that Ana would be weaving her magic against a backdrop of my imagery. To produce a narrative or anything too subtle seemed pointless, so the challenge was to make something visually interesting in such a setting over the space of half-an-hour as well as maintaining some continuity and having some alignment, if not meaning, with Ana's aesthetic.

We discussed via Skype a theme. Dreams, journeys, imaginary landscapes, juxtapositions...

Ana sent some footage via WeTransfer of road movies she had taken in Portugal and also some still images from her vast collection. I had also been working on footage from unrelated sources, so it was a matter of trying to find a balance between her suggestions and what I needed to maintain my interest and enthusiasm.

I had never made a video of this length before (10 minutes being the previous max). I also was used to working to a soundtrack, not in silence. I was not comfortable with using still images (seemed like a slide show) so I began merging the road movies with dream like snippets. At this point the combined footage ran for less than 20 minutes. I thought that to have some footage of Ana herself might be a nice touch, so that the audience could see that the film was specifically about her as opposed to some random imagery.

Over a few months life and work get in the way of the best laid plans. Other little projects crop up, ideas get modified, directions change. I was doing long road trips from one end of the state to the other, Ana was in UK one day, Portugal the next. Occasionally snippets would arrive, we continued our Skype discussions and I continued to try to build the film without really knowing what the soundtrack would be. I must admit at this time I was really struggling to maintain continuity, so when some more footage arrived of Ana dancing it became the catalyst to start bringing it all together. I compiled the film out to around 28 minutes and sent a rough cut back. I had called it 'The Dreams of Ana'.

It was only a matter of a few days when a 10 minute soundscape came back with the title of 'shadow chase'. From here on it gave me the direction I needed to start pulling it all together, and so began the tightening up and working out the colour harmonies and 'flow'. Also Ana sent some more footage of her hands and shadows which helped me to resolve issues I was having with the start and end. I got to a point where I thought that this was about as good as it is going to get, so sent off the second draft. She continued with finishing the composition, and so Shadow Chase was born...

The soundtrack will be released as part of an EP, and we will let you know when the live performances are likely to take place. 

You can download the film from the Internet Archive here...

Our other collaborations have been:

Why is this happening?

The Illusion of Freedom

I forget you

Ana's website is: akousmata

Hyaena Fierling: TIMELEAP live

Following on from the recent post 'The grass is always greener...' (see below) this video has just been released of Hyaena Fierling presenting her suite TIMELEAP as soundtrack for Artavad Pelechian's Seasons of the Year. Performance at the Old Mo, Birmingham UK, Oct 2013. Enjoy...

who is anonymous waves?

UPDATE (March 1 2014) Since this article was first published the blog known as Bob Georgeson has been transformed into the anonymous waves website, therefore some of the ideas have been superseded and the links below may no longer work. The article has been left intact for archival reasons.

Well it's me (sort of), but that doesn't explain why. The idea started back in late 2012 after discussing aspects of collaboration with emptywhale. I had been impressed by what seemed like the growing number of creators working across different disciplines, and while musicians were often used to collaboration as a matter of course, it was largely infrequent among visual artists. With an increasing interest in audio-visual creations such as video I felt that to publish works under my name alone was a disservice to those whose work I 'appropriated'. The idea 'gelled' rapidly with the discovery of UbuWeb and the Internet Archive and the Creative Commons licensing principle, which enabled me to work with 'found' footage and sounds. A logical progression from my previous work in photomontage, and where my love of music could now come to the fore. The name anonymous waves comes from a line of the Francis Picabia poem 'Anecdote', pulished in 1918:

Anecdote

You see, I am crazy to imagine it
I am a man with nimble fingers
Who wants to cut the threads of old pains
False folds in my anxious brain
History in arabesques memories
I am only happy on the open sea
Where one goes further
On anonymous waves

Francis Picabia, from Poèmes et dessins de la Fille née sans mère 1918

The first cut of the website came into existence as a 'visual poem' loosely based around the poem, and used a variety of images, both my own and public domain. It also assumed a level of web browser knowledge of the user and content was there to be 'discovered' rather than 'fed'. While I liked the site it seemed that very few others shared my enthusiasm! During 2013 I also started a Netlabel housed on the Internet Archive, the idea to have a repository for all my collaborative work. I had been unhappy with the template restrictions of this blog in the way that my videos were embedded and displayed, so decided to rebuild the anonymous waves (a/w) site as a 'front end' for the Archive repository. Getting a .org domain name was easy, mapping it to the site less so (are you listening Google?).

