Pipilotti Rist and Ryan Trecartin

Pipilotti Rist

"I'm Not the Girl Who Misses Much"
This video is a performance art piece enhanced by video art techniques such as the speeding and slowing down of the video and audio. The way that we perceive the video is changed by whether the performance is fast-forwarded or slowed down. When fast-forwarded, it seems manic and almost child-like. Also, when the screen slowly stops the frame from left to right as she is moving, she is creating a whole new image; she is using her own performance combined with video art techniques to use the television screen as a canvas for her art. The reveal at the end that she was referencing the well-known Beatles song "Happiness is a Warm Gun" was a surprise to me because I didn't recognize it with the audio sped up.

"Sexy Sad I"
Another reference to a Beatles song; this time it is "Sexy Sadie" and the video seems to play a cover version and transition into the original version and back again. It starts with a green and black animation and then goes into a video of a naked man frolicking in the woods without showing his complete face. Then it shows four hands making signs. Later on, it shows footage of the naked man but upside and black and white. I don't really know what to make of this piece.

"(Entlastungen) Pipilottis Fehler"
Starts with close up shots of random surroundings with a blur effect applied. Music that features ascending notes are played. We see a woman walking and then the camera starts going around and around with the blur effect, creating a swirl of red and green on the video screen. When the music stops on a note, the video frame freezes. The video goes black and a voice with echo is heard. When music comes in, there is video that is played that syncs with it. The video has lines going across it reminiscent of a VCR. Then the music keeps on playing with video of a person from head to toe, but every time the music stops, the person falls to the ground. This is done in different locations each time. This keeps on going with different images showing up when the music is playing but the consistent theme is that the person falls every time the music stops (ex. flat color, fast-forward of eating). The video is overwhelmed by lines.

"Als der Bruder meiner Mutter geboren wurde, duftete es nach wilden Birnenbluten vor dem braungebrannten Sims"
The camera is twirling around to a snowy area while a superimposed video screen is present near the bottom of the screen. The music seems upbeat but the footage playing in the tiny video screen transitions from random shots of birds to a woman giving birth.

"Pickelporno"

Utilizes close-ups a woman's feet in high heels. Music is playing and she approaches a man and they bow to each other. Where it really gets interesting is when is uses a green screen with images of blue and purple leaves on it while a camera rotates around a man; it makes it look like he is floating around in this psychedelic world. The piece continues with the extreme close-ups such as the man's finger. A bass groove is featured prominently in this section.

Ryan Trecartin

"Kitchen Girl"

A woman is heard shrieking and walking up stairs with a baby carriage/dolly. She is seen talking to her plush toys. She plugs in a microphone and claps are heard when she puts food into a pot. She throws one of the plush toys out of the window and continues to yell. I thought this video was absolutely demented.

Video Art Project

This project was inspired by David Hall's piece, "This is a Television Receiver," in which he presented a video and subsequently filmed a television screen playing the video and filmed the recording of the television screen playing that video and so on, until the image of the television screen at the end is distorted. For my project, I wanted the concept to be about the errors in recollection of events in the past. When relating events to each other, we tend to embellish or distort the events to our own liking or to how we see fit. Like in the game of telephone, events can resemble something different than it was originally with the passage of time. I wanted each video to be a little different from the one preceding it but with the core actions being performed in each to be the same. I used a recording of a video meant to be played in reverse that a friend and I made a while ago as the basis of my project. Then, I wanted us to reenact the actions but with different clothes each time. After we made videos of each reenactment, the videos were played on his laptop and I recorded that. With each consecutive video, I recorded the recording. This made it so by the fifth video, the actions on the screen are less clear and is harder to make out; this resembles how the recollection of events changes through time and from person to person and how the actual reality and origins of events become unclear.