Wednesday, 6 April 2016
Sunday, 3 April 2016
Split Log 02
The first Friday night at Kino Klub brings a screening of Duet for Cannibals, Susan Sontag’s take on the daftness of politicians and activists alike, starring a young Martin Freeman.
Afterwards, we discuss the movie (a Bunuelian Godard spoof?) with Kino Klub director Sunčica Fradelić. A bottle of slivovitsa is brought through from a smoky backroom where local musician and Kino Klub member Karlo Silic is routinely thrashing his colleagues at some esoteric card game. Such is the dynamic social tension that pulses beneath the surface of the Klub today. I am introduced to their pet Super 8 camera (just when I thought I got out of Super 8) and the possibility of 16mm is also dangled enticingly in front of my slivovitsa-reddened eyes.Saturday is spent flipping through archive DVDs, reading up, wandering through Split: two millennia of settlement, obsessively traced on film by the Klub’s camera-clutching flaneurs who – as my meagre research so far suggests – preferred the body of the polis to cinegraphic contemplation of their own flesh.
Split presents itself as a languid port town in which countless concrete people-boxes have sprouted from beneath the extended back yard of the Diocletian Palace, the still-inhabited stone labyrinth which remains the social hub of the area today. Diocletian was the first Roman Emperor to voluntarily retire, and the people of Split have prided themselves on their laziness ever since. Beyond the palace walls, leather jackets and torn jeans form a triumvirate of distressed patinas with the ubiquitous concrete, and tiny dogs are de rigueur, perhaps as a device to draw attention towards the owners’ footwear, which is universally excellent.
The filmmakers of the Yugoslavian region didn’t get around to making their first feature until 1941. The first Tito-sponsored amateur film clubs popped up as classical Hollywood faltered and Cassavetes itched, the key second generation of the Split chapter emerging as new waves began to roll in Europe and elsewhere. The Klubs thus form a unique node between a very brief classical cinema, and both the cinematic and 'fine' art developments to come (perhaps best exemplified through the legendary figure of Zagreb's Tomislav Gotovac, who was muddled up both with the cinematic 'Black Wave' of the 60s/70s and the art scene over the half-century before his death in 2010).
My early impressions of the early Kino Klub Split filmmakers are of an equipe of antagonistic (not angry), curious (not academic) men (not women) with a self-imposed mission that I am not yet at liberty to disclose. As one band of curators points out, these filmmakers have been categorized under a number of overlapping terms – amateur, experimental, avant-garde, anti-film (mostly their Zagreb cousins), alternative film (Belgrade) – precluding, at least until much more recently, the label of ‘video artists’ because video (and possibly artist) is a dirty word. It is curious, then, to work with the club today, when everyone’s packing video, everyone’s an artist, and the former terms have lost their pungency.
Except, perhaps, for that of amateur, a word that adds legitimacy/democracy to the efforts of the casual masses and pride to the enthusiasts. I’ll continue in that spirit, as a kind of enthusiastic sponge, to be wrung out on film before the end of the month.
Except, perhaps, for that of amateur, a word that adds legitimacy/democracy to the efforts of the casual masses and pride to the enthusiasts. I’ll continue in that spirit, as a kind of enthusiastic sponge, to be wrung out on film before the end of the month.
Friday, 1 April 2016
Split Log 01
Arriving in Split as a self-appointed ‘failed-filmmaker-turned-guru’, I am to undertake a residency at the city’s historic Kino Klub, absorb the artistic and pedagogic technique of the ‘Split school’, and feed back into the loop with a series of workshops drawing on the Institute’s research and my recent studies at film.factory in Sarajevo (just 150 miles east from here). I will also mount some kind of film/video production inspired by or perhaps merely as a distraction from my quasi-academic work.
Secretly, it’s also a mission to make sense of a lot of fragments, scraps, vacuums and glitches that have accumulated in my already-ragged knowledge over the past couple of years and left me feeling more lost than ever. Combined with my pre-existing specialism in misplaced, damaged and impossible films, and a critical exoticism/guilty fetishism for the severity of socialist institutional nomenclature, the project has been christened as the Unfound Peoples Videotechnic.
Seduced by a stray quote from the Klub’s foremost historical figure, Ivan Martinac, I intend to spend the month on the (figurative) beach in a mood of “near insane contemplation”, knitting together some of those fragments into a workable comfort blanket with which to warm myself and those who would join me for breezy Split evenings and British winters to come. Perhaps I will remember to document my progress here.
Secretly, it’s also a mission to make sense of a lot of fragments, scraps, vacuums and glitches that have accumulated in my already-ragged knowledge over the past couple of years and left me feeling more lost than ever. Combined with my pre-existing specialism in misplaced, damaged and impossible films, and a critical exoticism/guilty fetishism for the severity of socialist institutional nomenclature, the project has been christened as the Unfound Peoples Videotechnic.