And so the build began. I had envisaged that as a/w developed that this present blog (and Bob Georgeson) would be subordinated and fade off into the blogosphere, but ah, the best laid plans! Just as soon as I planned this I started getting a lot more cross postings and traffic. Popularity is very hard to ignore let alone dismiss. The outcome of all this? There is a role for both sites. This blog continues much as it has over the past two years (24,000 plus page views in that time) while the a/w site is the front end for future creative pursuits, and I hope further and future collaboration with some of the extraordinary artists and musicians I have met in that time.

The anonymous waves website is simple in structure with minimal text (cynical readers might breathe a sigh of relief!). The Video page is roughly sequential and makes available the films at a good presentation size (you can go to the Internet Archive by clicking on the I/A icon should you wish to download the files). The Art page comprises graphics created at 640x640 pixels (CD size) for free use and the offer of design and typography skills. The Music page is stuff I listen to, and am influenced (and inspired) by, predominantly in video format and includes such gems as Dizzy Gillespie, Marcus Miller, Marilyn Mazur, emptywhale and Hyaena Reich to name a few. The Projects page lists current ideas and their status like the anonymous waves shopfront proposal. The Writing page is poetry I like and has the 'not to be missed' sound file of e.e cummings reading his masterpiece anyone lived in a pretty how town. Contact details are there (you can also follow us, and be followed, on Twitter), and finally The Other Side, a gallery of suitably deranged influences and hero worship. Bunuel, Arp, Picabia and the patron saint of the site Ulrike Meinhof.

 
In a time of a global push to the far right Ulrike's knowing look reminds us of the price of freedom...

And why do all this? Well, exposure on an international level, making art available (for free) to a wide range of people, challenging oneself, subverting the traditional power structures in the art and music worlds are a few reasons, but most of all because it's fun. Ideas for collaboration welcome... 

Cindy

 

soundscape: The Implicit Order
eyescape: anonymous waves

This mashup was inspired by the track Cindy (Model Unit One) Drone Disco Remix by The Implicit Order, a prolific experimental artist hailing from the USA. I had done a review of his disturbing album 'Drifters' in an earlier post. You can check out The Implicit Order here...

For the HD downloadable files of the video go to it's page on The Internet Archive here...
For all my videos on the Archive go here...
You can follow anonymous waves on Twitter here...
If you want to collaborate email surrealdada@gmail.com

Griet Menschaert has a new website...

...and it's a ripper. Moving away from the blogroll, we are now able to see Griet's oeuvre in a more 'exhibition' like format, and in doing so her brilliance and originality shine through. Ranging from her intricate works on paper and mixed media through to the enigmatic self-portraits, site specific works, collaborations and the conceptual, we see an artist who imbues all she touches with a quiet elegance and gentle humility. Well worth a look. Click on the image above and Griet will take you for a tour...

Star Poem #1

anonymous waves, Star Poem #1, 2013, mixed media

The Implicit Order - Drifters

 
Senseless murder might not be a theme that many musicians would base a work on, but then The Implicit Order (I/O) is not exactly your average concept. Disdaining any attempt at classification I/O is both highly original and constantly defying preconceptions. The most recent album 'Drifters' is dedicated to a young homeless woman called Sherry, who had been befriended by I/O. She ended up being murdered after being picked up by a drifter. So, why put out an album on such a subject?

I/O describes the album as a "cautionary tale to anyone who is down on their luck and looking for a place to belong". Sombre but never morbid the album touches the heartstrings without ever becoming sensationalist. The opening track 'Missing Youth' sets the tone with evocations of children, our children, and then counterpoints with hints of unrest. "Daily Dull Lives" hints at the mentally disturbed among us. Other tracks such as 'Every Year 1000's of Young People Disappear' and 'Small Towns Hold The Biggest Secrets' paint a picture of the darkness inherent in our societies. And the 9 minute 'Sherry (Car Wheels On A Gravel Road)' confronts us with the sadness of the knowledge that all victims leave families behind them. It is their suffering we find it hard to endure...

