NOT ABOUT ART: A sampler of short films by AL RAZUTIS—VISUAL ALCHEMY

NOT ABOUT ART: A sampler of short films by AL RAZUTIS—VISUAL ALCHEMY

1200 N Alvarado St. (@ Sunset Blvd.) Los Angeles, CA.

info@echoparkfilmcenter.org

8 PM

Thursday, June 12 

Celebrating avant-garde, Structuralist, formalist, mythopoeic, Situationist and anarchist influences over nearly 50 years of film-making, Al Razutis is pioneer in film/video hybrids, optical manipulations, radical media performance, holographic and 3-D art practice, and all-around troublemaking. Filmmaker will be in attendance to introduce, comment, and engage with audience on the film-forms, context, and interpretation of film practice outside of art institutions, outside of commercial and popular notions of film as experimental and underground cinema. Al Razutis in person!

http://echoparkfilmcenter.org/

www.alchemists.com
www.xalrazutis.org

Jane Wright

"A series of over 40, 8 minute video landscapes (which can be shown in different combinations, and as an installation) that represent a spiritual experience, meditational, and soothing."

photo from VIVO Media Arts Centre

David Stringer And Mr Colorizer

In the world of DIY video hardware it is quite hard to have done something unusual as the area you are working in is unusual in itself so anything you make appears out of the ordinary anyway

When I stumbled upon David Stringer's site about Mr Colorizer and Mr Animation, it took me a while to notice that the original Mr Colorizer (1975) was valve based !!! thats right vacuum tubes !!! the rest of his system is pretty interesting as well sharing some of the same functionality as the scanimate. Surly a Valve based colouriser is something to be marveled at :)

his youtube is here

Drop Out Video Arts

So here is something super that should happen more  

"Drop Out Video Arts (DOVA) is a newly-founded non-profit organization motivated toward the promotion of experimental video-art in Vancouver, Canada. Previously a tight-nit group of independent artists residing in the Downtown Eastside, DOVA decided to form a non-profit in late 2010 with a goal of bringing this highly collaborative art-form into larger, more publicly accessible venues."

http://dropoutvideo.com/

http://twitter.com/dovasociety

and 

Musi-Video!!!

Here Is something really intriguing an audio visual music television program from 1980s Montreal. The Videos are posted to youtube by marcf5656

I would like to know more about the production of the videos as some of them seem to have a consistent feel and a clever use of effects and an eye for the glitchy and unusual

from Wikipedia

"Musi-Video show was a Music television series which ran on the PBS network in Canadabetween 1980 and 1984. It was a very early example of the format that later would be adopted by the creation of MTV and MuchMusic.

It was the creation of Marc Fontaine, who was also behind the new wave pop groupNudimension. Recorded in Montreal, it featured early 1980s music artists playing live in a studio and early music videos.

In 2008 the Musi-Video brand was revived as a Music publishing label by Marc Fontaine."

ALTERNATE REALITIES

Another gem shown to me from Tom in Canada be sure to check his blog. Last time he sent me this. This time he emailed me to let tell me about in his words...

"There was a show that happened a few weeks back here in Vancouver based around audiovisual performances by artists or bands. The performer(s) would alter a movie of their choosing, then perform a live soundtrack to the film. It was a great experience and went over very well, given that the majority of concerts here are mainly without visuals."

and from the facebook event page

"Inspired by No Age's live scoring of the film 'The Bear', Alternate Realities is the reinterpretation of the idea of the soundtrack in film. How the usage of sound can change a mood or intensity within a visual context simply through different applications and fluxuations of that sound. The goal was ultimately to create a piece that exists outside of the original product and ultimately becomes something that exists within it's own dimension, almost as if it would be the version within another reality.
With Performances by:

Josh Stevensen( Magneticring/Von Bingen)
Mel Paget (UUIUU/Mafia Wars/Group Marriage)
Cameron Borthwick ( Marcus Naslund/ Ex- Cheerleader Camp, Golden Touch)
Sean Orr (Tassels)
Tom Whalen & Ben Jacques ( Haunted Beard/GAK)
Rob Ondzik, Evan Mcdowell & Felix Machinations ( Soft Focus)

Entry will be 5 dollars
Doors at 7:30, Performances will start around 8:30-9"

here is a clip from Mel Paget's performance from mafiahunt

sometimes I wish I lived in Canada  

Tom informs me there is another show planed!

FELIX - VIDEO SYNTHESIZER

here's a page about an interesting 70s canadian video synthesizer "Felix" 

"During the period of 1974-76, the 'Felix' videosynthesizer was built from custom printed circuit boards (created by Jim Armstrong) which were comprised of 'adder-multipliers' (analog mixers), 'window comparators and keyers'(separate channel keyers), '16-channel quantizer' module (slicing a signal / ramp according to threshold), a switcher - mixer (re-built by Razutis from a Viscount model) and accessory input/output devices (routing) all housed in a large console (provided by Tom Osborne from surplus equipment at St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver)."

Vtape Video Art Archive

Check out vtape an amazing archive of video art if this is your thing (it is mine) then this will be like searching through a good second hand bookshop or record store!