Narghile is an AV performance project of Brisbane's video & sound artist Lloyd Barrett. Lloyd has also worked using the name Secret Killer of Names / SKON. I googled N4rgh1l3 and found some video works. absolutely amazing! he mentioned he uses Isadora. it's amazing what he gets the program to do - if only I could get it to do half as much I'd be happy!!
this is a video piece submitted for the surface mapping projection at the Queensland Library at the Opening of the "Game On" exhibition (early arcade games & consoles). I went to this exhibition during Christmas holidays - it was great. unfortunately I didn't attend the Opening night as I was interstate. plenty of fathers showing their sons the games they played when younger. visitors were allowed to play the games, and they could read a bit about the history & background of the games. the Japanese 'dating' games was a new one to me!
Narghile v0.01 part 1 : Part one of two. First performance of Narghile's new audio visual processing processy thing. Videos made from still images and DV footage taken by the artists and processed live by Isadora and extra audio processing by Audio mulch and a Chaos Pad.
I've been reading about Rothko's paintings this weekend and wanted to make a video painting similar to his works. it didn't quite work out as I expected (or like a Rothko painting). but I took videos around Auckland yesterday of different colours with the plan of using them as overlayed panels of colours. instead I ended up using a slit screen and shifting the entry points + having horizontal & vertical panels + changing between the different clips.
I don't think it turned out like the later Rothko paintings though. his paintings has large blocks of colour yet they weren't really about the colour. they were about the emotions - and the paintings showed emotions through the colours & induced emotions in the viewer. there were also glimpses of spirituality in the paintings - some had an inner light which shone through the works. also the size & scale of the paintings - often wall sized - caused the viewer to be enveloped in the emotions. the video I've made doesn't have the same emotions. it's more about the colours - the colours of Auckland city. the edges in the video work are too crisp and sharp. and there's no inner light. the motion relates more to Len Lye's use of motion in images & experimental films and sculptures. I've been reading about his work and his papers prior to making the video - in the book "Figures of Motion - Len Lye - Selected Writings". so I will have to try again - & maybe filter out or soften all the edges, or only keep the lines , like brush strokes, then build them up to panels of colour. many options to think about!
I don't really know much about film history or theory and I've forgotten most of my art theory, though I keep across net art and new media, I guess I haven't sorted out formerly in my own head what it is that I do when I try to make 'art'-like videos. I'm not sure I need a manifesto, but perhaps it would be a good exercise to think about it. I've looked back at videos that I've made over past years and they do seem to be similar so perhaps there is an unconscious 'manifesto' in play already.
so, last night & today I've been finding some from artists I either admire or have recently been finding out about. and of course, in using the internet, this has led me on some tangents so I've discovered some new artists too. collating snippets here for further thought.
Hailing from the creative hub of Cape Town, South Africa, Jax Panik has risen from obscurity to being one of the country's most promising new acts. What started out as an online-only release less than a year ago now enjoys high rotation play listing on some of the country's best known radio stations.
Fresh from a 2008 MTV Africa Listeners Choice Award nomination, this staunchly independent artist has gone from strength to strength. Jax is principally a virtual performer who started his career on the internet; putting out tracks and videos online-only. He enjoys thousands of views and fans from around the globe on Facebook, Youtube and Myspace and has become one of the most downloaded performers on the popular mobile chat application MXit.
Since the success of his first single, Cigarettes & Cinnamon, Jax has been featured in many of South Africa’s top print publications and TV shows, and his music has dominated the South African radio charts (including a no. 1 hit on 5FM – the country's most popular youth station). So it’s time to get him heard in Australia!
His signature sound is a sexy mix of pop, rock, and electro, with catchy hooks, clever lyrics, and sing-along choruses. It's got heart and loads of dance appeal, and the viral videos he's been putting out are so wacky they're unlike anything you've seen before.
Submitted by Malina Hamilton... on Tue, 20/01/2009 - 16:44
Super Massive To Play At Electro Glam Rock : Friday The 13th Party & Show At The Junkyard Maitland
What: A ‘Glam Friday The 13th‘ party night with live show by dance rock band Super Massive
Where: The Junkyard (Grand Junction Hotel)
88 Church St, Maitland.
When: Friday 13th February
Time: 8:30pm
Entry: Free
Info: Ph: (02) 4933 5242 or www.myspace.com/supermassivesounds
ENZYME 8 - Friday January 30th 2009 @ Blue Velvet - 60 Smith Street Collingwood featuring EYE / DJ Citizen (Canberra), sig.int, Manticle, BasticH, Cassandra's Myth, DJ Infectious Unease.
EYE are releasing the long-delayed "Propaganda Machine Vol.1" CD "Post-Industrial Music for an Information-Age" on the night! read more or visit ENZYME website for more details
podcasts that are available for download - start with the lectures titled "Light of the New Millenium - Chicago/Austin"...both are quite different and cover a good spectrum of his "take" on things.
news slices in the snow (85sec version) : I made this last feb, 06/02/2008 after I'd heard about the terrorist attack in Israel. I'd read many of the online stories about it, so in this video some screenshots of the news stories / websites are cut-up and sliced and rotated in 3D (to represent the multiple levels and perspectives wrt the region & it's problems) on the screen whilst in the background, snow is falling to cool things down whilst steam is rising. the soundtrack has the sample 'over & over' as I was wondering when it (conflict in this region) would ever end. part way through the news slices started looking like a folded paper bird - let's hope it's a bird that brings peace to da middle east!! (as my friend Angus used to say)
it seems it might be apt for this year too. I've been following the recent stories regarding Israel & Gaza listed @ www.aliak.com/content/summer-holidays
this isn't the original version - it's a new version of the first 1min 25sec so it'll play here on flickr (since they have a 90sec video limit)
on the drive home from brisbane to sydney during my summer holidays I was playing with the delay settings on my camera. the lights from the cars looked like letters - maybe hebrew or aramaic - as they danced on the highway at dusk as we drove home
Gnosticism is one of the most potent, complex, and misunderstood elements of western esoteric spirituality. Rooted in the apocalyptic era of early Christianity, gnostic mysticism animates hermeticism, alchemy, and magick, and has profoundly influenced modern pop culture as well (Philip K. Dick, The Matrix, even Scientology). Because gnosticism is rooted in direct experience of the divine, it remains open to many different interpretations; scholars bicker about it constantly.
This class proposes to study a few of the most accessible and transformative gnostic texts, both ancient and modern, and to bring their tricky wisdom to bear on the state of consciousness today. In addition to online discussion threads, the course will feature weekly podcasts from Erik Davis, a celebrated speaker, as well as a few group voice-over-IP chats. Modestly-sized texts will include ancient gnostic gospels as well as accessible scholarly interpretations and modern short stories.
had a very relaxing Christmas / summer holiday in Brisbane - mostly spent sleeping, catching up with friends, eating and visiting the amazing north coast beaches at Caloundra & Noosa, driving along the coast between them. we drove up, cat on lap at times - the rain this year has done wonders for the land as everything was a lush, vibrant green colour and the sky was so clear & blue - the light this year was incredible - things seemed to sparkle.
I haven't been paying much attention to the news though whilst away, and arriving home last night I caught the late news which was talking about the problems in Israel and Palestine / Gaza strip. I'm a little worried about my friends there - some who've spent time in their bomb shelters (which are in all buildings) as the rockets from Gaza have reached further than before. I wonder if these new range rockets came in when the wall came down earlier this year and people came across from Egypt. I hope everyone is safe.
ENZYME 8 - Friday January 30th 2009 @ Blue Velvet - 60 Smith Street Collingwood featuring 