The Vagrant by Darren Bader
The second manifestation of This Light takes place within the exhibition Techne and the Decency of Means at the Kunstlerhaus Stuttgart. A full scale model of the cinema that will eventually be constructed in a backyard in Los Angeles is installed at the Kunstlerhaus, and it will screen hundreds of moving image works over the course of the exhibition. Because the Kunstlerhaus has a residency program, the building is zoned as mixed-use and the cinema within is able to be defined as a private residence. Therefore, the free screenings of commercial media fall under the non-commercial, home use only clause of German copyright law.
~Prelude~
Deva Deva by Alice Coltrane
7 min ● mp3 audio ● 1975
What Remains by Anthony Discenza
15 min ● mp3 audio ● 2012
Indefinite Pitch by James N. Kienitz Wilkins
23 min ● 2K video ● B&W ● Stereo ● 2016
Delphi Falls by Mary Helena Clark
20 min ● HD video ● Color ● Stereo ● 2016
The Vagrant by Darren Bader
13 min ● HD animation ● Color ● Stereo ● undated
This Light Creed
10 min ● Live Slide Presentation ● 2017 - ongoing
This event is an attempt to describe a free cinema that emerges out of a desire to make private viewing habits public. The cinema goes by the name This Light. At a time when public space is rapidly dissolving into private property and attention is dissolving into the monetized distraction of streaming content in solitude, the cinema activates the possibilities offered through networked technology and opens the domestic up to what could be called anybody.
To some extent, This Light is a reaction to the lack of a screening venue (or even a regular screening series) in Los Angeles committed to expanding the definition of moving images as an art form. With no particular allegiances to anything, This Light seeks to dissolve boundaries between different audiences through uncommon arrangements.
The architecture of the first cinema will be an informal, parasitic structure that exploits the environmental potentials of a private back yard in Southern California. By day it will be a functional camera obscura (closed roof) or breathable patio sunshade (open roof), by night a soundproofed cinema with an HD projector, hifi soundsystem, and comfortable seating. It will be lightweight and portable enough to be moved to a new site if need be, drawing on the history of nomadic units as an emancipatory project.
The works included in the announcement describe forms that do not yet exist, and enact a gradual illumination of the cinema.
Phase IV by Saul Bass
1h 24min ● 35mm ● Colour ● Sound ● 1974
Free microwave popcorn.
Intro:
In September 2016 I published a tweet that read:
been around the globe lately and if theres one universal truth ive found its that when u sit on the ground ants r gonna get up in yr shit
In that month I had been to Korea, Germany, Chicago, Texas, and Los Angeles, and in each setting had enjoyed the summer weather sitting by the shore of a body of water, albeit with ants crawling up my legs and into my shorts. Like when Sheryl Crow sings “Put on a poncho, and played for mosquitoes” about playing an outdoor music festival in the rain in her song If It Makes You Happy, I accept the inevitability of both an audience of insects and climate conditions as factors in the process of running a backyard cinema.
Without spoiling Phase IV, one of the things that draws me to the film is the “if you can’t beat them, join them” moral of the story. Not only is a significant portion of the movie’s energies invested in establishing the ants themselves as protagonists, the privilege that humanity typically assumes over other lifeforms in the environment at large here leads to negative consequences. Meanwhile, the characters that fare best are the ones that understand the limitations of their own perspective. As you’ll see, an openness to other forms of complex intelligence and its expressions - such as the mathematically based geometrical forms that the ants construct as a form of communication - presents humans with a fuller range of what thinking can be.
You may know, or have at least seen, the work of Saul Bass through his corporate logos for Continental Airlines and AT&T, or his film poster and motion-picture title sequences for Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, Vertigo, and Psycho. Less celebrated, especially at the outset due to poor marketing, is Phase IV - his sole feature length effort from 1974. And so I thank you for coming out tonight to celebrate it.
Citroen CX Car Advert by Grace Jones and Jean-Paul Goude
1min ● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 1985
Ultimate Muscle Roller Legend by SeriouslyPissedOff
2min ● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2009
Century by Kevin Jerome Everson
7min ● 16mm to HD ● Colour ● Sound ● 2012
Flagrant délit by Madelon Vriesendorp
10min ● 16mm Animation ● Colour ● Sound ● 1985
Squeezing Sorrow From an Ashtray by Steve Reinke
6min ● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 1992
Leftside Rightside by Joan Jonas
9min ● Video ● B&W ● Sound ● 1972
Green Screen Refrigerator by Mark Leckey
20min ● HD Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2010
Birds by Daria Martin
7.5min ● 16mm ● Colour ● Sound ● 2001
Object Relations / Special Effects presents works made by humans that attempt to incorporate nonhuman perspectives and performances.
