Experiments in Video [2005]
Vex
Vex 1. 2005. 2:08 mins. 29.1 mb. With Christian Nagler. Sound by Christof Migone and Gregory Whitehead from their series “Cris-cris.” Short vignette in which our hero is plunged into a dream world of homoerotic doubles and hellish fish.
Vex 2. 2005. 3:14 mins. With Christian Nagler, Michael Gizzi. Sound by Christof Migone and Gregory Whitehead from their series “Cris-cris.” More conceptual than “Vex 1,” utilizing found footage from the web. The poet Michael Gizzi free associates while destroying a piece of toast as the revolution marches on.
Vex 3. 2005. 1:09 mins. With Christian Nagler. Sound by Christof Migone and Gregory Whitehead from their series “Cris-cris.” This is the crowd favorite. Air balloons, hellish fish, lobsters.
Vex Postscript. 2005. 1:56 mins. A sort of postscript to the “Vex” series but not part of it. A fish has dreams also, in this case of the hell of industrialization (via the synechdoche of tricycles). Well, probably not worth reading into.
Other Shorts
Ferrari Dogs. 2005. 45 secs. With Angelina Jolie. Music by Morrissey. This one would make a good Skittles commercial. Our heroine makes her escape through a dreamlike mountainscape pursued by the pet dog she just can’t do without. Love everywhere.
Self Portrait as the Shroud of Turin. 2004. 3:42 mins. Depending on your mood, this is either four minutes of me noodling around in my room or a profound exploration of what it must be like shooting mini-DV video after death by crucifixion. For the martyr in all of us.
Sirius Returned. (Homage to Brakhage) 2004. 2:58 mins. Starring Durango. Inspired by Stan Brakhage’s short film, Sirius Remembered, which centered around the remains of his dog that he discovered in the woods around his home (shot in extremely short bursts of a few frames as was his technique), this short experimental video is completely unedited, but has been reshot in reverse through the viewfinder of another camera. I think it’s cool.
Mouths. (Ed Sanders, Marcel Duchamp) 2004. 3:13 mins. With Brian Kim Stefans and brief appearances by Rodrigo Toscano, Kim Rosenfield and others. Soundtrack includes reading by Ed Sanders and a sound piece by Marcel Duchamp. This was actually taped by Tim Davis, poet and photographer, in something like 2000 or so in a small bookstore in Williamsburg, but I reshot it in reverse through another camera. Only very slightly edited toward the end. The soundtrack is really funny if offensive.
Popahna. 2004. 11:25 mins. With Tyler Carter, Popahna Brandes, Natalia Stefans. Music by Leos Janacek, Public Image Ltd., L Voag. A short drama shot in Providence in a low-tech “Alphaville” style charting the adventures of a protagonist, “The Flaneur,” as he seeks to take down the Ice Queen, “Popahna,” who weaves her magic from a hideaway known as “The Arcade.” In the meantime, other secrets of their relationship are revealed. In German with subtitles.