Blog Archives
SPOK
From the massive Spanish crew TBC and hailing from Madrid, this is one writer that has continued to evolve epic styles. SPOK found his feet on the rail lines during the ‘90s and was burning hard, up until around ‘05 when he muscled in on the Fine Arts set. Ever since, SPOK has made inroads onto the international scene with varied forms and magnificent aerosol algorithyms. See for yo‘ self:
Dire Straits (Walk of Life)
Dire Straits is the most iconoclast 80s band; particularly in regard to a Pommy cock-rockin‘ new wave genre. The founding members, Knopler brothers Mark & Dave, musically constructed their claim to the advent of the 80s -perhaps contenders as the continental mirror of a pre-pubescent Talking Heads. Walk Of Life first appeared on the UK Single for So Far Away; the acclaimed seminal track from the Brothers In Arms album. However, the track‘s upbeat pop-blues appeal was such that Walk Of Life is itself became so renowned as to warrant its‘ own music video; partly shot in the London Underground:
The introduction to this track dispels, though, the inferiority of the musical production values employed by Dire Straits. Although we must, authentically, evaluate the Straits as a fantastic pop music achievement: it must be said that their simplistic and characteristic 1-4-5 arrangements epotimise their drab rhythmic endeavours.
Solvent Libel (Bivouac)
A big thank-you to all those that attended the Bivouac group show we organised at Long Play.
For those that missed out; here is a composite of two videos screened at the exhibition:
Seditious Libel (Vox by Unkown c.1930)
Solvent (Vox by King Burraga, 1933)
Dedicated: Henry Seekamp
HD Video [2012]
BIVOUAC
A nightly ensemble of Video Art featuring:
MATTHEW BERKA | ANDREW TURLAND | M T WALKER
Screenings in the theatrette between 6pm - 9pm
at LONG PLAY 318 St Georges Rd, Nth Fitzroy.
BIVOUAC ONE: Tues 1st, Wed 2nd and Thur 3rd MAY
BIVOUAC TWO: Mon 7th, Tue 8th and Wed 9th MAY
These visually stunning works explore cultural & socio-political philosophies, the built environment, and the singular protest.
Please come down and enjoy yourself in comfortable surrounds.
Street Dreams 2012
After its success in 2011, the urban art festival Street Dreams returned to Adelaide in March of 2012 to showcase and celebrate local street artists and their work. The festival is run entirely through the work of volunteers to put together two days full of events centred on appreciating urban art forms and, most of all, having fun with it. Events included street art tours, workshops, mural painting, a “Pimp My T-Shirt” party and the famous “Dumpster Biennale“.
Precede Pictures have put together this short film documenting the highlights of the festival:
http://streetdreams.com.au/
The Discipline of Loving You (Diego Ramirez)
Hurry -there is but 3 days left to check out Discipline at the RMIT School of Art Gallery.
Video and Mixed Media artist Diego Ramirez (Mexico) presents a titillating account of the physical and emotional construct pertaining to the female form in contemporary society. This ultra-stylish and mesmerising video also invites the discerning viewer into the realm of fantasy. It offers a reflection on what you might agree is a stiletto tableau of appearance, love, and dependence in a world where the superficial reigns over that of the intellectual. The video is an almost pornographic exploit; displayed on 2 channel projections almost 10 feet high. Recommended for over-18s only.
The Discipline of Loving You until 16th March: Building 2, Level 2 RMIT, Bowen St. City.
www.diego-ramirez.net
Other Cinema
Hailing from San Franciso‘s Mission District Other Cinema (or ‘OC‘) is an alternative film & video production, performance, and distribution network that brings a voice to the Media Arts community. This counter-cultural outfit has been operating for nigh on 30 years, and it continues to spearhead Fine Arts film-making. Craig Baldwin established this vanguard of ‘underground cinema‘ under a range of names from 1978, because he “didn’t see anything coming up from the ground that ended up on the screens”. Since then, OC has developed into an artistic collective led by a dedicated team of curators and artists. Other Cinema continues to enhance Film & Media Arts projects in the Bay Area; which of course flourishes elsewhere due to the renowned esteem of OC.
Currently, Other Cinema is in the midst of a Benefit initiative, to raise money for their operations. As part of the fund-raising effort, they have compiled the video below, to engage with the public in what the OC has going on:
Land of Instant Forget
These are now the final days of the 2011 RMIT Media Arts Graduate Show.
Visit the upper confines of Curtin House, in the heart of the City on Swanston Street to view an excess of works from the graduate class of 2011. These emerging Media Arts artists offer works disseminated across video, audio and sculpture. The show is billed as a space that has been ”transformed to create a world where you can leave your memories behind“ as you immerse yourself in these parallel lands. Below, you can sample one of the works on show. This piece is projected onto a giant, free hanging t-shirt and is titled Trashface by Rob Graham.
The Land of Instant Forget
Running until 30th November, 12pm until 6pm.
Curtin House, Level 6 252 Swanston St. City
Media Arts: Greatest Hits
This Saturday 24th September, people, come & check out works from the RMIT Fine Arts (Media Arts) programme; as they present theirs labours of love, hate and everything in between. On the big screen.
Greatest Hits features 2 half-hour, curated screenings from some of the best current video and animation coming out of Australia‘s foremost Media Arts school. The works are bound to captivate: with a little bit of everything for everybody!
