Disengaging to Engage

After Laura Mark's presentation on Monday, a few things sank in to my mind that I felt were worth sharing with everyone. My ideas relate to experimental film by trying to define what we are doing when creating experimental film.

In the film "Vacuum" by Adel Abidin, we watch a man take a vacuum out on to a frozen lake and begin vacuuming snow. The point that the artist was trying to make by this video is mystifying. But to demystify this mystery for myself, a thought ran through my head, "Engaging by disengaging." I'm not sure how I came across this idea, but I believe that it is very relevant to the video. Basically, my thoughts were that when we watch experimental films, is it the point of the artist to engage the viewers by showing them something they don't understand? In this sense, the viewer is shown a perplexing barrage of imagery and auditory information that form a puzzle for the viewer to solve. This makes the viewer's senses become heightened and make them more aware of even minute details within the film. In "Vacuum" I feel we (the audience) are left to interpret the film for what we ourselves think, I'm not sure if any one answer is correct. Maybe the idea is to be incorrect, forcing ourselves to think of numerous answers to the problem - all of which can help explain different aspects of the film, in the hopes that we do come to some sort of conclusion or interpretation.

Another idea that ran through my head that seemed to be enlightening to me was, "Believing is seeing. Seeing is believing." Again, I don't know how it popped into my head, but during the film "In This House" by Akram Zaatari, we are shown video clips of a man digging a hole in the ground next to a house. He is surrounded by men that we cannot see. The man holding the camera is told by the people surrounding him to not shoot their faces. This leaves a little mystery behind as to why they do not want their faces shown, furthermore what else are they not showing us? The obvious answer seems to be that the people who requested their faces not be shown in the film are trying to avoid some sort of persecution for being there and taking part in this dig. But what if there is another reason? People's faces get replaced by anonymous tone sounds that signify which person is speaking, creating the feeling of a high-tech computer or even a computer game. With two frames in the picture, one showing evidence and other items that have some sort of significance to the dig and why it took place - again the feeling of a confidential video file being portrayed to a person that shouldn't be seeing it, is conveyed.

After the presentation given by Laura Marks, I was content with the understanding that sometimes artists are forced to disassemble something, in order to recreate it in different lights or perspectives. I enjoy this idea that the death of an idea can lead to the rebirth of an entirely new state of thinking. I believe that this is the driving force in many of art installations. Creating by destroying - in itself - seems to be an art.

So remember, next time you are struggling to see something new from something you have been looking at for years, maybe decades. Disassemble it in your mind... destroy it... let it rebirth a new concept, a perspective, a light. This is art.

More about Jonas Mekas

Today I read an article about an interview with Jonas Mekas (http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/01/17/mekas_interview.html). I found out a lot of interesting things about him and his life. How he used to be involved with underground anti-Nazi movements and the likes. I realized how much of an impact film, especially experimental film (or avant-garde), made his life and his way of thinking. The amount of ground he has covered as a film maker is truly inspirational.

I also wanted to share with everyone, a little bit of poetry that Jonas Mekas wrote. I believe its very deep and profound, searching to describe his feelings about film and his life. About his struggle to speak to people that are not supposed to hear what he has to say.

FROM NOWHERE:  1

I will speak
only
in pronouns,
verbs,
things,
possessive
adjectives,
such as
wide,
blue,
fragrant.

Translated by Vyt Bakaitis



FROM NOWHERE:  2

There is the word,
and music
of the word.

And there are
things,
dreams
and
images.

I pick
one thing,
the
thing itself
is
poetry,
dream
and
reality:

ars
poetica.

Translated by Vyt Bakaitis



FROM NOWHERE:  3

The one
desire I have:

to say
the word
for real,

palpable,
plain,

and speak
straight to the heart
of those
still able
to hear,
way under
the ice.

Translated by Vyt Bakaitis

A Daily Diary

The idea of keeping a daily account of anything is a great concept. Personal journals are something that grab my attention and are something I consider to be of great importance. Many artists find inspiration from a collection of thoughts and ideas, often times journals are like a gold mine filled with them.

