lossless

30 april 2008

curated by Rebecca Meyers

THE EXQUISITE HOUR by Phil Solomon 1995, 16mm, 8 min.

THE SNOWMAN by Phil Solomon 1989/1994, 16mm, 14 min.

LOSSLESS #3 and LOSSLESS #4 by Rebecca Baron and Doug Goodwin 2008, video,

WHAT THE WATER SAID 4-6 by David Gatten 2007, 16mm, 17 min.

KRYPTON IS DOOMED by Ken Jacobs 2005, video, 35 min.

rb 09 april 2008

Tonight I'll be presenting a series of works-in-progress that looks at the dematerialization of film into bits, exposing the residual effects of the process that makes file sharing possible. This is work I've done in collaboration with Doug Goodwin, an artist who often works with technology and has a background in computer science. We've just started working as well with Ernst Karel, a sound artist whose work you'll hear in one of the pieces we'll show.

This series marks something of a departure from my other work in several ways – first because it is fully collaborative and second because it is conceived as a body of work. But I've also been thinking about how it relates to my other films and installations which have often dealt with how shifting contexts transform the meaning of images, and how vernacular and sanctioned imagery function particularly in how we relate and understand historical events. There is a relationship here to this new work in that these pieces I'll show you tonight come out of an interest in how images circulate and how their meaning changes as they circulate in new contexts.

Over the years that I've been making films, the changes in moving image technology have been astounding. I continue to work in 16mm film which has not changed very much at all except for the disappearance of options – in terms of available film stocks, labs, and other services. In the digital world, this expansion has happened both on the production and the exhibition sides. Formats and venues have multiplied wildly, making screenings and exhibitions more like live performance than ever. I never know what I'm going to see! Even when I'm presenting my own work.

A few months ago a filmmaker friend recounted that she had recently screened her work in Buenos Aires for the first time. She was happily surprised to find an enthusiastic and knowledgeable young audience for her abstract experimental work. After the screening, she asked a few people how they knew the films. Were they film students? Somewhat shyly they told her that they had downloaded bit torrents of experimental films, including hers, from the Internet. She was both flattered and horrified, as she has closely regulated the distribution of her films, never releasing them on video or any digital format. She asked how the works had gotten on-line. Her fans shrugged. She then asked what had brought them to the theater since they had already seen digital copies of the work. They were quick to respond that they hadn't truly seen the work until that night and were thrilled to experience it as was intended, as light projected through celluloid on a big screen in a theater.

Access to experimental films has been limited by the scarcity of prints and often by filmmakers' careful regulation of viewing conditions and formats. The films have now been released into the wild of the Internet. While for years bootleg tapes, DVDs, and even unauthorized prints have circulated in a relatively contained manner, now high-quality bit torrents are available to anyone with an interest who knows how to look in the world they share with Britney Spears videos, pornography, amateur video diaries and first-run movies.

First we'd like to show the work and let you experience it and after you can ask questions like what do these films have to do with file sharing.

Some of the source materials will be familiar to you. I will say that no special effects have been used. Since this is work-in –progress, we are very interested in your impressions. We are making decisions now about screening format, size, scale, etc. These will be shown together in a gallery setting and the second and third pieces will be stand-alone films.