Super-Whip, Jordan Baseman

We are eager to present the final instalment of our five Rough Machine commissions that each premiered online this month.

Jordan Baseman has created two rough machines – 16mm films that were shot using stop-frame animation techniques. The recorded material was hand-processed (using buckets) and then professionally digitised. As the surface of the emulsion on the negative was intentionally physically punctured, torn and damaged through this most basic of developing processes, the resulting films are flecked with scratches and streaked with black scars: holes where images used to be.

Super-Whip is colourful and bright:  a frenetically spinning/stuttering/stopping depiction of the Super-Waltzer ride on Brighton Pier. Presented to us in a split-screen frenzy, Super-Whip is frantic and relentlessly joyful because of its hallucinatory nature. The driving soundtrack of original music propels the visuals ever faster.

Super-Whip by Jordan Baseman:

Galaxy is a somber, back and white film that portrays the stark architecture of Brighton’s Horror Hotel and the end of the pier Galaxy ride. Washed out, barely-there images flicker in silhouette. In a landscape that is normally teeming with people – this ride, this place, is empty. Summer is over.

Galaxy by Jordan Baseman:

Credits (both films):
Recorded and Made: Jordan Baseman
Music: Jordan Baseman
Thanks: Carolyn Thompson, Robin Klassnik, Len Thornton, Wimbledon College of Art, Animate Projects, Matt’s Gallery London, Brighton Pier, The Butthole Surfers, Soho Film Lab, Fuji Film (Poland Street)
Hand-Processing Support: Nick Manser

Jordan Baseman received a BFA from Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and an MA from Goldsmith’s College, University of London. Baseman is currently Reader in Time Based Media at Wimbledon College of Art, University of the Arts, London. He is a lecturer at the Royal College of Art Sculpture School and the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, University of Oxford.

He has a long history of creating projects in collaboration with various public institutions.  These have included residencies and commissions for: ArtSway, New Forest; Arts Council England, Papworth Hospital (Heart and Lung Transplant Unit), Cambridge; Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead; The Science Museum, London; Dundee Contemporary Arts, Scotland; Grizedale Arts, Cumbria; London Arts; Camden Arts Centre, London; The Serpentine Gallery, London; Collective Gallery, Edinburgh; Book Works, London; National Sculpture Factory, Ireland; British School at Rome; The Wellcome Trust, London; Monash University, Melbourne, Australia; University of Tasmania, Australia; The Photographers’ Gallery, London; Matt’s Gallery, London and The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Jordan Baseman has received grants from: Arts Council England, The Arts Humanities Research Council, The British Council, The Henry Moore Foundation, The Wellcome Trust, Arts Council England and London Arts Board. He has exhibited and screened his work internationally in countries including Australia, USA, Austria, Germany, Japan, Portugal, France and Italy.

experimentalresearchgroup.co.uk
naturesgreatexperiment.com
jordanbaseman.co.uk

Melting point, Bill Balaskas

We are pleased to present the fourth of our five Rough Machine commissions that will each premiere online this month.

Melting point by Bill Balaskas explores technology and the desire for digital perfection.

“The gadgets that surround us often combine the promise for ‘digital perfection’  (and the invitation to buy them) with the assertion that the ‘special’ moments of our lives only deserve an equally ‘special’ and ‘perfect’ means of documentation. In reality, however, this is a very short-lived perfection, since it ceases to exist long before the release of our gadget’s latest version; in effect, it ceases to exist the moment when we import our photos and videos in our computers in order to make them even more ‘perfect’.

“For this project, I set up and documented such a stereotypical, ‘perfect’ moment, using the gadget that has acquired an almost symbolic status in today’s digital culture: Apple’s iPhone. After applying filters that ‘fix’ digital noise on both image and sound, I juxtaposed sequentially a frame of original footage with a frame of manipulated footage. The value of the filters applied on each manipulated frame is slightly bigger than the one applied on the previous frame. As a result, the oxymoronic effort to ‘improve digital perfection’ ends up becoming an agent of disruption, confusion and decay. The final product of this accumulative process aspires to expose the untenability of the idea of ‘digital perfection’, and, perhaps along with it, the untenability of any idea of absoluteness imbuing our lives.”