Seduced by a stray quote from the Klub’s foremost historical figure, Ivan Martinac, I intend to spend the month on the (figurative) beach in a mood of “near insane contemplation”, knitting together some of those fragments into a workable comfort blanket with which to warm myself and those who would join me for breezy Split evenings and British winters to come. Perhaps I will remember to document my progress here.
I have also begun scribbling about some of the variously obscure/classic regional films I'm watching on Letterboxd. I'll try to pin them up here too.
Unfound Peoples Videotechnic at Kino Klub Split: Mr. Cole's new residency
This April, Institute co-founder Graeme Cole will hold an artist’s residency at Kino Klub Split in Croatia, supported by Arts Council England.
Mr. Cole will be introduced to local artists and institutions, and create new film and video works in the context of the rich culture of experimental film and video work of the former Yugoslavia region. He will also hold a series of free workshops for local film and video artists.
During the residency, Mr, Cole will research the structure and function of the Kino Klub model and use his findings to construct a program of workshops and resources to explore the language of artist’s moving image in the age of the ubiquitous lens. This aspect of the project will be developed into an itinerant absurdist filmmaking academy, hereby known as the Unfound Peoples Videotechnic.
Graeme Cole recently completed his MA in Filmmaking at Béla Tarr’s film.factory in Sarajevo, in neighbouring Bosnia & Herzegovina. He is an independent artist-filmmaker whose films have played at festivals all over the world. Working mainly with Super 8 and other consumer formats, Mr Cole’s films take the language of narrative-based genre movies and infect them with an absurdist sensibility. Meta-narratives and open-source laboratory work expand and re-categorize the parameters of his cardboard and fog universe.
Kino Klub Split was established in 1952 and its activity is recognized in public as one of the original entries in the history of Croatian non-professional, alternative, amateur cinematography. Kino Klub organizes weekly screenings and boasts a classical film school program covering audio-visual media, new media, copyright and amateur film and computer animation. The club cultivates an atmosphere conducive to creative growth, freedom of opinion and expression, and the conditions for free circulation and exchange of ideas and experiences.
Mr. Cole’s project is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
For more information on the April 2016 workshops and how to apply, please read on:
Mr. Cole will be introduced to local artists and institutions, and create new film and video works in the context of the rich culture of experimental film and video work of the former Yugoslavia region. He will also hold a series of free workshops for local film and video artists.
During the residency, Mr, Cole will research the structure and function of the Kino Klub model and use his findings to construct a program of workshops and resources to explore the language of artist’s moving image in the age of the ubiquitous lens. This aspect of the project will be developed into an itinerant absurdist filmmaking academy, hereby known as the Unfound Peoples Videotechnic.
Graeme Cole recently completed his MA in Filmmaking at Béla Tarr’s film.factory in Sarajevo, in neighbouring Bosnia & Herzegovina. He is an independent artist-filmmaker whose films have played at festivals all over the world. Working mainly with Super 8 and other consumer formats, Mr Cole’s films take the language of narrative-based genre movies and infect them with an absurdist sensibility. Meta-narratives and open-source laboratory work expand and re-categorize the parameters of his cardboard and fog universe.
Kino Klub Split was established in 1952 and its activity is recognized in public as one of the original entries in the history of Croatian non-professional, alternative, amateur cinematography. Kino Klub organizes weekly screenings and boasts a classical film school program covering audio-visual media, new media, copyright and amateur film and computer animation. The club cultivates an atmosphere conducive to creative growth, freedom of opinion and expression, and the conditions for free circulation and exchange of ideas and experiences.
Mr. Cole’s project is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
For more information on the April 2016 workshops and how to apply, please read on:
UNFOUND PEOPLES VIDEOTECHNIC presents
(Hrvatski)
UPV Videomaker’s Radical Deprogramming Program
“How to lose yourself, find yourself and lose yourself again.”
Artist-filmmaker Graeme Cole (UK) will hold a series of FREE interconnected filmmaking workshops during an artist’s residency at Kino Klub Split, April 2016.
The program is intended to reboot our assumptions and fetishize the tools and (im)possibilities of filmmaking in the context of the historic Kino Klub movement. Each workshop will consist of a lecture, creative exercises, discussion and screening.
Short filmmaking assignments in the form of audio-visual research will be set between workshops and reflected upon in class. The emphasis is on creating with the tools you have available (particularly camera phones and tablets), but Kino Klub will help facilitate filmmakers with other equipment where necessary. These assignments are intended to be completed as ‘homework’, but Mr Cole will be available for support where possible.
At the conclusion of the program, we will hold a presentation in which each participant will screen their work to an invited audience and we will preview Mr Cole’s residency project.