This is not the sort of music that one would play at a party, it may not even sit comfortably with a second listen, but it certainly is worthy of one serious listen, even if it is to remind ourselves that the world we live in can still be an evil place, and that great art is not just about entertainment, but enlightenment. A courageous, yet sensitive masterwork. Highly recommended...

You can check out The Implicit Order here...

Chance Encounters

Third cultural stop was La Trobe University Visual Arts Centre in Bendigo where we 'did a job' on an installation by Bruce Mowson and Elliot Howard called 'The Listening vs Striles of Ming'. A series of different boxes, mostly on casters, sat randomly in the VAC Gallery. While reading through the 'artist's statement' (which incidentally was sending my blood pressure up around the 200/140 mark) the delightful Gail McNaulty (VAC Events and Admin Co-ordinator) explained the work was interactive and that the public was invited to 'move things around'. I asked if there was a sound and light component we could play with as well but sadly no.  

But first to the health hazard of  the 'artist's statement'. I quote:

"The sculptural products are the end result of an extended period of collaborative studio work by Mowson and Howard. During this period Mowson and Howard have developed a way of working that encompasses, amongst other things, fabrication, discussion, design, critical reflection, material selection and testing all of the above. There are also other complex factors in play that may include the friction produced between adjacent and slowly brewed subjectivities, the disarming affective qualities of noise meeting cheek and the divining of ephemeral political, libidinal and golden forces. Through the working process they are pleased to have stumbled upon certain key effects that include a favela-glance, a disco-touch and an amoeba-noise."

This was enough to set me off, in this rare opportunity to make some (what I call) easy art. So, five minutes later and we had rearranged the boxes into a wall that divided the gallery in half. I asked Gail if we could turn the lights off to 'complete the piece'. After some discussion with the Managing Curator Paul Northam the switch was found and turned off. Unfortunately skylights prevented the darkness I was hoping for. Paul commented that no one had done anything like this before to which I replied that "the wall represents the alienation that exists between much contemporary art and the public, and that the lame drape inside a 'cage' represented the burka and the alienation of asylum seekers and the status of women in some Muslim societies". The darkened room simply added to the overall theme. He, to his credit, saw the joke immediately and much fun and merriment was had by all, he appreciating the chance to talk art rather than administration for a few minutes.

Mowson, Howard and anonymous waves, The Wall, 2013, mixed media

Mowson, Howard and anonymous waves, The Wall, 2013, mixed media

In an atrium opposite the installation sat a site specific work by Phillipino artist Jan Leeroy New that I thought a nice contrast, if not relief, from what stood opposite. Lovely use of recycled materials into a form that had meaning...enough said...I am sure you are getting the idea by now.

Jan Leeroy New, Carapace, 2009, mixed media

And finally on the way out spotted ceramics by Vanessa Lucas. whose black jug has to be the sexiest jug ever conceived. Exclaiming "Vanessa's jug!" brought Paul and Gail out again who asked do you know Vanessa? "We should" I replied, "she was bridesmaid at our wedding!" Vanessa will be showing her meticulously crafted creations in Malmsbury, Victoria during May. More details on this later... 

I did notice on the way out the lights had been switched back on...

Griet Menschaert and Kasum Kasumov

If you are passing through Utrecht later this month check it out...

in the spirit of...

public domain art...

http://archive.org/details/TheLunarMachine

More of Griet Menschaert

I had featured Griet's work a few posts back, but for those of you that didn't bookmark her site, she has just produced a brief portfolio stretching back over the last 3 years. A nice production using Scribd. If you click on the rectangle at the lower right hand corner you will get the full screen view.

Griet's work intrigues because of the contrast between her graphic works and her self portraits. While the former seem to have a life of their own and grow from the spaces they inhabit, the latter reflect a closed world of the privacy of the imagination. Perhaps the old dichotomy of the artist: introverted personalities that choose a public career in the most extroverted of worlds?

Art in the digital domain

Every now and then I feel the need to remind my son, who is 29 years old and knows everything, that it was old farts like me that invented and developed the Internet and WWW, and that the sophistication (and I dare say usefulness) of things like HTML, cascading style sheets, online relational databases etc, are far more interesting and likely to be remembered than the ability to be able to Tweet from your smartphone. Of course pronouncements such as this fall on deaf ears to the Me++ generation who, in an attempt to find relevance in a world where everything of interest has already been done, have formed the spatial ability to arrive at the conclusion that the universe began in 1980, and that anything prior to that is therefore irrelevant.