An evening with Bloody Mary's and wood-fired pizza.
A conversation reflecting on production, from perspectives of means, survivalism and energy with Bonnie Camplin.
Alongside selected moving image work including:
Get Me A Mirror, 2006, 5.58
Cancer, 2004, 4.39
Terrazzo, 2008, 3.12
Special Afflictions by Roy Harryhozen, 2006, 5.00
Colonial Fanny, 2007, 1.33
"A" (Like Akarova), 2006, 3.00
Good Health, 2003, 2.50
One Rotation of This Light is a programme of screenings in the part cinema, part sculpture, This Light by Andrew Norman Wilson. The first screening, Raumdunkel,selected by Fatima Hellberg and Johanna Markert brings together:
Degrees of Blindness by Cerith Wyn Evans
19 min ● SD Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 1988
Far Out by Peter Wächtler
4 min 24 sec ● HD Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2016
All Smiles and Sadness by Anne McGuire
7 min ● SD Video ● B/W ● Sound ● 1999
Vögel sterben by Janis Eckhardt
3 min 27 sec ● HD Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2017
Kim Wilde Auditions by Cerith Wyn Evans
5 min ● SD Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 1995
One Rotation of This Light continues in three cycles, extending over the evening, night and following day, organised and programmed in collaboration with Katharina Jabs and her film seminar at the Academy of Fine Arts, Stuttgart. Over the course of the 24 hours, work will be screened by artists and filmmakers including Cyprien Gaillard, Lucile Hadžihalilović, Brigid McCaffrey and Aleksei Yuryevich German, as well as found footage and stock material, selected from the This Light playlists.
5 pm until 10 pm
Reality Models by Andrew Norman Wilson
5min 40sec ● 2K Video and VHS to 2K ● Colour ● Sound ● 2016
10 pm until 10:40 pm
Elegy on Pharmakon by Boris Ondreička
40min ● Performance
10:40 pm until late
Ode to Seekers 2012 by Andrew Norman Wilson
8min 30sec ● HD Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2016
Deva Deva by Alice Coltrane
7 min ● mp3 audio ● 1975
What Remains by Anthony Discenza
15 min ● mp3 audio ● 2012
Indefinite Pitch by James N. Kienitz Wilkins
23 min ● 2K video ● B&W ● Stereo ● 2016
Delphi Falls by Mary Helena Clark
20 min ● HD video ● Color ● Stereo ● 2016
The Vagrant by Darren Bader
13 min ● HD animation ● Color ● Stereo ● undated
This Light Creed
variable ● web link ● 2017 - ongoing
These works describe forms that do not yet exist, and enact a gradual illumination of the cinema.
The Architecture of Bruce Goff by BBC TV
52 min ● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 1976
Bruce Goff’s Crystal Chapel by Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art
3 min ● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2010
Bruce Goff: Ford House by Art Institute of Chicago
5 min ● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2017
Goff in the Desert by Heinz Emigholz
1h 49min
● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2003
Making of Goff in the Desert by Heinz Emigholz
51min
● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2003
"I had become so quiet and so small in the grass by the pond that I was barely noticeable, hardly there. I think they had forgotten all about me. I sat there watching their living room shine out of the dark beside the pond. It looked like a fairy tale functioning happily in the post-World War II gothic of America before television crippled the imagination of America and turned people indoors and away from living out their own fantasies with dignity."
- Richard Brautigan
Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles by Julian Cooper
52 min ● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 1972
Los Angeles Plays Itself by Tom Anderson
2h 50min ● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2003
L.A. Plays Itself by Fred Halsted
1h 10min
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 2003
The Exiles by Kent Mckenzie
1h 10min
● Film
● B&W
● Sound ● 1961
An exploration of Los Angeles by an English architectural historian, an essay film about the way Los Angeles has been presented in movies by a long-time resident, an experimental pornographic film by a Long Beach native, and a drama-documentary that emerged out of a relationship between a group of Native Americans in Los Angeles and a University of Southern California film school graduate.