Local filmmakers and visual artists are invited to apply for the workshops, which may be most suitable for those who are just starting out or who have made a couple of films already. Please email a couple of lines explaining your experience and your interest in the program to graeme (at) zoomcitta dot co dot uk and include links to your work if possible. Alternatively, please contact Sunčica at Kino Klub on 0918965860 (Limited to 5 places).
Week 1 – Saturday 9th April
*Mythology of the Self *
There is no autobiography, only automythology.
This module looks at the personal voice of the filmmaker. Taking the genre of ‘essay film’ as a starting point, we will explore how the filmmaker relates to their surroundings and personal history, and how best to transform, disguise, exaggerate and lie about their feelings through art in order to reach more fundamental (and entertaining) truths.
Week 2 – Saturday 16th April
*Rotting the Image*
The odour of a film’s look.
All too often, lazy imagination, cinematography and post-production can result in a visual quality that posits dull or unmediated visuals as code for some kind of yawn-worthy ‘realism’. In this module, we will debate whether or not the moving image exists as an ‘object’ in the age of digital code, whether we should pretend it is anyway, and how it can be decomposed to evoke evocative new so-called realities.
Week 3 – Saturday 23rd April
*Something About Sound Design, Gardening & Mutants*
How to control sound, and how you can never control sound.
Admitting that sound is our enemy can be the first step towards learning to manipulate it against the audience. In this module, we will look at ways of artificially introducing sounds into the environment of our cowering images, and how to use alternative sound structures, associations and textures to infect the minds of unsuspecting ‘viewers’ through their ear-holes.
Week 4 – Sunday 1st May
*Setting Your Attitude In Stone*
Manifestoes, obstinacy & self-flagellation.
Every film needs a manifesto. You need a manifesto. Your wardrobe needs a manifesto. Your hairdresser requires precise instructions. This module will take a look at existing and implicit artistic manifestoes, and examine their power both as liberating tool and comforting straitjacket. Finally, we will categorize our own valuable faults and habits in the light of what we have discovered over previous weeks.
On weeks 1, 2 and 3 you are invited to join Mr Cole on Sundays to test our theories and collaborate on a new video work.
UPV Videomaker’s Radical Deprogramming Program
“How to lose yourself, find yourself and lose yourself again.”
Artist-filmmaker Graeme Cole (UK) will hold a series of FREE interconnected filmmaking workshops during an artist’s residency at Kino Klub Split, April 2016.
The program is intended to reboot our assumptions and fetishize the tools and (im)possibilities of filmmaking in the context of the historic Kino Klub movement. Each workshop will consist of a lecture, creative exercises, discussion and screening.
Short filmmaking assignments in the form of audio-visual research will be set between workshops and reflected upon in class. The emphasis is on creating with the tools you have available (particularly camera phones and tablets), but Kino Klub will help facilitate filmmakers with other equipment where necessary. These assignments are intended to be completed as ‘homework’, but Mr Cole will be available for support where possible.
At the conclusion of the program, we will hold a presentation in which each participant will screen their work to an invited audience and we will preview Mr Cole’s residency project.
Local filmmakers and visual artists are invited to apply for the workshops, which may be most suitable for those who are just starting out or who have made a couple of films already. Please email a couple of lines explaining your experience and your interest in the program to graeme (at) zoomcitta dot co dot uk and include links to your work if possible. Alternatively, please contact Sunčica at Kino Klub on 0918965860 (Limited to 5 places).
Week 1 – Saturday 9th April
*Mythology of the Self *
There is no autobiography, only automythology.
This module looks at the personal voice of the filmmaker. Taking the genre of ‘essay film’ as a starting point, we will explore how the filmmaker relates to their surroundings and personal history, and how best to transform, disguise, exaggerate and lie about their feelings through art in order to reach more fundamental (and entertaining) truths.
Week 2 – Saturday 16th April
*Rotting the Image*
The odour of a film’s look.
All too often, lazy imagination, cinematography and post-production can result in a visual quality that posits dull or unmediated visuals as code for some kind of yawn-worthy ‘realism’. In this module, we will debate whether or not the moving image exists as an ‘object’ in the age of digital code, whether we should pretend it is anyway, and how it can be decomposed to evoke evocative new so-called realities.
Week 3 – Saturday 23rd April
*Something About Sound Design, Gardening & Mutants*
How to control sound, and how you can never control sound.
Admitting that sound is our enemy can be the first step towards learning to manipulate it against the audience. In this module, we will look at ways of artificially introducing sounds into the environment of our cowering images, and how to use alternative sound structures, associations and textures to infect the minds of unsuspecting ‘viewers’ through their ear-holes.
Week 4 – Sunday 1st May
*Setting Your Attitude In Stone*
Manifestoes, obstinacy & self-flagellation.