Also included on the night is an immersive sound performance by Wrong Room; with Byron Dean, Chiara Costanza and Jonathon Nokes fronting up for the performance. $5 entry ($3 students) gives you the pleasure of viewing a swathe of seminal works by the Media Arts crew. Media Arts: Greatest Hits Of 2009-2011 takes place at Tape Projects, 1/81 Bouverie St Carlton. The action starts at 7pm, so come on down and experience the unknown! Refreshments available.
The Light In Winter
Fire In The Belly: Projector Bike.
This year‘s Light In Winter Festival at Federation Square features dozens of cultural activities; making for the perfect winter warm-up. Featured as part of the Fire In The Belly programme, the Projector Bike will present works from various local up-and-coming filmmakers and visual artists: featuring works from Me: your favourite bloggage host, alongside members of the creative genus born from RMIT Media Arts (among various other students and artists). The Projector Bike will visit different locations in the course of both evenings that it is exhibiting, and everyone is welcome to ride along -whether in utilising the Melbourne Bike Share or indeed upon your own ride. The screenings will be projected onto different surfaces in unique and hidden spaces about our fine city.
Sunday 12 + 26 June, 7pm - 8.30pm, departs Fed Square Bike Share Station (and it‘s free!)
Videocracy
Fortunate in that between the 60s-era ‘changeover’ cinematic operation we have on the flagship MIFF site, the Forum; I was able to to catch Erik Gandini‘s documentary in near entirety.
This curiously Swedish film is presented by Lars Von Trier’s Zentropa -the production company that vyed for arthouse supremacy in the early 90s and has since made a resurgence with such titles as The Idiots, the Dogville trilogy and Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself.
Having an awareness of the manic that is politica Italiano, I found myself engaged in this perspective of Silvio Berlusconi‘s grasp of Italian media outlets. The film opens with a summary of erotic cinema; Ron Jeremy at the fore amidst shots of scantily-clad women in both popular ‘underground’ video and shopping malls on the continent, alike.
The film is at times tedious in its depiction of billionaire girls and television production impresarios: namely in its pursuit of t.v. ‘turncoat’ Fabrizio Corona but ultimately frames Berlusconi‘s hard hand on a post-modern propaganda machine that is both daunting and amazing; a description I use without any flattery.
This is a film perhaps best viewed on video but au contraire worth a visit to your supposedly ‘local’ or ‘independent’ cinema.
-Rock The Boat
Phoenix
Howdy,
Weekend, as in here, will be started tomorrow. A time to forget a series of unfortunate events of my daily life which in short term can be called “work“.
Music is one of the perfect runaways for me to release myself from my daily life boredom. No particular music in my playlist, even. Yes…I do separate it into several types of playlists; depends on its genre. Nothing can describe one’s mood better than music, this including me.
I got a suggestion a while ago to check on a song by Phoenix with the title If I ever feel better. I can say that I love this a lot. This song gives a real perfect relaxing ambience. I can dream of myself listening to this song in a real fancy lounge with few friends, cocktails and small dances around.
Taken from a source, it states that Phoenix is a French band which draws elements from an eclectic ’80s upbringing to arrive at their rock-synth sound. Love how the smooth vocal of Thomas Mars blends with synth. What a perfect fusion! Drown by the flow of the music, can’t stop playing it on and on.
Not mentioning how beautiful the lyrics are, which makes all the bitterness seems not so bitter. Sweet….!!
If I ever feel better
Remind me to spend some good time with you
You can give me your number
When it’s all over I’ll let you know
Dance, dance and dance ’til fade. Well, I guess my weekend is starting now…
-Blommer22
Tim Vine
This evening myself and a couple of close friends attended a stand-up performance at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
The man we were fortunate enough to see was Tim Vine; an English comic from UK television programme The Sketch Show. The act was a riot! It consisted of a seemingly endless onslaught of cheap gags, described as “An inspired medley of out to lunch one-liners” by The Guardian.
Mmr. Vine (pronounced with two m’s) came out with such beauties as “I saw a woman giving birth to a baby in the snow the other day… -she said the weather brought out the child in her” and “I went swimming with the dolphins -and we just clicked” Then, after taking out an X and Y graph as a prop and cutting in in half: “I love the smell of freshly cut graphs” Sheer banal ridiculousness and a laugh a second, as the jokes were moving almost too fast to comprehend the punchline/s. A definite hoot, all for the tidy sum of $25.
A must see for those with a taste for banal humour in all its glory.
From last year’s festival:
-Rock The Boat
Two Door Cinema Club
I’m sat here listening to this disc; the latest offering from French powerhouse label Kitsuné. I picked up this release a few days ago and am quite glad I’d held off listening to it until I was in such a mood as I am in now.
Thus, the record is quite good; if but a tad heavily produced. The album; Tourist History opens with track Cigarettes In The Theatre, which strikes as a somewhat upbeat tune -jovial and easy to digest, melodic while establishing a sound of the European summer in the vein of a Killers or early Franz Ferdinand B-side. Tracks 3 & 4 move through with a charm of melancholic repetition that is to be admired; admonishing earlier typecasting mentioned for Track 1. The sound digresses with the cruisiness that is Something Good Can Work; however the songs continue to wind up when one is just beginning to immerse oneself in its quaint yet rhythmic beauty.
The standout tracks are reluctantly Cigarettes, I Can Talk, Eat Up and Something Good -insomuch as this is an album that demonstrates an excellent continuity and is quite certain to further impress on repeated visits. Hear it for yourself, perhaps?
-Rock The Boat