Loving You by Minnie Riperton
3min
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 1974
FLEX TAPE® Commercial by
Flex Seal Products
2min ● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2015
Mariah Carey Lawn Mower Vine by Lawnmower Flying To Music
7sec ● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2015
Hi Stranger by Kirsten Lepore
3 min
● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2017
Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft by the Carpenters
5 min
● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 1977
The Emperor’s Speech from the film Starcrash by Luigi Cozzi
1 min
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 1978
Stronger by Britney Spears
4 min
● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2000
Top 100 Chairs Countdown by Bryan Ropar
5 min
● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2016
Louis Ghost Chair by Simon Martin
16 min
● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2012
Chairs by Maria Lassnig
2 min
● 16mm ● Colour ● Sound ● 1971
One of the more difficult decisions in designing This Light is deciding what the seating will be.
Ode to Seekers 2012 by Andrew Norman Wilson
8 min
● HD Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2016
Loosely based on John Keats’ poem “Ode on a Grecian Urn” (1820), the work emerges from a translation of the formal techniques of Keats’ textual ode to an infinitely looping video.
Alf - True Colors Episode (1989)
Family Guy - A Picture is Worth 1000 Bucks Scene (2000)
The Simpsons - Mom and Pop Art Scene (1999)
The Kids in the Hall - My Art! Sketch (1994)
Saturday Night Live - The Art Dealers Sketch (2005)
Beverly Hills Cop - Art Gallery Scene (1984)
Absolutely Fabulous - Art Gallery Scene (1994)
Sex and the City - Art Gallery Scene (2003)
She's All That - Hacky Sack Scene (1999)
Legal Eagles - Put Out The Fire Scene (1986)
Cheers - Un Film de Diane Chambers Scene (1987)
Monty Python - French Subtitled Film sketch (1970)
The Critic - L'Artiste est Morte Scene (1994)
Ghost World - Mirror Father Mirror Scene (2001)
Gilmore Girls - A Film by Kirk (2001)
The Simpsons - Barney Gumble’s Movie (1994)
American Beauty - Dancing Bag Scene (1999)
The Critic by Ernest Pintoff and Mel Brooks (1964)
Benny Hill - Film Director Claude Le Twit Sketch (1968)
CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite - The Making of an Underground Film (1965)
60 Minutes with Morley Safer - Even in Tough Times, Contemporary Art Sells (2012)
Ripley’s Believe It Or Not with Marie Osmond - Hugo Ball's 1916 Poem "Karawane" (1985)
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s The Gates (2005)
I've Got a Secret - John Cage performing Water Walk (1960)
Steve Allen Show - Frank Zappa (1963)
Saturday Night Live - William Burroughs reads from Naked Lunch and Nova Express (1981)
What’s My Line - Salvador Dali (1957)
I’ve Got a Secret - John Cale (1963)
The Merv Albert Show - Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick (1965)
Channel 4 Live - Tracy Emin (1997)
Club Kids on The Joan Rivers Show - Michael Alig, James St. James, Amanda Lapore, Leigh Bowery, Ernie Glam (1993)
The Colbert Report - Theaster Gates (2014)
Charlie Rose - Richard Serra (2013)
Associated Press - Andy Warhol Interview (1964)
Presentations of art and artistic personas from television and film that range from negligent to parodic.
Transient Trilogy By Sterling Ruby
36min ● DV Video ● Colour ● Stereo ● 2009
Bad mama, who cares By Brigid McCaffrey
12min ● 35mm ● Colour ● Sound ● 2016
The Pursuit of Happiness By Jimmie Durham
13min ● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2003
12 pm
Glen and Randa by Jim McBride
1h 33min
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 1970
1:34 pm
Omega Man by Boris Sagal
1h 38min
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 1971
3:12 pm
THX 1138 by George Lucas
1h 26min
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 1971
12 pm
Silent Running by Douglas Trumbull
1h 30min
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 1972
1:30 pm
Westworld by Michael Chrichton
1h 25min
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 1973
2:55 pm
Phase IV by Saul Bass
1h 24min
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 1974
12 pm
A Boy and His Dog by L. Q. Jones
1h 31min
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 1975
1:31 pm
Logans Run by Michael Anderson
1h 58min
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 1976
3:29 pm
Futureworld by Richard T. Heffron
1h 47min
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 1976
12 pm
A Woman Under the Influence by John Cassavettes
2h 26min
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 1974
2:26 pm
Come and See by Elem Klimov
2h 22min
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 1985
Films that use the art of cinema to express the experience of a mental breakdown.
12 pm
Repulsion by Roman Polanski
1h 45min
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 1965
1:45 pm
Obsession by Brian De Palma
1h 38min
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 1976
3:23pm
Possession by Andrzej Żuławski
2h 04min
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 1991
Films that use the art of cinema to express the experience of psychosis.