Every film needs a manifesto. You need a manifesto. Your wardrobe needs a manifesto. Your hairdresser requires precise instructions. This module will take a look at existing and implicit artistic manifestoes, and examine their power both as liberating tool and comforting straitjacket. Finally, we will categorize our own valuable faults and habits in the light of what we have discovered over previous weeks.
On weeks 1, 2 and 3 you are invited to join Mr Cole on Sundays to test our theories and collaborate on a new video work.
Tuesday, 22 March 2016
Monday, 28 September 2015
Metaphonics Lab 1 & 2: the Institute's new, irregular broadcast
I have recently begun broadcasting a series of mixes from the sub-basement of the Institute, each exploring a topic, theme or feeling through a variety of music from across the world. Each listen should subtly adjust your headspace (0.002 - 0.0025%). There have been two broadcasts so far, one with a summery 'Bleach House' theme (which may all the same shine warmth on your winter months), the other following an ASMR theme in connection with our forthcoming movie (and on-going Indiegogo campaign), Murmurs.
Enjoy, follow, and watch out for forthcoming excretions. Why not share with someone for whose ears you care deeply?
Tuesday, 11 August 2015
8 Absurdly Inspiring ASMR Artists
ASMR is the tingly feeling many people get in their head when they watch and listen to somebody playing with hair, turning pages in a magazine or explaining something quietly.
I’ve introduced a lot of people to the bewildering world of ASMR videos over the past few months, during the build up and production of our ASMR movie, Murmurs. People snigger, because it’s an absurd thing to watch. Then the next day they tell you they spent their whole evening watching strangers eating and brushing their hair on YouTube.
As you know, I consider absurdity to be the jam in the sandwich of human experience. Here are 8 sweet and fruity conserves to add tang to your tingles.
1. Lloyd
“Are you ready to check out?” Most ASMR videos you’ll see will look kind of glossy. Consumer cameras are hi-res these days, and many of the leading ASMRtists invest in professional gear to get those pure tingles to their viewers. Lloyd’s ASMR videos look like they were directed by Harmony Korine. Coupled with his deadpan demeanour, this makes Lloyd’s videos a sinister prospect. Thankfully, his moustache and deep voice channel enough Tom Sellecknicity into the show to keep one reassured of one’s own safety.
2. ASMR Angel
I love biscuits. Biscuits are one of the finest things humankind has created. But living in Bosnia, well… it’s not a biscuit culture. So I need to get my fix somehow. Also: if there is a ‘prime time’ for ASMR, I reckon it’s the afternoon. Those sleepy hours when the drive of the day has gone and stuff’s just happening around you. ASMR Angel’s Biscuits of Britain & Beyond series seems to exist in a perpetual, biscuity afternoon.
She’s dark. She’s funny. She’ll toy with your mind, posting and pulling down bizarre trigger vids before you even process what you’ve just heard. Key theme? Gynaecology. Latest vid? Ladybird on a tampon.
Did the Italian Futurists foresee a world of ASMR videos? Of course those overgrown schoolboys didn’t. But they arguably invented sound poetry, and Softly Galoshes has found an anti-futurist, video-primitivist application for it: making you feel tingly and safe. Actually, I can’t handle it, but I salute Softly for her very popular avant-garde practice in the trail of Maja Ratke, Jean-Louis Brau et al.!
His Automaton series is a diary of voyeuristic glimpses into the universe of time-stranded wayward genius Dr. Eugenius. Mr Asimar craftily integrates a wealth of sound effects into his visual steampunkscapes to take you to a never-time while you get your tingles.
6. Tony Bomboni
First off, Tony Bomboni sounds like he’s been Name Game’d. And maybe he has. But secondly, In addition to yer standard grooming vids, Tony is hellbent on exploring the performance art end of straight-to-camera ASMR through faeries, shaman and – best of all – MERMAN - personae whose garish make-up calls to mind a, er, quieter Ryan Trecartin.
7. NancyToday
Could “Just vinegar and water” become a catchphrase? Nancy doesn’t bring ASMR to the camera – the camera rolls with Nancy as she lives her everyday life, gardening, cleaning, weaving, making soap or watching the deer. This is Nancyvision.
8. Hana
Daft and ridiculous, with a cruel sense of humour, Hana is the fictional ASMRtist superstar in my new flick Murmurs. With millions of fictional hits and a household full of homemade smart objects (smart slippers, smart hairbrush) Hana hasn’t felt the need to leave her home for 18 months. And that’s where the movie begins. Hana is played by Bosnian artist Elma Selman.
You can find out more about Murmurs and support our crowdfunding campaign here – igg.me/at/murmursfilm - we really need your support to get the thing finished and bring Hana to your screens. Please spread the word! (Quietly).
Monday, 3 August 2015
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