Blindness: Film by Aras Ozgun

Blindness

by aras ozgun
6:30 mins, Hi8/Betacam, 1996

“This video is an interval between two women’s gazes. First shot is a dialogue between a woman and a man behind the camera that she looks into; “What do you see?” ”—I see you”, ”—My eyes?”, ”—Your face”, ”—All of it?” ”—Everything”, ”—Really?”, and the video gets cut off before her last word. The second gaze belongs to another woman, who paints her face by looking at her reflection on TV, by using the camera as a mirror. The two gazes confront, juxtapose and look into each other.

But, there is a bit more about this video. The first image is an accidental recording of a dialogue between me and Nur, which I discovered in a tape long after our troubled relation ended. Second shot belongs to Cagla, whom I started learning to play with video together in the early 90’s in Ankara. She recorded these images alone at home on a depressed day; she attached the camera to the TV set, sat in front of it and painted her face for hours by looking at her reflection on the screen. When she showed me the video next morning, we were both amazed with the power of images, but didn’t know what to do with the material at all. A few years later, after we separated and she moved to Istanbul, we met again and she sadly told me that there has been a theft at her apartment, her camera bag was stolen with all her tapes in it. I asked this footage, she said that tape was also gone. Two years later, I was looking for somethings in a pile of old VHS tapes, and found a copy of this footage, accidentally dubbed into VHS while copying some other stuff we shot together. The image was weary from dubbing and the passing time; the colors of the make up on her face faded away, the reflection of her eye on the screen on her iris was barely clear behind the dropouts, the overexposed picture was pulsating with the feedback of the light emitting from screen, bending, stretching, tearing. I was fascinated with the tape, I started playing with this ghostly image. I slowed it down to see every dropout, every pulse of the light, every frame of that eye looking at itself. In my own way, I made the video she didn’t have the chance to make.

This is a video about electronic dust sedimenting over layers of time.”
—Aras Ozgun, New York, 2009

Andham Hafez and the Frankenstein Project

About Adham Hafez: Adham Hafez was born in Cairo, where he currently works as a choreographer,
dancer, music composer and singer. His studies began in Western classical music theory, as well as theatre; later he studied opera singing with Professor Neveen Allouba. A graduate of the Modern Dance School in Cairo, he has created dance performances, composed several original sound tracks for dance performances, concerts, sound installations and other musical events and performs in all of his dance creations. He is a grantee of the International Visitors Leadership Program in the United States and was warded First Prize as a young Egyptian Choreographer in the Contemporary Dance Festival Egypt/France 2004,

Themes such as rituals, gender and physical awareness are very prominent in his work. Recently, Hafez has been working on dance research and gender studies, conducting workshops, interviews and writing. Research also inspires his work, as in his piece Transformation created through workshops with the performers around the concept of transformation in performing arts, magical-religious practices and in psychosexual states. Previous works also include: translation and story telling, physical theatre performances, and singing in concerts from Gregorian chants and oratorios to contemporary music.

As a choreographer and a dance performer, Hafez works with the body as a whole, working with its history, identity, conflicts and body language reflected through the contemporary cultural context. As a music composer and a singer, he deals with sound and creation of new sounds, the voice as a means of expression, and abstract use of voice which is usually present in his dance performances. Hafez is currently working on a new sound installation, as well as on a project for contemporary dance documentation.


About Frankenstein: Moving between genres, genders, vocal performances and texts, Adham Hafez sings new songs and performs live electronic works based on original scores by musician Nader Hafez, from the transdisciplinary production “FRANKENSTEIN”. Pop, Opera, Electronic Music, Rap and more mix with the spoken and video-texts, creating a monstrous concert situation

Concept, Live Singing, Electronic Music, Lyrics: Adham Hafez
Original FRANKENSTEIN soundtrack excerpts: Nader Hafez
Recorded Singing: Katja Bosmann
Video: Roby
Photography: Ikon
Text-Video: Adham Hafez
“FRANKENSTEIN” is a transdisciplinary movement-based project exploring notions of monstrosity and body semiotics within contemporary contexts. Produced by Adham Hafez Co. 2009, Co-production: AFAC, Goethe Institut Egypt, Spanish Embassy Egypt. Supported by: Townhouse Gallery, SEE Foundation, TanzFabrik, Hammer Gallery, L’animal a l’esquena.

Low-tech Interactive Installation

Here's an example of an interactive low-tech installation by American artist Bernie Lubell.

Bernie Lubell’s work shows that interactive art in 2009 need not always be digital. He will place not high-tech interfaces or computers but rather analogue, mechanical installations made of wood, springs and rope and driven by muscle power in the exhibition space at V2_

The viewers themselves will operate these massive installations by means of cranks, wheels and pedal mechanisms. The Origins of Innocence is about movement and connectedness, cause and effect. Setting a machine in motion through an innocent action in one place, the visitor is surprised by inexplicable movements, sounds and images in a completely different location. Machines suddenly squeak and creak to life.