Video diaries are something we explored recently in class. I am glad we covered this area, because I believe that they hold so much value, both physically and aesthetically. In Jonas Mekas' diary, we got to actually accompany him on a Monday morning walk through a field with his dogs. I thought it was a unique experience because I always wondered what the morning sun rise looks like in Europe...

... Anyway, people, keep journals, they are massive help and inspiration to us all.

The Illusion of Dreaming and "Gently Down The Stream"

Disorienting disconnected thoughts of perversion, sexuality, homosexuality, and animal-like rage.

These are the feelings conveyed by the imagery that plastered itself across the screen in this film. Flickering lights and blips of swimming, a woman, water, light, faces, rowing, seals, thrashing, religious iconography and birds: all developing a landscape of thought that represents a dream-like state.

The words etched into the film, "I saw a woman..." and "saw her pubic hair." They all seemed to not have any connection to the images being forced upon the viewer, except that of raw and thoughtless feelings and portrayal of what may have been seen by the person dreaming it. Besides simples connections of the word 'woman' and actually seeing a woman, I got the feeling that it was more than just the sum of all its parts. I felt that the connection was deeper. It was meant to suck you in, to make you dream this... or as if you already had. Many of our own dreams, as hard as we try to remember them, seem an illusion of coherence, when really they are far from it. I felt when staring at the flickering reflections of light on a swimming pool that is being disturbed by a woman gracefully and slowly swimming, that I was almost gliding through a liquid collection of thought, which could somehow represent a dream. The imagery of religious icons and the words about entering a church, were meant to delve into an intense feeling that all are familiar with. The feeling of a being or power greater than ourselves.

It is these connections that made the film seem so raw. It almost tapped into emotions that we all cycle through in our own dreams. Including thoughts of sexuality, of making love. The intensity of the words "moans... Howls.... ROARS," seemed to grab the actual essence of the imagery being proposed: a woman in a bathing suit, her swimming through waters that engulf her, flashes of light and things that cannot be explained. Holes that were punched in film helped to disorient the viewer. They flicker and flash, dizzying me, and pull me into a trance.

In summation, the words reflected much of the imagery that was shown. However, the imagery was limited and left to be developed by the viewer in their own mind. The thoughts were etched into the film. And even though they were flickering and dancing about on the screen, they left resonating meanings of what was to be seen and interpreted by the images. The purpose of this, I believe, to help them enter what was an illusion of a dream state and explore the thoughts of Su Friedrich when she created this film, disoriented as they may be.

Mental? or Experimental?

I feel experimental films are a way of exploring reactions of the viewer to specific visual/auditory images. Many of the films that we have watched in our classes pertain to this. I bet that if the creator's of these films had the chance to sit in on one of our classes to see how and why the audience reacts the way it does, they would be there without a moment's hesitation.

In terms of whether or not an experimental film can have a narrative, I say sure, why not? Narrative in itself means, the telling of a story, and I believe these films can do that. However, its whether or not these story's are obvious that we notice them or not. I think, even if the film is basically an account of someone's experiments playing with film, images, audio, and the audience's perception of any one of these aspects, it is still proof of a narrative. It can tell the story of what the film maker is learning, or their thought process while creating and shooting their next scene in a film.

I also believe that a narrative can become an experimental film, in a vice-versa sense. Just because a film has a narrative, doesn't mean that it cannot contain any form of experimenting. Whether it be the use of a color, a specific sound or dialog, all can be played with to see the outcome (thus making it experimental). One of my favorite examples of this is Sin City, with the use of overtones of red throughout a specific story in the film, it definitely played with the viewer's mind and made them aware of the impact of color, even by itself, can make on an audience.

I feel that many of these films are important, though not all. It really depends on what the artist decided to do with the information that these experimental films produced. As I stated previously, I am sure any one of the artists that created the films that we watched, would love to sit in and watch the audience's reaction. I believe, for good reason. The data that can be obtained from the audience (ie, if a specific color can convey a specific feeling the audience, or if a specific Beats Per Minute in a music sequence can almost in effect control a viewer's heart beat) is invaluable. But the only time that that data can live up to its worth, is if it is utilized in subsequent films to help control the impact, feeling and message that a movie can convey. The value of experimental films, can mostly be seen in the cause and effect relationships that exist between certain elements of film and an audience member's reaction.

... Signing Out