A Secret Understanding
A Secret Understanding is a series of specially-commissioned films made by visual artists in response to rare or unheard versions of songs by great bands and vocalists. Spanning a wide range of visual approaches and musical styles these works were originally commissioned for Beck's Fusions 2007 by Forma in association with the ICA, were exhibited again at springnine in Austria, 2009 and are now available for cinema screenings.
Works
The Star Spangled Banner Recurring by Graham Dolphin, with The Star Spangled Banner performed by Jimi Hendrix
Footage of Jimi Hendrix playing his version of the American national anthem at the 1969 Woodstock festival is shown repeated across a grid of twelve panels, with each panel starting a half a second after the other. The repeated images and soundtrack create a cacophony of noise, electric guitar feedback and a visual echo across the single screen. By simple repetition the original performance is transformed, dislocating the image from its soundtrack, creating a distance and dislocation from the captured moment of the performance.
Courtesy of the Artist and SEVENTEEN, 2007
Doug Fishbone, with Also Sprach Zarathustra by Eumir Deodato
American artist Doug Fishbone creates a piece that celebrates the awesome and other-worldly majesty of big wave surfing. Blending footage of some of the world’s greatest surfers with a funky disco/classical groove - Eumir Deodato’s legendary remake of Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss - Fishbone brings an epic surf vibe to the heart of the city.
Footage from Billabong Odyssey courtesy Billabong
Footage from Shark Park courtesy Greg Huglin Films
Footage from Biggest Wednesday, Blackwater and Teahapo's courtesy TB Productions
Nick Jordan, with Norwegian Wood by Cornershop
In his film of a solo male folk dancer, Manchester-based artist Nick Jordan presents the time-honoured Norwegian ‘halling’ dance, which is intended to demonstrate strength and virility to a female partner. Situated in a traditional woodland settlement in Norway and set to Cornershop’s cover of this Beatles classic, Jordan’s work makes connections between seemingly unrelated elements, exploring the complex relationships we have with the unruly natural world and our own multifaceted cultural histories.
Clare Langan, with I Gaer by Sigur Rós
Dublin-based artist and filmmaker Clare Langan combines dramatic seascapes, shot in extreme slow motion, with the ethereal rock of Icelandic band Sigur Rós. Projected across two screens, the visuals create the illusion of a giant tidal wave, engulfing the viewer. Pushing the boundaries of cinema and of the visitors’ perceptions of time and space, Langan creates a highly immersive and sensory experience that reflects upon the fragility of mankind in the face of nature and its majestic powers.
Supported by Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board
Oliver Laric, 50 50, with versions of songs by 50 Cent
Berlin-based media artist Oliver Laric is one of the most adept artists working in remix today, best known for his online video hits on YouTube, in which he treats treats amateur videos as found media loops. 50 50 (2007), is entirely composed from YouTube clips of amateurs rapping some of 50 Cent’s famous songs.
Torsten Lauschmann, with Sway by Dean Martin and Julie London (Rip–Off Artist Remix)
The work of Glasgow-based artist, filmmaker and live performer Torsten Lauschmann investigates the mechanics of digital processes, software creation, experimental editing and approaches to performance. Set to a radical yet seductive remix of Martin’s quintessential rumba track, Lauschmann’s film presents animated digits who become Martin’s singing character; his numbers sing, dance and sway around each other, collapsing and reforming in sync with the audio’s momentary electronic interventions to tell a digital love story - where warm analogue vocals meet harsh digital glitches.
o/68 by Lia and @c, from O Superman (for Massenet) by Laurie Anderson
Lia, together with sound artists Miguel Carvalhais and Pedro Tudela, produces a unique audiovisual reinterpretation of Laurie Anderson’s 1981 hit single O Superman (for Massenet).
Employing her signature software-driven, generative processes and techniques of manual digital manipulation, Lia creates a series of striking and dynamic graphics based upon the concept of Anderson’s original video, whilst the remixed audio introduces minimalist-inspired piano rhythms alongside the familiar metronomic beats and melodies. o/68 attempts to reframe the song within its historical context, “to create a work that is in touch with the original, but that connects the past to our present work.”
Erik van Lieshout, with Kingdom Come by Jay–Z
Dutch artist Erik Van Lieshout presents footage shot during his travels through Israel, set to a soundtrack of Kingdom Come by American hip hop giant Jay-Z. With his camera always filming, Lieshout documents a spirited journey in his usual, personal and provocative style. Using his acute powers of observation, he turns his encounters with this country’s people and places into his subject matter, to create a daring exploration into human behaviour and social-cultural realities; Lieshout’s film is part road movie, part pop video, part performance.
Jane and Louise Wilson, with Who Knows Where The Times Goes by Cat Power
British artists Jane and Louise Wilson explore the psychology of architectural spaces and landscapes in their film and photographic installation work. Shot in a series of deserted urban and industrial sites, their film alludes to the ghostly presences of the people, politics and industry that once populated these locations. Combined with Cat Power’s haunting adaptation of Sandy Denny’s song, the piece evokes a sense of places and people lost to the passage of time.
Am I Relapsing? by Young–hae Chang Heavy Industries, with Everyone's Got to Learn Sometime by Beck
Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries is Young-Hae Chang (Korea), and Marc Voge (USA). Creating text based animations that combine black and white typography, music and humour, their simple, yet provocative slogans, manifestos and meditations have caught the attention of audiences worldwide. Am I Relapsing? tells a tale of one person’s daily struggle with everyday life and all its injustices.
Recent screenings
November 2010 | The Triskel Arts Centre, Cork
October 2010 | Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow
August 2010 | Festivals in Ukraine
Related links
Decasia
Genre Collage
Graham Dolphin
Doug Fishbone at Rokeby Gallery
Nick Jordan
Clare Langan
Oliver Laric
Torsten Lauschmann at the ICA
Lia
Erik van Lieshout at Stella Lohaus Gallery
Jane and Louise Wilson at 303 Gallery
Young–hae Chang Heavy Industries
Further information for presenters of Forma projects
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