Click HERE to view the video in full screen

My film,"Fox Confessor Brings the Flood," was originally an attempt to capture multiple nuances of movement in nature. I wanted the film to flow in a continuous motion with the objects in it moving at their own pace. I realized that in certain points of the film, some of the images worked powerfully completely still and silent, which ultimately created a strong contrast with the ever crawling, floating, buzzing, and blowing world. The footage of the fox and the repetition of wind and water became a common theme throughout the film without a conscious decision on my part. I collected the footage by simply observing my environment, and the theme slowly invented itself in my work. The title is from an album by one of my favorite artists, Neko Case, which was another idea that revealed itself towards the end of project. The title entirely tied in the underlying story of the film, even though this is not your typical story with a beginning or an ending. It does, however, have familiar characters--the fox, turkeys, a squirrel, crows, dragonflies--yet I made sure to showcase them in a different light through visual manipulations. I wanted the sound in the video to be mostly natural, but also embody an element of oddity. The overall process creating this film was a very natural motion for me, which is precisely the essence of this film.

Dara Birnbaum

Dara Birnbaum is a contemporary artist who works with video technologies. Her works tend to incorporate themes of questioning societal norms, such as gender roles in the institution of popular television. She has background experience with architecture and painting which help her design pictorial representations through an innovative and narrative form. She also helped form part of the feminist art movement.

In her video work, “Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman,” she uses many repetitive clips of imagery and creates a sense of tension and disassociation of time. The clips were extracted from a popular television series, “Wonder Woman,” and Birnbaum manipulates them in a manner to critique society’s delusional representation of women in the mass media. In the beginning of the video, Wonder Woman spins around out of control, while an explosion occurs with every rotation. It’s as if Birnbaum is trying to destroy the limiting mold that women are supposed to fit according to the media and society. Music played a significant role in this work, especially at the end of the video, when the highly sexualized Wonder Woman theme song can be heard and read with the use of scrolling text. I felt like the video, in its entirety, conveys how prominent the male gaze is in the media, even in a show with a supposedly “powerful” female figure.

Another Birnbaum work, “Damnation of Faust,” focuses primarily on gender roles. This work, however, is made with her own footage. She slows down clips, multiplies images in the same frame, and uses box inserts to serve as glimpses into alternate realities. The video was filmed in an inner city atmosphere and shows boys playing basketball, while young girls wearing makeup sit around in clusters talking and flipping their hair. The background sound in the film evokes a very uncomfortable feeling at times. One cannot define past and present, but everyone can relate to the subject at hand—the struggle with personal identify while growing up.

I felt that Birnbaum’s work is successful in evoking a feeling of uneasiness with the viewer. I think her works are meant to make you think critically about your position in society.

VIEW: "Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman"---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2wi2ow6wAY

Artist Statement

I entitled my “fantastic” montage, “Peaceful World.” It consists of bright contrasting colors to give a vibrant and surreal effect. When you look at this work, the viewer immediately knows that there has been manipulation, but I tried to fit the images together in a complimentary manner. I wanted the doves to appear irregular in scale but natural in motion. I positioned one of my doves as if it’s landing on the rock pile that I built in North Carolina. I used a setting on my camera to highlight the blue in the Colorado sky. The clouds and snow compliment the white doves. The tiger lily from my grandmother’s backyard adds a sensational splash of orange to the piece.

I entitled my “realistic” montage, “Small of the Wild.” I wanted to present to the viewer a familiar scene but twist it in an interesting way. The woman walking the miniature elephants is my mother, who often walks down Park Avenue with our small dog. Most people have seen the women who carry their portable pooches in their purses, or even seen them push tiny dogs down the street in strollers. I tried to play on the idea of our society’s obsession with portability and fashion. The viewer is well aware that this is not a realistic scene that they could see at the present time, but in the direction our society is heading—it doesn’t mean that a scene like this could never happen in the future. The absurdity is realistic in both concepts of tiny dogs in strollers as well as tiny elephants on leashes.

"Small of the Wild"

"Peaceful World"

Global Peace Film Festival

The Global Peace Film Festival starts Tuesday, September 22. This will be the 7th year that Rollins has hosted this extraordinary event that is dedicated to the idea that peace is possible on a global scale. My friend, Adrian Cohn, and I collaborated on a film that is featured in the festival this year. It is a short film (music video) titled, "Ideologies (The American Dream Song)." I wrote and performed the song in the video, while Adrian filmed and edited it. The final product turned out to be an interesting integration of both our artistic talents, but above all highlighted a controversial concept--the American Dream.

Visit the site below to find out more about my music video "Ideologies (The American Dream Song)"

http://globalpeace.bside.com/2009/films/ideologiestheamericandreamsong_globalpeace2009

Digital Art: Response to Manovich & Paul Readings

Digital art has been around for decades. It's origin derives not only from artists, but also much of it was influenced by science and technology. It is within this symbiotic relationship where the lines become muddled when attempting to classify digital art through the traditional method. Manovich states that there is this, "assumption that artistic practice can be neatly organized into a small set of distinct mediums..." but in fact, that assumption does not reflect "the actual functioning of culture" (1). Mediums such as photography, film, television, and video are integrated into different forms of presentation using various mediums, and the result is a new artistic category--digital art. The digital revolution brought about an expansion of ideas and perceptions through the interactive characteristics of digital art. "The public or audience becomes a participant in the work... the artist often lays the role of a mediator or facilitator for audiences' interaction with and contribution to the artwork" (Paul 21). I think this interactive aspect of digital art is so important to our culture. With traditional art, there is almost an elitist notion in appreciating a work. Only those who are well-versed and conditioned in traditional art are considered worthy critics. Yet, when art is made to include everyone's input, a whole new kind of dialogue is opened up and cultural boundaries can be explored even further.