I mention this in relation to art. When people ask me what kind of art I do, and I respond that I work in photomedia, photomontage, video and predominantly online in the public domain, their eyes glaze over, the bottom lip starts twitching, and the ensuing silence seems interminable. Young artists just stare with incredulity that someone of my age can even mouth these words, while my peers mumble stuff about the tactile nature of art. Unless it hangs in a frame on the wall of a gallery then it can't be taken seriously. I understand their point, for many of them computers are things to be feared and used only under sufferance, and when it's a sunny day in paradise who wants to be inside anyway? And, there is always the question of money...

So, what is it and why do it? Just about every major gallery in the world has an online presence, in some case their entire collections are available, as well as research or commentary. Past criticism of online galleries has been image resolution. The Google Art Project aims to bring together high res pics from major collections. Wikipedia's Arts Portal is worth bookmarking, particularly for more detailed information about creative culture across the ages. In an earlier post I have featured UbuWeb, and I cannot reiterate enough how good this site is for anyone interested in 20th and 21st Century contemporary culture and the avant-garde. It continues to amaze and inspire with every visit...

For the artist two sites deserve mention. First Wikimedia Commons is a vast repository of public domain images, sound files and videos made available through the GNU and Creative Commons licences. And there is The Internet Archives, an equally if not more outstanding resource in the public domain that contains video,  live music, audio and texts. Many artists are now drawing on these resources, and some, like myself choose to work almost entirely within the public domain. Why? Exposure is  the answer. While it is nice to be  a legend in one's own backyard, ultimately not many people get to see your work, let alone participate in thoughts or discussion. Starting this blog and a new way of working this year I had no expectations of what might happen. Now, over 7000 page views, 800 looks at my profile, discussions with artists and organisations around the world later, to go back to the white cube with 20 visitors a day seems a little, well, quiet.

For me working in the public domain is exciting and challenging. I am always learning, or having to learn something new. This is rewarding because, unlike my son, I know very little.

Griet Menschaert

Griet Menschaert, Landscape as Jewel, 2012, pencil on paper

Griet Menschaert is a Belgian born multi-disciplinary artist who lives and works in Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Eindhoven was rated in 2011 as the worlds most intelligent community, and if Griet's work is indicative of the population you can see why.

Griet Menschaert, Self Portrait, 2012

I came across her site while looking at other bloggers that list Hans Bellmer as an influence (seems that there are not that many of us!). I really like what she does, so thought I would share it with you...

Griet Menschaert, Drawing for 'Buiten de lijnen 02', 2012, graphite pencil and blue chalk on wall

I particularly like the quiet elegance and her capacity to work beyond the 'frame on wall of gallery' aesthetic, and her self portraits which are disarmingly painterly and self deprecating. Well worth a look, and personally very inspiring... 

Check her out at: http://grietmenschaert.blogspot.com

UbuWeb

UbuWeb is one of those sites that represents all that is good about the Internet, and is an absolute must for anyone purporting to have an interest in contemporary creativity. Where else could you listen to Marcel Duchamp giving a talk on the creative process in 1957, or hear Hans Arp reading his own poetry, or watch Pina Bausch dance, or listen to Brain Eno's recordings in the mid-70s, or watch Paul McCarthy's video experiments? Below, the FAQ's from UbuWeb explain what it is about...

When did UbuWeb Start?
UbuWeb was founded in November of 1996, initially as a repository for visual, concrete and, later, sound poetry. Over the years, UbuWeb has embraced all forms of the avant-garde and beyond. Its parameters continue to expand in all directions.

How is UbuWeb funded?
UbuWeb has no need for funding. All work is done solely on a volunteer basis. Our only cost is our monthly hosting fee, which amounts to US$50 each month.

Can I get involved?
Yes. UbuWeb is built by many hands and we are always in need of digitizers, both audio and textual. Drop us a line if you are interested and capable.

