Lauren Cook: Altitude Zero
Aurelie Doutre: Disko Bay
Barbara Doser & Kurt Hofstetter: You
Breathe Life Into My Bosom, Oleander
Ben Rivers: The Hyrcynium Wood
Wenhua Shi: Endless
Siegfried A. Fruhauf: Mirror Mechanics
Peter Tscherkassky: Instructions for a Light and Sound Machine
Max Hattler: Collision
Michaela Schwentner: Tester
Pekka Sassi: Bird
Chris Coleman: Modern Times
Louise Bourque: L`Eclat du Mal
James Holcombe: Harrow Substation
Frédérique Devaux: K [Desert]
Dariusz Krzeczek: Luukkaankangas
Kirsten Winter & Gerd Gockell: Restored Weekend
Chris Kennedy: 4x8x3
Shon Kim: Latent Sorrow
Matt Hulse: Replay
Ian Helliwell: Get Set
Avantoscope
1
Lauren
Cook: Altitude Zero (2004, USA, 5 min)
Studying
film and video production at the University of Iowa, Cook dissects
and reconstructs layers of film surrounding legendary Atlantic
crossing pilot Amelia Earhart.
Aurelie
Doutre: Disko Bay (2004, Switzerland, 11.5 min)
Using
time lapse to capture the stunning ice fields of Greenland, Doutre
also cuts in hand painted animation sequences for this engaging study
of frozen land and seascapes. Born in France and living in Geneva,
she is active as cinema projectionist and super-8 exponent.
Nancy
Jean Tucker: Returning (2005, USA, 3.5 min)
Living
in Los Angeles, Tucker works in the fields of photography,
television, film and animation. `Returning` features characters and
events portrayed with small details, revealing the beauty, sadness
and futility of life.
Barbara
Doser & Kurt Hofstetter: You Breathe Life Into My Bosom,
Oleander (2005, Austria, 10 min)
The
2 Vienna based artists have collaborated on a number of films
together; this their most recent joint work using audio and video
feedback, continues a strong line of mainly abstract, monochrome
films developed since the mid 1990s, and collected together under the
title `Para Structures`.
Ben
Rivers: The Hyrcynium Wood (2005, Great Britain, 3 min)
Co-founder
of Brighton`s Cinematheque, Ben regularly shoots and hand processes
b&w 16mm film, as in this newly completed work shot in `scope in
Sussex woods and abandoned farms. Post production was carried out on
computer to salvage the results from the ruined film negative.
Mika
Taanila: Optical Sound (2005, Finland, 6 min)
One
of Finland`s filmic prime movers and Avanto co-founder, Taanila has
based this work on the remarkable `Symphony #2 for Dot Matrix
Printers` by Canadian duo [the user]. All the sounds were
generated only by the printers themselves, operating in unison as an
automatic orchestra.
Wenhua
Shi: Endless (2005, USA/China/Taiwan, 9.5 min)
With
training in medicine, Wenhua Shi began working with sound and film in
his hometown of Wuhan, China. He moved to the USA in 2000 to study at
the University of Colorado under Stan Brakhage.
Siegfried
A Fruhauf: Mirror Mechanics (2005, Austria, 7.5 min)
Working
with film and video since 1993, Fruhauf has subjected short scenes to
complex mirrored transformations, using multiple superimpositions,
repetition and distortion. Jürgen Gruber has provided a
fitting soundtrack with brooding electronics and feedback.
Avantoscope
1 will be screened in the Kiasma Theatre on Friday 18 November at 14.00 hours.
Avantoscope 2
Peter
Tscherkassky: Instructions for a Light and Sound Machine (2005,
Austria, 17 min)
Using
spaghetti western sequences, Vienna born Tscherkassky fragments and
reassembles shots to create and disrupt cinematic tensions.
Experimenting with film material for over 2 decades, his stunning
`Outer Space` from 1999, was a multiple award winner.
Max
Hattler: Collision (2005, Great Britain, 2.5 min)
London
based and studying at the Royal College of Art, Hattler has created a
pithy animation based on the interweaving and metamorphosis of the
colours and patterns of national flags.
Michaela
Schwentner: Tester (2005, Austria, 5.5 min)
Teaching
at the University of Arts, Linz, Schwentner has worked in different
environments including galleries, concert halls and club spaces. Here
she has translated the music of Radian into an abstract music
video, using evolving square and rectangular windows.
Pekka
Sassi: Bird (2004, Finland, 2.5 min)
A
consistent Avanto contributor and a leading player in Helsinki`s
experimental film scene, Sassi`s prolific output has seen him working
with film, video and installation based art. This film features loops
and superimpositions, and a powerful electronic soundtrack.