12 pm
Julien Donkey Boy by Harmony Korine
1h 40min
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 1999
1:40 pm
Images by Robert Altman
1h 41min
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 1972
3:21 pm
Clean, Shaven by Lodge Kerrigan
1h 19min
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 1994
Films that use the art of cinema to express the experience of schizophrenia.
12 pm
Temple Grandin by Mick Jackson
1h 48min
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 2010
1:48 pm
Ben X by Nic Balthazar
1h 29min
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 2007
3:21 pm
Punch-Drunk Love by Paul Thomas Anderson
1h 35min
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 2002
Films that use the art of cinema to express the experience of autism spectrum disorder.
Organized by Grace Sparapani
Casting JonBenet by Kitty Green
80 minutes ● Film ● Color ● Sound ● 2017
JonBenet Ramsey: Young and Beautiful by Nikki J
3:54 ● Video ● Color ● Sound ● 2014
My Immortal (JonBenet Ramsey) by Nikki J
4:32 ● Video ● Color ● Sound ● 2009
The Morning after I Killed Myself by InfinityAGStudios
2:42 ● Video ● Color ● Sound ● 2016
Descent into Madness {AGSM Movie} by AGLovePug
9:20 ● Video ● Color ● Sound ● 2015
Catholics gather to see see Saint Maria’s relics by TODAY’S TMJ4
2:17 ● Video ● Color ● Sound ● 2015
The Story of Maria Goretti by dennistracyquinn (Dir. Harry Hall, music by Dennis Tracy Quinn)
4:28 ● Video ● Color ● Sound ● 2011
Karen Carpenter Dies 2.4.1983 T.V. Coverage 002 by Ken Bertwell Anorexia Nervosa
12:31 ● Video ● Color ● Sound ● 2013
Karen Carpenter’s Tomb by MrShoeGuy
1:51 ● Video ● Color ● Sound ● 2010
Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story by Dir. Todd Haynes
43 minutes ● Film ● Color ● Sound ● 1987
Valley of the Dolls: On Processing Tragedy is a series of films and videos centered around the question: When confronted w a spectacularized image of tragedy, how can a public react? Beginning with the recent film, Casting JonBenet, which highlights the lasting impact of the JonBenet Ramsey case on the psyche of the American public, this series moves out of the formal realm of documentary into that of the “fan”-made tribute video. Photos of JonBenet put together in iMovie or the PC equivalent are accompanied by songs too mature for a six-year- old, but just right for the older YouTubers trying to make sense of her death even twenty years later. There’s a strange affinity between these and the melodrama of the American Girl Stop Motion videos, made painstakingly over months of continuous work, as well as the young and old learning forgiveness from the body of Maria Goretti, our youngest saint, patron saint of chastity and of rape victims, martyred in 1902 and canonized in 1950 in front of the largest crowd the Vatican had ever seen. We generally have an inability to accept the deaths of those gone too soon, but we are completely unable to let go of those that are bastions of purity, promises of a better us. The sweet, the doll-like.
Though older at the time of her death than JonBenet and Maria, Karen Carpenter—the sweet girl from Downey—holds a similar place in our cultural memory. When Todd Haynes reenacted her life with a Barbie doll, while evoking important connections between this young face of a new Conservative youth and the 1950s ideal woman realized in 1:6 scale, he also recalled and prefigured the wax saintly relic of young Maria Goretti and the YouTube videos of those with no better way to memorialize lost youth.
There is a rumor, from a JonBenet community forum, that believes her American Girl dolls may be the key to exposing her family as her murderers. Jahazafat, a former worker at a call center that filled orders for American Girl dolls, writes that in her training as a customer service rep, she was taught to tell customers who complained of their American Girl heads coming loose to fix them with duct tape. The duct tape found at the Ramseys’ house, which had mysterious fibers, was believed by investigators to have come from outside the house due to no roll of duct tape being found there. Jahazafat, however, says that tan fibers on the tape match the tan cloth body of American Girl dolls, and the mysterious blue fibers found near the scene match the skirt of the Molly doll. The Ramsey family had been allowed to remove JonBenet’s American Girls from the house, due to our national understanding of the sentimentality of these dolls, but Jahazafat believes it is because the dolls would show gummy marks where the duct tape was removed from their necks and planted at the scene of the crime. Her smoking gun is a purchase record she found showing that in 1997, after JonBenet’s death, a new doll was sent to JonBenet—in name—herself, most likely to replace the dolls disposed of in the aftermath of the crime’s cover-up.