This film is best viewed as a download from iTunes.

Melting point by Bill Balaskas:

Credits:
Director:Bill Balaskas
Special thanks: Venediktos Kapetanakis

Bill Balaskas was born in Greece (Thessaloniki, 1983), where he studied Economics; however, his love for art led him to the renowned experimental cinema school of Maidstone (University for the Creative Arts) and, then, to the Royal College of Art, in London. Bill’s videos and installations have participated in more than 50 exhibitions and festivals around the world. Venues where his work has been exhibited include Musée des Abattoirs (Toulouse, France), Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art (Thessaloniki, Greece), British Film Institute (London, UK), BolteLang Gallery (Zurich, Switzerland) and A Foundation (Liverpool, UK). Furthermore, he is an awarded writer (British Council of Greece, 2005) and screenwriter (Worldfest Houston International Film Festival, 2006), while he also, regularly contributes as a lecturer to international conferences. In 2008, Bill was invited to EMERGEANDSEE Berlin Festival as a jury member and he signed a contract with Propeller TV on Sky for the broadcasting of his experimental film Rupture. More recently (29/01-13/03/2010) Sketch, in London, presented Bill’s first solo exhibition, In Between Bubbles, which featured a site-specific multi-channel installation inspired by the global economic crisis. billbalaskas.com

An Odd Little Opus, Chris Newby

We are proud to present the third of our five Rough Machine commissions that will each premiere online this month.

An Odd Little Opus by Chris Newby is a romp through the uses and abuses of the human tongue.

“Taste in the human tongue has five receptors: Salty, Bitter, Sour, Sweet and Umami. Umami is to be found in bacon. I imagined a great deal of this film while sitting on the end of Southend Pier which in itself is a kind of tongue or spit. I always set out to make jolly films but somehow they always go sinister on me. This one is no exception.”

An Odd Little Opus by Chris Newby:

Credits:
Director: Chris Newby
Music: The Worm sung by Louise Kleboe and composed by Alfie Thomas
Foul-language-in-Dutch: Dan Geesin
Additional thanks: Martin Jones, Ben Oliver and a cast of tongues

Chris Newby studied at the Royal College of Art. He has made two features Anchoress and Madagascar Skin and numerous shorts.

Engine Angelic, Katerina Athanasopoulou

We are thrilled to present the second of our five Rough Machine commissions that will each premiere online this month.

Engine Angelic by Katerina Athanasopoulou shows beauty and brutality within an industrial dystopia. Click here to read a fascinating and in depth break-down of the different processes she used to construct it.

“The film started by walking through the remains of old, disused gasworks, shooting with a handheld digital camera. I was there looking for inspiration, without a storyboard or shotlist, but observing and imagining how these particular machines could come to life.

“The live action was then masked and cut up digitally, removing the background elements mostly frame by frame.  I used still images from the same machines to create extra 2D elements such as pipes and scaffolding. Further videos of working machines were cut out to animate the scaffolding. The entire process was like a collage of still and moving elements, created in After Effects and Photoshop, using the live action that I originally shot.

“After calculating the 3D space, I created tentacles that flowed freely, attracting cell-like amoebas. The latter were composited on top and through the live action – animation mix.”

Engine Angelic by Katerina Athanasopoulou:

Credits:
Direction, Camera, Animation : Katerina Athanasopoulou
Editing, Sound Design : Ian Clark
Music: Stetit Angelus / Catherine Brasvlasky, Renard Thierry, Joseph Row / Pump Audio

Katerina Athanasopoulou graduated with an Animation MA from the Royal College of Art. Since then her practice has revolved around three inter-related fields: personal filmmaking, animation/special effects and teaching. In her short films, she likes to mix together animation and live action with deep layering and a love for texture. Coming from a fine art background, moving image was the ideal medium as it combines all arts into one; Katerina’s films have been screened in international film festivals such as Clermont-Ferrand and she has collaborated with other directors and artists through animation direction, compositing, special effects and project consulting. kineticat.co.uk

Of Unknown Origin, Edwin Rostron

We are delighted to present the first of our five Rough Machine commissions that will each premiere online this month.