Carsten
Nicolai: Spray (2005, Germany, 8 min)
Berlin
based artist and Raster-Noton label co-founder, Nicolai has regularly
explored the flow of micro information in his work. Derived from his
installation `Spray`, the video incorporates references to
intelligence gathering and the Stealth bomber.
Chris
Coleman: Modern Times (2004, USA, 3 min)
Using
the type of flat graphic style found in government safety brochures,
this interpretation of the Chaplin theme looks at industrialised
societies` problems from a 21st century perspective. In
the age of infotainment and 24 hour surveillance, confusion and
anxiety are starkly depicted.
Louise
Bourque: L`Eclat du Mal (2005, Canada, 6 min)
Boston
based French-Canadian, Bourque creates intensely personal hand
crafted works, often incorporating and manipulating old family home
movies, found footage and newly shot film.
James
Holcombe: Harrow Substation (2005, Great Britain, 3.5 min)
Shooting
invariably with super-8, and running regular workshops in hand
processing, James is London based and working at the no.w.here film
production centre. Here he applies his kinetic stop frame style to an
electricity substation, in this blow-up to 16mm with Wasp synth
soundtrack.
Dirk
de Bruyn: 2nd Hand Cinema (2004, Australia, 6 min)
Dirk
has worked consistently with experimental film over the last 30
years, and was a member of the Melbourne Super 8 Film Group. Here he
celebrates cinematic detritus; discarded films, bits of soundtrack –
all combined with direct animation, using stamps, food dyes and
scratched and drawn on shapes.
Avantoscope
2 will be screened in the Kiasma Theatre on Saturday 19 November at 19.00 hours.
Avantoscope 3
Frédérique
Devaux: K [Desert] (2004, France, 5 min)
Devaux`s
films regularly include direct manipulation of the film stock, using
8, 16 and 35mm gauges. With hands-on methods such as drawing, gluing
and stitching, the results are further processed through detailed
optical printing.
Dariusz
Krzeczek: Luukkaankangas (2004, Austria, 7 min)
A
simple view of a stretch of road, appearing on 12,000 webcam
photographs taken by the Finnish highways administration, is
transformed through the compression of time and variations in light
and weather patterns.
Kirsten
Winter & Gerd Gockell: Restored Weekend (2004,
Germany/Switzerland, 5 min)
This
collaboration represents a “rediscovered” visual
accompaniment to Walter Ruttmann`s groundbreaking 1930 audio collage
`Weekend`, (presented at Avanto `04 in `Film Without Film`).
Chris
Kennedy: 4x8x3 (2004, Canada, 3 min)
A
stalwart of the Toronto Images Festival, Kennedy here makes
interesting use of unsplit standard 8mm movie film, played back via
16mm projection for 4 way multi-image action.
Shon
Kim: Latent Sorrow (2005, USA, 3.5 min)
An
animated fusion of abstraction with character and narrative elements,
and a certain macabre sensibility…
Matt
Hulse: Replay (2005, Great Britain, 9 min)
The
British artist takes his super-8 camera and musicassette onto the
streets of Vienna and Dresden to record this episodic journey. A
special commission from the Rotterdam Film Festival, responding
directly to the soundtrack by David Shea.
Ian
Helliwell: Get Set (2005, Great Britain, 3.5 min)
A
direct animation film using clear super-8 covered with ink and
overlaid with various Letraset shapes. Made over a period of 3 years,
Helliwell has employed his home-made electronic generators and an
improvisation on toy organ, for the soundtrack.
Augustin
Gimel: Le Postulat d`Euclide (2004, Germany, 10 min)
Paris
based Gimel`s films are characterised by strong technical realisation
and a natural interweaving of film and video technologies.
Tina
Frank: Chronomops (2004, Austria, 2 min)
Accompanied
by music from General Magic, `Chronomops` is a vibrant
abstract field of multicoloured bars and lines constantly in motion,
created with precision and admirable brevity.
Witkacy:
Kuleshov`s Cabinet (2005, Canada, 5 min)
From
a selection of 4 found footage films, Allan Brown aka Witkacy,
rhythmically edits and tightly connects image and sound. The title of
the film refers to Lev Kuleshov, whose theory states that successive
but unrelated images are connected and given meaning by the viewer.
Avantoscope
3 will be screened in the Kiasma Theatre on Sunday 20 November at 15.00 hours.
Avantoscope programming and programme notes: Ian Helliwell
Augustin Gimel: Le Postulat d`Euclide
Tina Frank: Chronomops
Witkacy: Kuleshov`s Cabinet
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