Because why would a dead girl receive a doll?
Organized by Anthony Discenza
Play-throughs 1 & 2 contemplate two enormous archives of YouTube output (one generated by a human, the other by a Google-created AI) as discrete, long-form viewing objects. Play-through #1 is to be shown on an iMac laid flat atop its own packaging and placed on the floor. Play-through #2 is to be shown on an iPad on a wall-mounted armature.
Play-through #1 (Webdriver Torso) by Google
Play-through #2 (Adolfo Mateo) by Adolfo Mateo
The Dreaming Boy by Cool 3D World
Worlds by Cool 3D World
Via Serena by Cool 3D World
Earth & Moon by Cool 3D World
Panini by Cool 3D World
Macrophile’s Moon by ChibiPetiman
Butt Tube by Cool 3D World
The Bottle by Cool 3D World
3d Animation of Female Bodybuilder at the Burj Dubai by 3dmuscle
Basketball by Cool 3D World
Daz a holic by madcatlady
Toe Rings by Cool 3D WorldA Life Well Lived by Cool 3D World
Portraits by Cool 3D World
Meow meow i am a cat by madcatlady
Men In Chairs by Cool 3D World
A program of puppet-oriented videos that come from beyond the realm of contemporary art. In these works formal uncertainty is produced through anthropomorphism, objectification, bodily fragmentation, and physically impossible scenarios.
Organized by Nick Irvin
Toon Cartoon - Learn Colors with Funny Eggs and Balls in Box Cartoon for Children and Babies
3:17 ● digital animation ● color ● audio ● 2017
Play doh toys for kids - Learn Colors With T-Rex Pool Colors For Children | Learning Colors For Kids | Colors Videos For Kids
14:33 ● digital animation ● color ● audio ● 2017
My Finger Family Rhymes - Funny Animals Swimming Race Animals INDOOR PLAYGROUND For Kids 3D Colors Animals Finger Family Songs
30:54 ● digital animation ● color ● audio ● 2017
Kids 3D Rhymes - Baby Boy Dinosaur Colors Learning Videos for Kids Children | Color Songs Collection
13:16 ● digital animation ● color ● audio ● 2017
Kids 3D Rhymes - Wild Animals Wrong Babies Matching Game | Learn Colors with Dinosaurs Colors Animals Cartoons
18:18 ● digital animation ● color ● audio ● 2017
CVS 3D Rhymes - Johny Johny Yes Papa Nursery Rhyme | Part 3 - 3D Animation Rhymes & Songs for Children
3:07 ● digital animation ● color ● audio ● 2017
KIDS ZONE TV - Wrong Heads Cartoon Superheroes Swimming Race Pool Party | Hulk,Spiderman Finger Family
19:06 ● digital animation ● color ● audio ● 2017
EdukayFUN - Johnny Johnny yes papa - free fun education CHRISTMAS JINGLEBELL HOLIDAY nursery rhyme for kids
4:02 ● digital animation ● color ● audio ● 2017
EdukayFUN - Johnny Johnny yes papa - free fun education SPOOKY VAMPIRE HALLOWEEN nursery rhyme for kids
4:11 ● digital animation ● color ● audio ● 2017
EdukayFUN - Johnny Johnny yes papa - free fun education SPOOKY WITCH HALLOWEEN nursery rhyme for kids
4:11 ● digital animation ● color ● audio ● 2017
RainbowBeeTV - Johny Johny Yes Papa | Kinetic Sand Mini Spiderman Cake Surprise Toys Learn Colors | Nursery Rhymes
11:55 ● digital animation ● color ● audio ● 2017
Kid Ink Toys - Johny Johny Yes Papa | Kinetic Sand Cutting Alien Slime Coca Cola Bottle Ice Cream Play Doh Toys
12:25 ● digital animation ● color ● audio ● 2017
EdukayFUN - Surprise Eggs! Learn color numbers play dough eggs (Ice Blue Egg)
5:05 ● digital animation ● color ● audio ● 2017
Toon Cartoon - FUN LEARN COLORS CRUISE BIKES AND ATV w/ Superheroes 3D Animation Nursery Rhymes for Children
10:34 ● digital animation ● color ● audio ● 2017
Toon Cartoon - FUN LEARN COLORS w/ COLORED MINIONS On ATV for Children Nursery Rhymes Songs
10:08 ● digital animation ● color ● audio ● 2017
Toon Cartoon - FUN LEARN COLORS MINIONS BALL PIT JUMPING For Children w/ Nursery Rhymes
10:25 ● digital animation ● color ● audio ● 2017
Toon Cartoon - LEARN COLORS SCHOOL BUS &. BMX BIKES w/ Superheroes Fun Animation for Children
10:37 ● digital animation ● color ● audio ● 2017
ColorMonsters Toy - Boss Baby Wrong Head | Chase, Jessie, Mikey Mouse Toys playing Right Head | Kids Match up Game
16:40 ● digital animation ● color ● audio ● 2017
PingPing Kids TV - Wrong Eyes Masha Bear Paw Patrol Spiderman Despicable Me 3 Finger Family Song Learn Colors
2:57 ● digital animation ● color ● audio ● 2017