Of Unknown Origin by Edwin Rostron is inspired by the tape recordings of Raymond Cass, a hearing-aid specialist from Hull and one of the UK’s foremost researchers into ‘Electronic Voice Phenomenon’. EVP recordings present messages ‘of unknown origin’ heard in radio frequencies and background noise, and possess a distorted, unearthly quality. Many researchers into the EVP believe they are the voices of the dead.  Through a series of fragmentary scenes rendered in pencil and watercolour animation we enter into an unsettling territory somewhere between the real and the abstract. We hear the strange sounds of the EVP, and Cass himself talking about his work. But the film is not ‘about’ Cass, instead it takes the details of his life and work, and the recordings themselves, as a route to explore the hidden realms of the unconscious mind. The film mirrors the uncanny, inexplicable nature of the EVP, the mystery and poetry of the recordings, and challenges rational explanations.

Of Unknown Origin by Edwin Rostron:

Credits:
Director: Edwin Rostron
Music: Supreme Vagabond Craftsman
Sound Design: Edwin Rostron
Featuring the following recordings by Raymond Cass: Raymond Cass, Aircraft Intercept, Radio Luxembourg, Out of this World, Tramping, Dead Machines and Una from the album The Ghost Orchid (PARC CD1) published by Touch Music [MCPS] and Section One and Section Three from parc.web.fm

Thanks to The Raymond Cass Foundation

Edwin Rostron is an artist currently based in London. He was born in Doncaster in 1977 and grew up in Newcastle Upon Tyne. He studied Fine Art at Sheffield Hallam University and Animation at the Royal College of Art. His work is an attempt to visualise the realms of the unconscious and takes inspiration from a myriad of sources including alternative comics, ‘Neo Romantic’ painters such as Paul Nash and Graham Sutherland, and the post-industrial landscape of North-East England, where he grew up. His animations have been shown at festivals such as onedotzero, Pictoplasma and the Australian International Animation Festival, and his comics can be found in shops and online at edwinrostron.com

A mind's eye, Joanna Callaghan, 2009

Imagine the essence of a Thing. Now imagine a place where the essences of all Things exist. Can you?

To accompany Cecilia Wee’s article on the most recent work from artist filmmaker Joanna Callaghan, we’ve an extract of the film to share with you. A mind’s eye seeks to discover if philosophical concepts can be translated into images and what role narrative can play a role in developing a coherent vision of these concepts. The film is the first of a series of films by Joanna Callaghan, exploring the ideas of key philosophers throughout history.

A mind’s eye premieres at the ikonoklash exhibition at Centro Cultural de Lagos, Portugal, from 5 June – 31 July alongside multimedia works by Mark Lewis, Johan Grimonprez, Matthias Meuller & Christoph Girardet, Tracey Moffatt, Jorge La Ferla, Luis Alegre, Patricia Bentacur, Rui Toscano, Rui Valerio, Migeul Soares, Paula Roush, Ivan Franco & Kathy Hinde.

Credits:
Written & Directed: Joanna Callaghan
Cast: Oliver Phelps, James Phelps
Lighting: Joaquin Bergamin
Music: Peter Coyte
Edited : Jaime Estrada Torres
Produced : Heraclitus Pictures
Funded: Arts & Humanities Research Council & University of Bedfordshire

1923 aka Heaven, Max Hattler

“I am interested in the space between abstraction and figuration, where storytelling is freed from the constraints of traditional narrative. My work contemplates microcosms, moments, atmospheres: Close­ups as reflections on the big picture. While my films tend to be without dialogue, they explore the relationship between sound, music and the moving image.”

Here is the latest animated offering from artist Max Hattler – two films inspired by the paintings ‘A Symbolic Composition of the Spiritual World’ made by French outsider artist Augustin Lesage in 1923 and 1925 respectively. Over a period of five days in February 2010, Max Hattler created these two animation loops with student animators and CG artists at The Animation Workshop - Center for Animation in Viborg, Denmark.

