Poetry in motion: A video weblog

Saturday, June 13, 2009

The Lost Tribes of New York City



Directed by CAROLYN and ANDY LONDON

BARR: First song



Artist BRENDEN FOWLER'S spoken word project BARR performed last night at the New Museum, NYC, where he also has work in the YOUNGER THAN JESUS generational exhibit up now.

This video was made by DAVID HORVITZ.

Alex Bag, first tape



Video artist ALEX BAG got her start producing videos for public access television. After getting kicked off the airwaves (twice), she found her distribution home among the art galleries, where she's been making her living lampooning the very world that accepts her.

Her first tape, and only one available for viewing, is from 1995, and includes BAG's signature one-woman performances, incuding the evolution of an SVA student. It's worth watching all the way through. I especially love the "Seudehead" segment.

Concerning distribution and exhibition, it's my belief that BAG's anarchist art world vision is being subsumed by the art world itself. ALEX: Break free and distribute your own work, either online or by DVD. You have an audience waiting for you when you do.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Gremlins vs the Avant-Garde

When I first saw GREMLINS 2 at a movie theater as a kid, it included this now famous scene involving HULK HOGAN. In a bold, self-described "anarchist," move, filmmaker JOE DANTE included a scene in which it appears the film is broken (by Gremlins in our projection booth!), and the HULK has to convince them to start it again:



When the movie was put out on home video, the filmmakers decided to put together a scene in which it appeared that gremlins had taken over the video feed, and, um, started flipping channels, I guess:



Of course, GREMLINS 2 wasn't the first film to "break the fourth wall," but certainly it is one of the most high profile.
Cheers to anarchy in Hollywood!