Lubell combines various themes in his installations, ranging from personal experiences to a predilection for the 19^th-century industrial age. Thus he refers to the work of Etienne-Jules Marey (1830–1904), a French researcher who was fascinated by human and animal movement and recorded it mechanically using a technology he developed himself, chronophotography. When Lubell suffered heart trouble in 1995, Marey’s studies took on special meaning for Lubell, and the complex relationship between body and machine became the point of departure for his subsequent work. In The Origins of Innocence, the visitor is the heart of the installation.

Lubell previously exhibited at the 2007 Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria, where his work won the Award of Distinction, the prize for the most distinguished interactive work of art.

Please note that the artworks need you to interact with them to make them function, so feel free to pedal, touch, wind and even get inside the artworks, and ask the gallery assistants if you need to know what to do.

This exhibition is organised in partnership with FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) in Liverpool. http://www.fact.co.uk; and is made possible with the support of: Mondriaan Foundation, Dienst Kunst en Cultuur gemeente Rotterdam, SNS Reaal Fonds, Ministerie van OCW and NaDrUk b.v.

Osseus Labyrinth

Please, comment on the video documentation of Osseus Labyrinth's performance.

The video and the interview was made by Aras Ozgun.
The assignment is due for the session on Cyborg Bodies, Nov. 10th.

Osseus Labyrint is a dance/performance collective from San Francisco. This is the video recording of performance made by Osseus Labyrint at New York Downtown Arts Festival in 2000 at Frying Pan, ve Aras Özgün’ün interview with the members of collective, Hannah ve Mark at Tompkins Square Park following their performance.

Undo: Redo in ACAF, Alexandria

15 November 2009:
Opening at ACAF

The Exhibition will present the result of the Undo-Redo workshop conducted by Lebanese media artist and sound performer Tarek Atoui in an attempt to introduce its participants to the diverse and multiple uses of technology in the field of interdisciplinary, visual and sound art.

Over the span of 8 days at ACAF, 5 participants from Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine and Morocco are invited to work with Tarek Atoui on developing and exhibiting an art project for which they will receive the necessary software and hardware equipment.

The workshop is on a project based approach where each participant is assisted in developing a project or an artwork that uses or references these technologies. The projects developed during the workshop will exhibited and/or performed during the UNDO –REDO exhibition held at ACAF 15 – 30 November 2009.


Artists Participants :
Dima Hourani (Palastine)
Hanne Sabier (Moroco)
Roy Samaha (Lebanon)
Aya Tarek (Egypt)
Sara Elias (Egypt)

Tarek Atoui (BIO)
Tarek Atoui was born in Lebanon in 1980 and moved to Paris in 1998 where he studied contemporary and electronic music at the French National Conservatoire of Reims. He currently works in the Netherlands as co-artistic director of the STEIM Studios in Amsterdam and has released his first solo album on the esteemed Mort Aux Vaches series of the Staalplaat label (Amsterdam/Berlin). Atoui is an electro-acoustic musician who initiates and curates multidisciplinary interventions, events, concerts and workshops in Europe and the Middle East. He builds new software for each project he works on and specializes in creating computer tools for interdisciplinary art forms and youth education. He has played and performed at many contemporary art events and festivals in the Middle East and Europe such as the Today's Art Festival (the Hague), Club Transmediale (Berlin), Arborescence (Aix-en-Provence/ Marseille) and Scopitone (Nantes), and is currently the artist in residency at the Sharjah Biennial that has been closely following his work since 2008. Much of Atoui's work references the social and political and presents electronic music and new technologies as powerful tools of expression and identity. A major and pioneering project of this nature was the youth dedicated Empty Cans workshop that took place in summer 2007 in France, Holland, Lebanon and Egypt in partnership with the Today's Art Festival, STEIM, the European Cultural Foundation and the Scopitone festival among others.

The Undo – Redo project has been made possible through the generous support of the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC)

Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum (ACAF) 10 Hussein Hassab Street, Flat 6, Azarita, Alexandria, Egypt, T: +20 (0)3 480 41 45
E: office@acafspace.org
www.acafspace.org

Opening times:
Open during events/exhibitions from 1 – 9 pm, otherwise by appointment only.

'Naked' scanner in airport trial

In relation to our next topic on surveillance, control and the body, there is an article on BBC:

Julie Tolentino Cry of Love - A Labyrinth (In Progress)

A constant and chronic continuation of Tolentino's Cry of Love performance-installation-body art piece(s)

Julie Tolentino is based in New York City. Since 1998, she has created intimate movement-based installations including her solo time-based performances, sculptural endurance events and audio soundscapes. She has also performed with David Rousseve/REALITY Dance Theater, Ron Athey, Ibrahim Quarishi, Helen Paris and Leslie Hill, Margarita Guergue, Amy Pivar, Ori Flomin, Rob Roth and others.

