Video art by Vibeke Sorensen made at Calarts in 1989
El Retiro
HRV
No. 5 Reversal opens with a close up sequence of two women in animated conversation, followed by an aural page/station structure. The film combines elements of horizontal and vertical montage in the soundtrack, using white noise, and radio static as a fragmentation device. The visually striking black and white photography weaves lyrical, pastoral nature with the de- and re- construction of civilization. No. 5 Reversal ends with a filmic signature, an image of its maker framed in front of a window against a backdrop of ruins.
A short, three minute documentary exploring audio recordings from the year 1894 to 1922, layered over home-footage from the year 1920 to 1985, as an indulgent social-commentary on our collective human experience as well as a testament to the everlasting nature of art.
A romance scene, an opening theme, a high-speed train of perception. The tropes and aesthetic of anime are deconstructed and reexamined, the frames accelerated, and blasted into a different realm of the cinematic language.
Inside a computer a space-time is revealed in which image and sound become numbers and motion manifests as rhythm, flow and chaos. This tracking and integration experiment removes the superficial identity of video to detect kinetic disturbances in everyday environment.
Set at an artificial reservoir in North Carolina, RESERVOIR (SEVEN FRAGMENTS) is a meditation on the unnatural histories of the American environment. The film approaches both the cinematic image and the landscape it captures as damaged, estranged things—things adrift in a world of irreparable discord.
A study of light and shadows on a late summer afternoon.
A film of non-Euclidean and symbolically authentic adventures
This newly rediscovered short was created in Jim's home studio in Bethesda, MD around 1961. It is one of several experimental shorts inspired by the music of jazz great Chico Hamilton. At the end, in footage probably shot by Jerry Juhl, Jim demonstrates his working method.
An abstract animated film inspired by the work of jazz musician Chico Hamilton.
Short experimental film by Paul Clipson
Trapped in a surreal prison cell by media racism, a Black artist listens to the radio and learns that liberation comes with a price.
Since the sudden death of her best friend, something extraordinary happens: at noon her best friend returns as a ghost that only she can see. In these ephemeral moments they revive their shared memories.
Sit with Daniel as he meditates on the indescribable nature and feeling of cloud-watching.
In a record of images and sounds, a young HIV+ man recounts his experience on the border between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.”
Experimental short film of colors and lights
A reframing of the classic tale of Narcissus, the director draws on snippets of conversation with a trusted friend to muse on gender and identity. Just as shimmers are difficult to grasp as knowable entities, so does the concept of a gendered self feel unknowable except through reflection. Is it Narcissus that Echo truly longs for, or simply the Knowing he possesses when gazing upon himself?
Aeterna is a movement-based film that explores the feeling of personal insignificance when confronted with the complexity of human existence. By combining choreography and cinematography, the film plays with distorting the human form, offering a visual representation of our place in the world.