Can I use something posted on UbuWeb on my site, in a paper, in a project, etc.?
Sure. We post many things without permission; we also post many with things with permission. We therefore give you permission to take what you like even though in many cases, we have not received permission to post it. We went ahead and did it anyway. You should too.

How do I purchase something from your site?
You can't. Nothing is for sale on UbuWeb. It's all free. We know it's a hard idea to get used to, but there's no lush gift shop waiting for you at the end of this museum.

What is your policy concerning posting copyrighted material?
If it's out of print, we feel it's fair game. Or if something is in print, yet absurdly priced or insanely hard to procure, we'll take a chance on it. But if it's in print and available to all, we won't touch it. The last thing we'd want to do is to take the meager amount of money out of the pockets of those releasing generally poorly-selling materials of the avant-garde. UbuWeb functions as a distribution center for hard-to-find, out-of-print and obscure materials, transferred digitally to the web. Our scanning, say, an historical concrete poem in no way detracts from the physical value of that object in the real world; in fact, it probably enhances it. Either way, we don't care: Ebay is full of wonderful physical artifacts, most of them worth a lot of money.

Should something return to print, we will remove it from our site immediately. Also, should an artist find their material posted on UbuWeb without permission and wants it removed, please let us know. However, most of the time, we find artists are thrilled to find their work cared for and displayed in a sympathetic context. As always, we welcome more work from existing artists on site.

Let's face it, if we had to get permission from everyone on UbuWeb, there would be no UbuWeb.

How do I download MP3s?
There are thousands of resources on the web to learn how to do this. That's not what we're here for.

I only have RealPlayer. How come you mostly have MP3s?
MP3s are almost open source. RealMedia is proprietary. We'll always choose open source over proprietary. In the beginning, we streamed RealMedia because that's all there was. The few Real files on site are leftover from those days. We'll be getting rid of them as soon as we can. In the meantime, should Ogg Vorbis or some other truly open source media grow popular enough, we'll migrate to that.

Are you affiliated with a university?
No. UbuWeb is a completely independent site. However, several universities and partners have generously offered us server space and bandwith, with no restrictions or input regarding our content. We have gratefully accepted their offers.

Why are your pages in English? / Why are your pages not in English?
Most of our pages are in English; several of them are not. UbuWeb is accessed universally, hence much of our content is in several languages (the Jean-Luc Godard interview with Serge Daney, for example, is in French). We encourage more multi-linguistic material. If you speak a language other than English and are interested in translating some of our pages or content into your language, we'd be thrilled to post your efforts.

Who are you?
See our masthead, our board of directors, and our partners.

Where are you located?
Our editors are pretty much spread across the United States: New York City, Utah, California, Seattle, etc. You can contact us here.

Why don't you respond to my emails?
Due to the volume of email we receive, we unfortunately cannot respond to them all.

I'm interested in advertising on UbuWeb. How do I go about this?
You don't. UbuWeb is completely commercial-free and it will always stay that way.

Why isn't new content posted every day?
UbuWeb is an archive, not a blog. It has accumulated slowly and steadily and shall continue to far into the future.

I'd like to receive notices of UbuWeb updates. How do I do this?
UbuWeb refuses to advertise or promote itself. Most of all, we detest the idea of filling inboxes with more unwanted material. A few times a year, we post our updates to select mailing lists; that's what they're for, aren't they? For UbuWeb updates, best to just keep checking back on the homepage, where notices of all new content appears.

Do you have an UbuWeb listserve?
Yes, but it's private.

What system do you design UbuWeb on? What browser is UbuWeb optimized for?
We are diehard Mac devotees. We love Firefox.

What is your philosophy?
See our manifesto.

Why is there no Alfred Jarry on UbuWeb?
;)

What happened to the image of the nude woman at the top of the Artist Index page?
Too many people complained that it was offensive, so we removed it and replaced it instead with another Wallace Berman image that we like just as much. It's from the cover of his seminal magazine from the 1960's Semina. As ever, UbuWeb runs off the fumes of Wallace Berman.


Why won't you look at my MySpace page?
It's ugly, crowded, filled with ads, blares music at you, and nine times out of ten, crashes our browser. Really, it's the polar opposite of UbuWeb. Just as in meatspace there are certain streets you never walk down, so in cyberspace, we assidiously avoid the MySpace mall. No ifs ands or buts. Sorry.