Tolentino's solo performances include upcoming CRY OF LOVE - A Labyrinth (2009) and The Sky Remains the Same: Tolentino Archival Project with various artists. She is currently co-director, with Ron Athey: PRAXIS MOHAVE BOOTCAMP FOR PERFORMANCE ARTISTS, an annual summer ten-day intensive workshop for international artists based in Joshua Tree, California.

She devised Sleep Darling, i will be here when you wake (2007)-sound/performance installation and A TRUE STORY ABOUT TWO PEOPLE (24 hour performance) in the Nomadic New York program curated by Andre Lepecki at the Haus der Kulturen Welt - 50 year anniversary and re-opening in Berlin, Aug 2007. FOR YOU-a one-on-one performance event, at the NGBK Gallery, Berlin, Germany, August 2006; FLUXUS PARTY (2006): Alison Knowles' Wounded Furniture 1965 - recreation with Akiko Ichikawa at Monkey Town Gallery, A True Story About Two People created for Performa 05 Biennial in NYC commissioned by Participant Inc Gallery, NYC FOR YOU (2005) Participant Inc Gallery, NY; Bittersweet (film by David Rousseve) 2005; A Triumph of Night (film by John Brattin 2005); Lost and Found (2005) Curious.com and Lois Weaver, Fierce Festival, Birmingham, NY; The Point of Diminishing Return (2002) at The Kitchen, New York; The Bottom Project (2000) at The Green Room and Contact Theatre, Manchester, England, Somaarts Center, SF, CA, On the Boards, Seattle, WA and The Kitchen, New York
(premiere); Pieces of Mind/Mestiza as Landscape (1999), Birmingham, UK and
Mestiza-que bonitos ojos tienes (1998) at queerupnorth and The Green Room,
Manchester, England, and Tramway, Glasgow, Scotland.

Site-specific solo and large group works include: 10 States to Permanent Sleep
(2002) at The Green Room, Manchester, England; (Untitled) at Le Batofar, Paris,
France; DDSM (1999) at The Green Room, Manchester, England; Pieces of
Mind-Mestiza as Landscape (1999) with live DJ Aldo Hernandez at
DanceExchange, Birmingham, England; and Butterfly Box #3 (1996) at Mother;
Downtown Arts/Simon Says Festival, New York.

Tolentino collaborated with curious.com to create: Blind; Goodnight Larry Joe (dedicated to Lawrence Steger); and Travels/MapSuit (2001). Video appearances include:
Deserter, curious.com; POSITIVE LIFE—Living with AIDS (c. 1993) with Catherine Gund, Aubin Pictures, New York; and Walking with the Dead, c. 1994 - text for John Killacky.
She has collaborated with sound artists: Aldo Hernandez, F100, Bernard Elsmere, Julie Fowells, Johanna Fateman, as well as with Rob Roth/video.

Julie appeared in Red Hot and Blue's "Safe Sex is Hot Sex" poster and Gran
Fury's national bus campaign "Kissing Doesn't Kill" in the early 1990's. She was
highlighted as a Featured Artist in the the national Gay Games '94 ad
campaigns. She appears in Madonna's SEX Book, as well as editorial pages for
OUT Magazine, Visionnaire, The Pink Pages, DIVA, Tetu Paris, Time Out NY,
UK and numerous others. She has performed in films including works
by Barbara Hammer, Tom Kalin, Ella Troyano/Carmelita Tropicana, as well as
music videos of Diamanda Galas, Primus , Madonna, Chaka Khan
(choreographer: Donna Uchizono). She was original founder and creator of the NY
Clit Club (1990) and created performances at sin-a-matic, Los Angeles; Fetish Ball, Los
Angeles; The Altar, The Cock and Pork, NYC and The Schmidt Theater,
Hamburg, Germany (Six Sex Weeks). She curated a comprehensive
performance video installation at the Film Anthology Archives for the '99 MIX
Gay and Lesbian Experimental Film and Video Festival featuring an international
roster of performance artists' works on video and alternate digital media.

Julie was awarded a Franklin Furnace Performance grant 1999-2000 and international
travel support from Arts international in 2000. FOR YOU (2005)
was created in part with support of an ArtsAdmin Agency Bursary (grant and
residency) in London, UK and the generous support of Participant Inc.
She was awarded a Field Space grant from THE FIELD in New York City in June 2007 for
the creation of a new work.

She trained in Massage Therapy at the Pacific School of Oriental Medicine in NY and was the TA to Ed Lamadrid, LAC and LMT, and the school’s program chair. Julie is certified in Thai Medical Massage and is a Watsu® practitioner. She divides time between New York City and Joshua Tree, California.