PingPing Kids TV - Wrong Hairs Despicable Me 3 Bubble Guppies Mickey Mouse Blaze Finger Family Song Colors For Kids
2:51 ● digital animation ● color ● audio ● 2017
Kids TV HD EggVideos.com - Learn Colors for Kids Children Toddlers Finger Family Nursery Rhymes Learning Video Compilation
26:37 ● digital animation ● color ● audio ● 2017
Car Kids TV - Colors Spiderman Finger Family - Spiderman Family Vs Frozen Elsa Finger Family Songs For Kids
4:12 ● digital animation ● color ● audio ● 2017
Animals for Kids - BURIED ALIVE Outdoor Playground Finger Family Song Nursery Rhymes Animation Education Learning Video
30:05 ● digital animation ● color ● audio ● 2017
In the latter half of 2017, the thinkpiece economy lobbed a dose of interest to the eery, uncanny world of YouTube content for children. The most viral article, James Bridle’s Medium post “Something is wrong with the internet” surveys, in rather sensational terms, how YouTube’s algorithms, clickbait culture, and user-end profit incentives have led to algorithmically generated content designed to maximize and exploit those systems, in increasingly surreal and horrific combinations. There are several recognizable motifs, the most popular of which include “Yes Papa,” a nursery rhyme about deceiving your parents, the “Finger Family Song” nursery rhyme game, which is about assigning nuclear family roles to fingers on a hand, and “Wrong Heads,” which is a kind of peek-a-boo of dismemberment. Typically, these games are played out by characters from recent popular children’s media. There are also TV episode-length “cartoons” with action so meandering that they can only be created by loose, lazy artificial intelligence: usually rendered with a Grand Theft Auto CGI engine, Spiderman, Elsa, the Joker, and various superheroes stock animals meander through several vague actions and scenarios (swimming, racing, fighting), somehow filling time. There are countless YouTube channels recompiling these simple games in thinly veiled permutations: dozens of versions of “Wrong Head” with different combinations of characters, the same “Yes Papa” sequence re-skinned with different characters, half-hour cartoons repeating the same sequence, starring a Purple Elsa in one and a Red Elsa with Joker Makeup in the next. Here we find the mechanistic libidinal economy of Marquis de Sade’s fiction in digital technicolor: every character is exhaustively subjected to every act of transmission, transformation, and conflict.
Bridle writes: “I can understand how [these videos] might provide some of the rhythm or cadence or relation to their own experience that actual babies are attracted to in this content, [which] has been warped and stretched through algorithmic repetition and recombination in ways that I don’t think anyone actually wants to happen.” Yet beyond the uncanny valley effects of this zombie content, he also identifies a sinister, human-led motifs which have poisoned the stream of autoplay: the Joker drugging and abducting Elsa; Elsa getting spinal surgery; “surprise” videos which seem designed to traumatize, such as Peppa Pig getting a taste of bacon and cannibalizing her family, and eventually herself; and most predominantly, syringe injection, which serves as a general symbolic vehicle for transformation, but also punishment (“Crying Babies! Accident! Bad baby Playing Doctor & Learn Colors With Injections! Finger Family Song”). While it began in animation, these genres have crossed over to live-action content, with real actors, sometimes children, being subject to the same sadism of algorithmic payoff, to the tune of millions of views (though it’s likely that many of these views are themselves automated, too).
In the wake of Bridle’s exposé, the Reddit community has dubbed this phenomenon “ElsaGate.” Awareness swelled to the point that major advertisers such as Adidas pulled funding from YouTube, finally forcing the company to address its long-standing failures of content moderation. In late November, YouTube purged much of this content, including entire channels, deleting literally billions of views, and some of their most popular, verified accounts. And rightly so.
