screen grab

With minimalist imagery, this video short examines the relationship between viewer, creator, and consumer. Who is who? is the visual question. On second viewing, and close listening, the audio text (at least the English portion) was deciphered as an invocation of ethereal dimensions. (It turns out to be "The Liturgy to Autologos, God of Madness," from Dialogues in Limbo by George Santayana.) The other audio track is in from a German reportage on art NordRhein Westfahlen and is not really translatable.

The irritation that arises in the seeing experience is paralleled by the audio discomfort. Somewhere between these experiences one might begin to ponder, Revolution and Madness: what ties these two elements together? Is it the maker or the viewer? Or are they tied together in any way other than the simple exigencies of the constructive technique of the artist? That is, a random collapse of images with audio into a meaningful/meaningless melange of techno-blah-blah-blah? Perhaps the gist lies in what is not shown. Well, the eyes and the nose of somebody (the artist?) are shown, with and without sunglasses. This is evidently not the revolution. The invocation to the void removes the glasses for a time. So what? Somewhere behind the eyes lies both the madness and the revolution, and perhaps the artist is incapable of revealing or expressing these elements of evolutionary existence through the media available to him. Or, perhaps, the general video audience is unable to make revolutionary conclusions from a medium that is dangerously close to complete co-option by a defective and spirit-less culture.

Video as a means to catalyse social transformation is seldom approached from a highly critical viewpoint. Most video-artists assume that a synergetic relationship exists between the visual medium and the audience waiting to be enlightened. And even when it is the case, the medium has an uncanny ability to co-opt even the most aggressive creations simply by the relationship that it has to the dominant aristocracy of technology. Before the medium can be used as a tool in the (r)evolution, its social position must be fully understood. It is my goal to explore the limits of visual/audio subversion (discomfort?) within the medium to better apply its unique characteristics in the cause of positive social change.

04:44, U-matic NTSC, stereo audio, 1989.
Raw footage used in this video was acquired direct in the studio using a JVC VHS camera. There was no subsequent processing other than the addition of sound and minimal editing to structure the overall format. Titles were generated on the Fairlight. One audio track for the central bridge was mixed down from a live reading of "The Liturgy to Autologos, God of Madness," by George Santayana utilizing a feedback loop to add a 60-cycle overtone. The second track was acquired from a PAL tape (thus the speed of the voice) interview with Hans Werner Berretz, the founder of the art group Avantiere, discussing the goals of international art collaboration.
Countries of production: USA