Paris Is Burning: Questions

How do drag balls have destabilizing effects upon the normative culture in Paris is Burning while they parody the norms of the dominant culture?

How does the camera function in Paris is Burning? Do you agree with Judith Butler that it functions to project the director's lesbian desire upon the gay men?

Who frames the subject of the film - the protagonists or the director?

A few more works...

Hi everybody,

Thanks so much for the links, Angela. I'll be looking forward to the video conferencing.

I wanted to give you the links for a few more video works;

An.kara is a experimental documentary video I made (with Ersan Ocak) in 1996. It is about the urban transformation of Turkey's capital city, Ankara.

Horses Under The Sun is another documentary video. I made this documentary at a sculpture symposium back in 1997 --I thought, as art students you might find it interesting, because it reflects upon the creative processes of the participating artists.

"can i..." is a short video poem I made with excerpts from an interview with philosopher Avital Ronell.

See you on Tuesday, :)

Best,

Aras

Guest speaker via video conferencing: Aras Ozgun

Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Jean Luc Godard

The class will meet on Tuesday, October 27th, at 5 pm, at LIB 1038 in the library.
The topic will be Video and Documentary conducted by Aras Ozgun via video conferencing.

Aras Ozgun is a media artist/scholar living and working in New York. He currently teaches digital media and media theory related graduate courses at the Media Studies Department of the New School University. He is a Ph.D. candidate at Media Studies program of the Sociology Department of New School for Social Research, and he will be completing his Ph.D dissertation on the political economy of contemporary cultural production in the Fall of 2009. His artistic production includes documentary filmmaking, video art, experimental videos, podcasting, etc.

His experimental videos can be found in this website
Individual work to watch, include Still-Life (1999-2000) , White Room
The Man With the Video Camera (1999) and DISTANCE (2003).


Other works are available at Voice of Antartika

If you would like to comment on Aras Ozgun's works, feel free to post your comments on the blog.

No Music in Cats' World

I found this quite amusing and interesting: http://www.vimeo.com/3985019

(Narrated by Nick Cave)

Narcissism and Body Art

Given the feminst critique of body art in the 1960s, how do we deal with the narcissism of Hannah Wilke's performative acts? Do we agree with Amelia Jones that there is a radical potential in such reenactment?

Slovenian Philosopher Slavoj Zizek on Capitalism, Healthcare, Latin American “Populism” and the “Farcical” Financial Crisis

We are drifting from our course, but please, check this out. It's brilliant.

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/10/15/slovenian_philosopher_slavoj_zizek_on_the

Special Aspen Assignment

Please, browse through intermedia and interdisciplinary conceptual journal Aspen produced in the 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Find an audio piece (most pieces are combined with concepts) and comment upon it. Include the title of the work and the number of the issue. Be prepared to expound upon your comments in class:
http://www.ubu.com/aspen/aspen1/index.html

Yvonne Spielman: Vision and Visuality in Electronic Art

To see Acconci's video of 1973- theme Song, please, follow the link: http://www.ubu.com/film/acconci_theme.html

How does the video image/interface coincide with artist's reflection?

What's the difference between Acconic's and Vasulka's methods of working with video images?

What's the difference between digital visuality of the 1960s and analog visuality of the 1980s?

What is simulation in relation to electronic image?

Crary:Techniques of the Observer

What proposes did the study of vision, and specifically, the objective analysis of subjective vision serve to in the 19th century?

In your opinion, what were some of the conditions under which the 19th century subject felt the need to invent new devices of mimetic representation, such as photography.

What are some of the differences between the stereoscope and photography?

How does the stereoscopic device mark a break from the classical observer?

What are some of the repercussions (in terms of the status of the observer as well as the relationship between the body and visiom) of the triumph of photography over the stereoscope?

Assignment: Techniques of Vision-Crary

Please, address the following questions:

What does Crary mean when he says that vision is severed from the human observer?

Who is the observer in modernity? What is the difference between observer and spectator?

“Most of the historically important functions of the human eye are being supplanted by practices that in which visual images no longer have any reference to the position of the observer in a “real” optically perceived world. ”. Do we agree with this statement? What becomes of the body under new technological conditions and regimes of observation?


What does this mean –“Observation is increasingly a question of equivalent sensations and stimuli that have no reference to a spatial location"?

Any other questions, comments?

Assignment: Techniques of Vision-Alberti

Please, address the following questions:
What is a linear perspective as it has been defined by Alberti? When did it emerge and what kind of historical and philosophical implications did it have in terms of the status of the observer?

Assignment 2: Greenaway interview

Please, follow the link and post your comments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t-9qxqdVm4

First Assignment: Vertov

Please, comment on the excerpt of Dziga Vertov's film - Man With the Movie Camera. Any thoughts, interpretations and analysis are welcome.

Follow the link below and post your comments in the comments section:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLykv_SCqj8&feature=related