The films are screening in a solo exhibition at the Lumen Eclipse public art space in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, from April to June 2010.

1923 aka Heaven by Max Hattler:

1925 aka Hell by Max Hattler:

Max Hattler has shown his experimental animation films at hundreds of festivals worldwide including Rotterdam and Annecy. His short films Collision, Drift and Aanaatt have won several prizes such as the LUX Award for Best Experimental Film and Best Design at Eksjo Animation Festival. Max Hattler has directed work for IKEA and Basement Jaxx, and regularly collaborates with bands, sound artists, and other filmmakers. He has performed live audiovisuals in art spaces and festivals worldwide. Max is represented by Partizan and he teaches at Goldsmiths and at the University of East London.

Jack Stephenson by Ben Rivers

We are pleased to be able to present Husne Tekagac by Charlotte Ginsborg and Jack Stephenson by Ben Rivers, part of the 12 films made for The Personal Profile Project series by Project Art Works. Project Artworks is a creative intervention in the transition of young people with complex needs from children’s to adult services.

‘Project Art Works proposed that a short film, made by an artist, in collaboration with a young person and showing him or her in a variety of social, environmental and creative contexts, with and without family, teachers and friends, could positively inform the transition process. It would complement the other forms of documentation and assessment and illuminate the discussion between parents and professionals about the young person’s interests, abilities, attributes and needs.’

‘We will support artists of distinction to collaborate with the young people on making films that observe and record them going about their daily lives. Creating a more rounded picture of a young person, the films will be used to broker for them more relevant and specific support services to help enable opportunities for their adult lives that are tailored to their needs and aspirations rather than to what is available in a range of existing (non tailored) services. In Transit embeds creativity, art and film within the assessments, planning and processes of transition.’

Angela Kingston has written an article for APEngine, When artists are put to purpose, considering how the artists felt making these films. APEngine has also interviewed Ben Rivers, which is available to read here.

Jack Stephenson by Ben Rivers

Husne Tekagac by Charlotte Ginsborg

Steven Eastwood - The Hiss of the Blow. Photos courtesy of Magnus Arrevad

Here is an extract from The Hiss of The Blow by Steven Eastwood.

A twin-screen installation, The Hiss of the Blow presents visceral invocations of boxing, focusing on Marianne Marston and Angel Mckenzie. The two protagonists skip, hit punch bags and shadow box in front of the camera, while at one point the pace slows and the tone becomes more melancholic as Angel (who is also a songwriter), sings a cappella lyrics articulating her history. In a corner of the gallery is a diminutive monitor sitting casually inside its soft-sided carrying case, which shows the artist filming a bout of sparring between Angel and Marianne on a hand-held, hand-crank 16mm camera, before he then steps into the ring to spar with (and get well and truly hit by) Marianne. The Hiss of the Blow is divided into 2 minute segments, reflecting that matches are divided into 2 minute rounds for female boxers. (Text, Pryle Behrman).

Read Eastwood’s thoughts on making the film in an interview with APEngine.

More photos of ‘The Hiss of The Blow’, courtesy of Magnus Arrevad, can be found on his website.

The Alcohol Years, image courtesy of Carol Morley

Carol Morley’s highly acclaimed documentary The Alcohol Years is a courageous, moving and often funny account of five self-destructive years of her life in early 1980s Manchester. It’s a poetic retrieval in which Carol’s rediscovered friends and acquaintances recount tales of her drunken and promiscuous behaviour. Carol’s search for her lost self and the conflicting memories and viewpoints of those around her weave in and out, revealing a poignant portrait of the city, its pop culture, the people who lived it and of a young woman who found herself at the centre of a defining moment in Manchester’s cultural history.

Check out APEngine’s interview with Carol for more of an insight into the woman herself.

Credits
Director: Carol Morley
Producer: Cairo Cannon
Music: Russel Churney and Vini Reilly
Editing: Magie Choyce
Cinematography: Peter Bathurst
Starring: Dave Haslam, Pete Shelley, The Durutti column, Tony Wilson, Vini Reilly