While it remains to be seen how far YouTube will take their newfound moderation, what remains in December are the less flagrantly horrific algorithmic videos, examples of which are compiled on this playlist. Although they lack the shock of Mickey Mouse getting his ear scissored off, or of Spiderman receiving punitive ass injections from Goku, or of a real-life child being forced to pretend to pee themselves while adults in costumes laugh at them, I think that they retain the gut horror of this content, which is that they embrace the cold antihumanism of clickbait culture as it pivots to video. The most vocal ElsaGate detractors stage this as a problem of saving the children, to the point that they’re elaborating conspiracy theories not dissimilar to PizzaGate – but I think what’s truly scary is that these videos travel in the same patterns as pornography, or Facebook viral videos, or Instagram memes, strategically gaming commercialized media platforms which are themselves designed for maximum libidinal payoff. Their concern for pre-literate babies is a displacement of the fact that we’re all post-literate ones. Won’t somebody think for the children?
Citroen CX Car Advert by Grace Jones and Jean-Paul Goude
1min ● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 1985
Ultimate Muscle Roller Legend by SeriouslyPissedOff
2min ● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2009
Century by Kevin Jerome Everson
7min ● 16mm to HD ● Colour ● Sound ● 2012
Flagrant délit by Madelon Vriesendorp
10min ● 16mm Animation ● Colour ● Sound ● 1985
Squeezing Sorrow From an Ashtray by Steve Reinke
6min ● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 1992
Leftside Rightside by Joan Jonas
9min ● Video ● B&W ● Sound ● 1972
Green Screen Refrigerator by Mark Leckey
20min ● HD Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2010
Birds by Daria Martin
7.5min ● 16mm ● Colour ● Sound ● 2001
Object Relations / Special Effects presents works made by humans that attempt to incorporate nonhuman perspectives and performances.
The Lego Movie by Phil Lord and Chris Miller
1h 41min ● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2014
Gamer by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor
1h 35min ● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2009
RoboCop by Paul Verhoeven
1h 43m ● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 1987
Poto and Cabengo by Jean-Pierre Gorin
1h 13min
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 1980
My Name is Oona by Gunvor Nelson
9m ● 16mm ● B&W ● Sound ● 1969
Innocence by Lucile Hadžihalilović
2h 2m
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 2004
Dark City by Alex Proyas
1h 51m
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 1998
Woman in the Dunes by Hiroshi Teshigahara
2h 27m ● Film ● B&W ● Sound ● 1964
Organized by Katharina Jabs
Funeral Parade of Roses by Toshio Matsumoto
1h 47m ● Film ● B&W ● Sound ● 1969
Atman by Toshio Mastumoto
12m
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 1974
White Hole by Toshio Matsumoto
6m
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 1979
These works focus on the perceptual unfolding of a present moment.
"Frightening, isn't it? The cursed destiny of man. What a mix of cruelty and laughter it is! Let's look forward to the next program. Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye."
-Funeral Parade of Roses
12 pm
Tropical Malady by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
1h 58min
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 2004
1:58 pm
Syndromes and a Century by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
1h 45min
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 2006
2:43 pm
Cemetery of Splendour by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
2h 2min
● Film ● Colour ● Sound ● 2015
5:45 pm
บัวขาว แอโรบิค
Apichatpong Weerasethakul was born in 1970 in Bangkok, where he continues to live while working outside of the strict confines of the Thai film studio system. Several of his films include large aerobics classes in public space. This day long playlist will culminate with an aerobics session that visitors are welcome to participate in.
Hard to be a God by Aleksei Yuryevich German
2h 57min
● Film ● B&W ● Sound ● 2013
This Light recommends that you watch Aleksei Yuryevich German's last film twice back to back.
