Stan Brakhage: Expanding the Language of Film, Frame by Frame

Stan Brakhage: Expanding the Language of Film, Frame by Frame

One may read infinite interviews with independent filmmakers whining about making a $3,000,000 film on a $750,000 budget, but can we really pity them after we consider how Stan Brakhage (1933-2003) expanded the creative potential of the entire medium using nothing but blank film stock and some felt tip markers? The immensely influential filmmaker completed over 300 films while living a low budget life, working with amateur equipment and discards. His films take us to the extremes of our emotional states while dismissing the tedium of narrative structure. He has opened the doors to new understandings of human experience to all willing to accept his art.

One of the Greatest Men of All Time

One of the Greatest Men of All Time

 

Douglas Engelbart (1925-2013), whose vision of collaboration using computer technology to help solve the urgent and complex problems of all of humanity, died on July 2, 2013. His comrades believed that his ideas were never fully realized due to his ideas and generosity of spirit. For example, he resisted patenting the "mouse" he'd invented and it eventually fell into the public domain. The robotic rigidity of institutions is also to blame -- most powerful technology companies in American relegated him to R&D. Ted Nelson, professor and inventor of the first hypertext project, delivered Engelbart's eulogy on December 9, 2013. In his tearful delivery, he said the "...real ashes to be mourned are the ashes of Doug’s great dreams and vision, that we dance around in the costume party of fonts that swept aside his ideas of structure and collaboration...Perhaps his notion of accelerating collaboration and cooperation was a pipe dream in this dirty world of organizational politics, jockeying and backstabbing and euphemizing evil." Engelbart articulated his ideas for collaboration publicly in what is known as The Mother of all Demos delivered on December 9, 1968, nearly half a century ago. Some of what he described is still in the process of being realized in commercial forms such as Skype, Google Docs, and more.

Storing files on EditShare and your Personal External Drive

The Film Studies EditShare Media Server is the place to store video and audio media for your classes in Hurvis 013. Below is a video explaining how to log in. Students enrolled in a video production class, such as ART 240 (FIST 240), are automatically allocated class media storage space on the Server, which can be accessed from all work stations in the Hurvis editing labs. Student's personal computers can NOT access the server space! Students are strongly encouraged to frequently back up all files stored on EditShare to their personal external drive.

NOTE: All files stored on EditShare will be cleared one week after the end of the term.

Quinoa or Green Curry; Digital Processes final projects

Monday, June 9, 2014

3:00 PM - 5:30 PM

Warch Campus Center Cinema

New media projects by 14 ART 340/540 Digital Processes students recovering from an encounter with Nicolas Bourriaud's Relational Aesthetics, "a set of artistic practices which take as their theoretical and practical point of departure the whole of human relations and their social context, rather than an independent and private space."

Christopher Moore- LUSTER media is an online mixed-media platform meant to showcase the diverse art forms that LU students create. 

Charlie Mann- Urban Street Art Independent Study documented through video and slides.

Rachel Wilke- The Love(less) Workshop is a video documentation of an event where students met in a contrived setting, individually wrote one break-up letter and one love letter, and were subsequently interviewed. The goal of this project was to break social barriers by encouraging vulnerability and openness in a social setting. 

Jade Peterson- The Ephemeral Tattoo was an event (in an attempt at understanding relational aesthetics) with a resulting experimental film that documented the experience of the human body as a canvas.  

 Erin Davis- igne natura renovatur integra is a video that juxtaposes scenes of burning paper cranes with scenes of the brutality of nature to mimic the ongoing cycle of violence and rebirth. 

Xian Qu- Voyager No.3 is a video piece that pays tribute to the Voyager 1 NASA spacecraft that just entered the interstellar space.  The original video was taken at an illumination event that titled "the Universe" and then adapted and edited with other audio pieces.

Kate Siakpere- LU’s Top Model is a mockumentary send-up of the popular reality television show, “America’s Next Top Model”. In this mini episode, five Lawrentians compete to win the title of LU’s Top Model. 

Ariel Garcia- Barb Talks is a mockumentary-type introduction to the wonderful Pastor Jackie who unfortunately is raptured before we get a chance to meet her.  All in drag, of course.

Amber Latimer- House Party is a music video that captures the talent of two musicians and combines both artists’ unique styles in order to portray a twist on the typical 'house party'.  

Laura Udelson-  If Venus had a Penis is a contemporary interpretation of religious icons and the portrayal of women in the Western Art History tradition. The suite of images treat media, the artificially produced, and stimulation overload as devotion-worthy.

Alexander Babbitt- Water Whole is a digital video with accompanying soundscape that is inspired by predictions of global water shortage. 

Shea Love- Where I'm From is a mini audio and physical chapbook exploring stories of home. It is an open-line for intimacy which uncovers bits about the artist's identities and experiences that shape her perspective and the way one fits within a community.

Brosie- Mapping Anticipated Carpal Tunnel is a portfolio of digital images that document the patterns and paths that people's fingers leave on their smart phone screens.

SarahJane Rennick- The Gr8 Raccoon Queen will Reign in my Heart 5ever is a digital video about sitting in a 24-hour IHOP in Chicago and thinking about your future.

Emma Moss- Convection Conception is a performance art event about life and bread.

Little Richard rocks our world (more than we can imagine)

Little Richard Austin, TX 1975

© Stephanie Chernikowski

Little Richard backstage at the Ritz Theatre in Austin, TX 

Richard's influence on singers, musicians, filmmakers, drag performers, and artists is near to incomprehensible, especially given that he only produced two charting LPs and three US top ten singles during the course of his on again, off again career. It extends to performers as unlikely as Bob Dylan (Robert Zimmerman)...

 And to the obvious...

This is what it's all about...

Film Buffs Start Revolution

The Situationists played a influential role in the May 1968 uprisings in France. As a small collective of artists and thinkers, their ideas about excesses in society and political power dynamics spread like wildfire, causing occupations and strikes that effectively shut down the entire country for two weeks. Although they officially disbanded in 1972 their influence can be seen in movements as diverse as British Punk and Occupy Wall Street.

                                         

Joseph Beuys Wants You!

The huge idea here is that Art can be everywhere, always, making every life experience a heightened, enriching, nurturing event. That everyone can participate in and comprehend. That can enlighten us and save our planet from destruction by humankind.