some photos from last nights OTO - The Wheel of The Devil (aka the loop lecture) now up on OTO’s Flickr set

Update
Ed began the night by screening Bruce Conner’s Report (1963-1967) and Marilyn Times Five (1968-1973) as people entered into the space. He then spoke a bit on the history of the film loop from the ‘Daedalum’ (aka ‘the wheel of the devil) or as it was later renamed ‘Zoetrope’ (aka ‘wheel of life’) to early porn loops. He then turned to the structural/ materialist approach to loops in which film is treated physically as a object (using tape to create a loop), editing looping sections into a film, and the act of reprinting sections of a film over and over to create a linear work that loops.

He then showed, as examples, two 16mm works - George Landow’s “Film in Which There Appear…” 1965 and Malcolm Le Grice’s Berlin Horse from 1970 (single screen) with a looping Brain Eno soundtrack (think music box) and ended with a section of Jack Goldstein loops including “The Jump” 1979 shown from DVD.

Next, Tim began to present the 17 digital works. He introduced each work with the artist name, the title of the work and the original format (and a note if it was translated from the original format for the screening). The rule was set up that each loop would run until a majority of the audience raised their hand to move to the next loop. Counter to what one might expect, each loop played for some time until people even began to consider looking at the next.

Once Tim ran through the 17 works, he returned to the top of the list and began again. Some people left, some people stayed and the length of duration people looked at the work stayed about the same or in the case of a few works became even longer.

Two thoughts from doing this project:

1. Work in translation is never the same. Goldstein’s loops on DVD from a digital projector are not the same as the film loops showing at the Met right now. I am thankful that translations occur as it allows more people to see the work and hopefully seek out source material.

2. Although we tend to think of loops both film and digital (and sound as well) as infinite, the act of perception always has a start and stop. permanent link to this post

stills from “The Horror! The Horror! (.info)” by Jon Rafman

The Wheel of The Devil (aka the loop lecture)
curated by MTAA with Ed Halter
presented by T.Whid of MTAA

The infinite loop is the perfect form for expressing the reality of contemporary existence. From the endless boom-bust cycle of capitalism to the repeating right/left swings of American politics to the misbehaving computer code frustrating our days, we are the society of the loop. We’re doomed to repeat history ad infinitum (not to mention ad nauseum) with no progress nor resolve needed. These observations are nothing new; how could they be? We’ve always been Sisyphus.

while (history) { history = true; }

Come celebrate the horrific beauty of the infinite loop at “The Wheel of The Devil,” a one-night-only screening of historic and contemporary loops at Over The Opening. Each loop screened until the audience votes to move to the next.

Artists include (in no particular order):

JODI - Rick Silva - Brody Condon - Jon Rafman - Deidre LaCarte - Michael Sarff - MTAA - Hayley A. Silverman - Mathwrath - Chris Coy - Michael Bell-Smith - jimpunk - and more… JODI - Rick Silva - Brody Condon - Jon Rafman - Deidre LaCarte - Michael Sarff - MTAA - Hayley A. Silverman - Mathwrath - Chris Coy - Michael Bell-Smith - jimpunk - and more… JODI - Rick Silva - Brody Condon - Jon Rafman - Deidre LaCarte - Michael Sarff - MTAA - Hayley A. Silverman - Mathwrath - Chris Coy - Michael Bell-Smith – jimpunk - and more…

* where:*
Over The Opening (OTO)
60 N. 6th St. 2nd Flr (btw Wythe & Kent)
Brooklyn, NY, 11211

* when:*
Friday May 29th, 2009 7-10PM (one night only)
Doors open at 7PM, the lecture starts looping at 8PM sharp!
free and open to the public

more info at Over The Opening (OTO)
permanent link to this post

This software claims “Intelligent, Unbiased and Instant Assessment of Photos.” As far as I can tell, it’s based on prior ratings from individuals, e.g. humans rate photos, algorithm rates similar photos similarly.

We all know where that gets us.

Aquine

(via /.) permanent link to this post

Though we haven’t been posting much this May — don’t fear! We’ve been… ah, busy… yeah… busy.

T.Whid has been doing stuff that looks like this:


And M.River has been doing whatever it is that M.River does when he disappears for a while. I think that it may involve a lot of demolishing stuff and (I’m assuming) alcohol.

If you really miss MTAA you can follow our Twitter updates (M.River; T.Whid) and/or our delicious links (M.River; T.Whid). If you know us, you can find us on Facebook (I don’t accept requests from people I don’t personally know however).

We have some stuff coming up so watch this space!

m.river adds…


1. Done with demo for the next few months.
2. Here is a short loop about it.
3. I’ll facebook befriend almost anyone. Cuz I’m like that.
4. Don’t forget Flickr
5. Yes, new MTAA stuff soon. permanent link to this post

The Interview (AKA Proust Questionnaire)
shot 2007. finished 2008. web version released 05/2009. permanent link to this post