Organized by James N. Kienitz Wilkins
Robert on His Lunch Break by Dave Andrae
22m
● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2010
Extended Vibration Intercourse by Andres Laracuente
1m
● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2010
Negotiable Instruments by James N. Kienitz Wilkins
3m
● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2011
Lonely Cork Story by Saki Sato
3m
● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2016
Feedback Action Program by Mike Crane
30m
● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2014
Organized by Mia Kerin Pankoski
o_o by eemee
1m
● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2012
CHELSIE
I don't feel the way I'm supposed to feel by Andrew Norman Wilson
Infinite
● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● Undated
Organized in collaboration with Aily Nash
Workers Leaving The Factory by Auguste and Louis Lumière
1m ● 35mm ● B&W ● Silent ● 1895
Workers Leaving the Factory by Harun Farocki
36m ● Video ● Color and B&W ● 1995
Workers Leaving the Googleplex by Andrew Norman Wilson
11m ● HD video ● Color ● Sound ● 2011
The Trainee by Pilvi Takala
13m ● HD video ● Color ● Sound ● 2008
Extracted from the exhibition Image Employment at MoMA PS1 in 2013
Organized in collaboration with Aily Nash
Sack Barrow by Ben Rivers
21m ● 16mm ● Color ● Sound ● 2011
Toymakers by Ben Thorp Brown
14m ● HD Video ● Color ● Sound ● 2014
Unstable Object by Dan Eisenberg
69m ● HD video ● Color ● Sound ● 2011
Strike by Hito Steyerl
30s ● HD video ● Color ● Sound ● 2010
Extracted from the exhibition Image Employment at MoMA PS1 in 2013
Organized in collaboration with Aily Nash
The Financial Crisis by Superflex
12m ● HD video ● Color ● Sound ● 2009
Open Outcry by Ben Thorp Brown
15m ● HD video ● Color ● Sound ● 2013
Unsupported Transit by Zachary Formwalt
14m ● HD video ● Color ● Sound ● 2011
China Town by Lucy Raven
51m ● photographic animation ● Color ● Sound ● 2009
Extracted from the exhibition Image Employment at MoMA PS1 in 2013
One Rotation of This Light is a programme of screenings in the part cinema, part sculpture, This Light by Andrew Norman Wilson. The first screening, Raumdunkel,selected by Fatima Hellberg and Johanna Markert brings together:
Degrees of Blindness by Cerith Wyn Evans
19 min ● SD Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 1988
Far Out by Peter Wächtler
4 min 24 sec ● HD Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2016
All Smiles and Sadness by Anne McGuire
7 min ● SD Video ● B/W ● Sound ● 1999
Vögel sterben by Janis Eckhardt
3 min 27 sec ● HD Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2017
Kim Wilde Auditions by Cerith Wyn Evans
5 min ● SD Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 1995
One Rotation of This Light continues in three cycles, extending over the evening, night and following day, organised and programmed in collaboration with Katharina Jabs and her film seminar at the Academy of Fine Arts, Stuttgart. Over the course of the 24 hours, work will be screened by artists and filmmakers including Cyprien Gaillard, Lucile Hadžihalilović, Brigid McCaffrey and Aleksei Yuryevich German, as well as found footage and stock material, selected from the This Light playlists.
Organized by Mona Varichon
Temps Mort by Mohamed Bourouissa
18m
● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2009
Prisoners Inventions by Temporary Services
variable ● web link ● 2001-ongoing
A Policeman is Walking by Stephen Sutcliffe
1min ● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2009
Terrorists in Love by Chris Kraus
5 min
● Super 8 ● Colour ● Sound ● 1983
Ten Seconds or Greater by Rachel Reupke
15min ● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2010
Yellow Pages by Charles Bernstein and Jon Lovitz
12min ● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 1998
Jim Carrey as Andy Kaufman as Tony Clifton as Jackie Kennedy by Lynne Margulies
13s
● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 1999
Against the Point of View by Clemens von Wedemeyer
18m ● HD video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2016
Vomitstarfinal by Steve Reinke
7min ● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2010
Punctured by William E Jones
5min ● Video ● B&W ● Sound ● 2010
A Policeman is Walking by Stephen Sutcliffe
1min ● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2009
Terrorists in Love by Chris Kraus
5 min
● Super 8 ● Colour ● Sound ● 1983
Ten Seconds or Greater by Rachel Reupke
15min ● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2010
Yellow Pages by Charles Bernstein and Jon Lovitz
12min ● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 1998
Jim Carrey as Andy Kaufman as Tony Clifton as Jackie Kennedy by Lynne Margulies
13s
● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 1999
Against the Point of View by Clemens von Wedemeyer
18m ● HD video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2016
Vomitstarfinal by Steve Reinke
7min ● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2010
Punctured by William E Jones
5min ● Video ● B&W ● Sound ● 2010
Credits Inverted Overdubbed by Nick Bastis
1280×800 feature-length audio-visual program
The Garden of Earthly Delights by Andrew Norman Wilson
6min ● Video ● Colour ● Sound ● 2018
Leontyne Price’s last performance in O Patria Mia (1985)