Re: Ephermal filmworks? History?

From: Tony Conrad (email suppressed)
Date: Mon Mar 02 2009 - 08:56:32 PST


This inquiry raises interesting questions concerning the categorization of media
works that might previously have been swept together under the term "paracinema".

But rather than functioning as cinema (or as performance), Anders' work inhabits
a network, and belongs in the historical tradition of telephone calls. As I have
been in the habit of claiming, regarding the relation between telephone calls and
cultural capital, there has arguably heretofore been only one "great" phone call
-- Bell's first one. The other trillions are stuck on a sliding scale of
irrelevance. Perhaps the networking of cellphone images will inflect this
condition. The Rodney King episode suggests that this may happen chiefly when
phones become video cameras first and telephones only secondarily.

In cinema history there are certainly thousands of films that have been destroyed
at various stages, primarily because they could not achieve distribution. But
Anders wishes his work to be regarded neither as phone calls nor as unsuccessful
films, but in connection with the alternative media tradition. This includes a
lot of curious and diverse "ephemeral" works -- my own "7360 Sukiyaki", made in
the theater and immediately thrown at the screen, among them. These films have
been largely associated with performance, and that is not a factor in Anders'
pieces -- which I would tend therefore to regard as "net art".

There is more writing to be done on these topics, but Anders does not suggest
that his research and historical interest will reach beyond his efforts in art
production.

-------t0ny

On Mon 03/02/09 9:10 AM , Anders/Recycled email suppressed sent:
> Hi all,
>
> I�m doing some research about film works that only exists for a
> shortwhile, films screened once and then destroyed, films made and never
> screened, and so on.
>
> I�m doing some work in this area and are interested
> historically.Would be interested in all your knowledge concerning this subject. Any
> info or pointers much appreciated.
>
> Since 2006 I have released films on the file sharing networks only in
> a project I called P2P ART - The aesthetics of ephemerality.
>
> Art made for - and only available on - the peer to peer networks.
> The original artwork is first shared by the artist until one other
> user has downloaded it.
> After that the artwork will be available for as long as other users share
> it.
> The original file and all the material used to create it are deleted
> by the artist.
> �There�s no original�
>
> Feel free to don�t or download the films, watch it and share it for
> aslong as you like. Or delete it immediately. The aesthetics of
> ephemerality.
>
> Released films:
>
> 080808
> Duration: 8hours8minutes8seconds
> released and deleted 2008/08/08.
>
> Emphasis
> Duration: 60minutes
> released and deleted 2008/03/16.
>
> Transient
> Duration: 45minutes
> released and deleted 2007/09/15.
>
> Filter
> Duration: 73minutes
> released and deleted 2006/09/15.
>
> Currently working on the fifth film titled 090909. A 9hour, 9minute, 9
> seconds long film that will be released and deleted on September 09,
> 2009. Filmed entirely using a mobile phone.
>
> Project url: www.p2p-art.com
> thanks,
> Anders
>
>
> _________________________________________________
> Anders Weberg - Artist and Filmmaker
>
> Recycled Image Studio
> Döbelnsgatan 3A
> S-212 13 Malmö - Sweden
>
> Studio adress:
> Södra Bulltoftavägen 51
> S-212 22 Malmö - Sweden
>
> + 46 736 57 58 69
> (address suppressed)
> ycled.sehttp://www.andersweberg.com
> Before printing this, please think about the environment.
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at om>.
>
>
>
>

__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.