On selling readers to advertisers

[“A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself” mused Arthur Miller in 1961.At their best, newspapers hold governments and companies to account. They usually set the news agenda for the rest of the media. But in the rich world newspapers are now an endangered species. The business of selling words to readers and selling readers to advertisers, which has sustained their role in society, is falling apart.] Economist, Aug. 24th.2006.

As free newspapers hit the streets of Copenhagen last week- in an emerging war among free dailies in Denmark- four up till now, probably seven by the end of the year, diverse large scale, eye-catching advertisements protrude from street facades. Sam Renseiw caught a glimpse of one. View it by clicking here or enter the scene above.(patafilm # 241, 01'29'', 6.3 MB, Quicktime/mov - Flash version here)

The doors of perception

" The Quiet Mind Project consists of piano solos as well as multi-instrumental pieces. After listening to the music of the Quiet Mind Project, the listener may more readily attain what Krishnamurti referred to as the "quiet mind". A "quiet mind" promotes a deeper sense of inner silence, peace, and awareness ".

In a quiet state of mind, Sam Renseiw shortly recapitulates twice: with a thank you for all the birthday presents moving visual and the above Living room/Balcony Dada capture. It was a fine, memorable afternoon and evening, 270806. View one video after the other by clicking here or, there, and as usual also on the icon above. (patafim #239 and #240, 02'04''/ 01'25'', 9.5 MB / 4.4 MB Quicktime/mov - Flash versions [#239] and [#240] generously hosted at Blip.tv)

1001 Art Money

Behind each piece of Art Money is an artist. When the currency is set in circulation the piece comes into contact with dealers and collectors worldwide. Art Money is contributing to a growing network of artists from different countries and cultures. With BIAM’s network web site as a type of central exchange for much Art Money, all interested parties can keep in touch with each another. BIAM is an online forum and an opportunity for the general public to participate actively as artists, dealers or as Art Money host.

View at short blur from Sam Renseiw's impressions at the opening of "1001 Art Money" at Oesknehallen yetserday by clicking here or mousing the red bill above ( patafilm #238, 01'22'', 6.1 MB, Quicktime/mov - Flash version hosted at Blip.tv)

Confessions Tour v/s Exotic Lifestyle

Madonna's tour stops in North America for the “Confessions Tour” will include arenas in Chicago, Boston, San Jose, Phoenix, Fresno, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Atlantic City, Miami, Montreal and New York. Overseas appearances will take place in arenas, stadiums and outdoor venues in Paris, France; Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Cardiff, Wales; Rome, Italy; Dusseldorf and Hannover Germany; Horsens, Denmark; Osaka and Tokyo Japan.

Horsens, Denmark (Pop.: 58.061) might indeed seem to be an odd choice in Madonna's Confession Tour schedule. Sam Renseiw attended an minor concert instead, featuring Boda Boda Duo at the release of their Exotic Lifestyle album in Copenhagen, while Madonna was warming up in Horsens to a crowd of 85.000. View the short music video by clicking here, or embark on stage above.(patafilm #237, 01'47'', 8 MB, Quicktime/mov -Flash version hosted at Blip.tv)

Jabberwhorl Cronstadt's blur

" I am Chancre, the crab, which moves sideways and backwards and forwards at will. I move in strange tropics. In ordinary waking life I suffer from normal vision but in the frontispiece I render myself myopic in order to grasp the immediacy of the dream plasm. By means of the dream technique I peels off the outer layers of my geologic mortality and come to grips with my true mantic self, a non-stratified area of semi-liquid character. Only the amorphous side of my nature now possesses validity."

By submerging the visible I, Sam Renseiw dives below the threshold of his schizophrenic habit patterns. He swims joyously, ad lib., in the amniotic fluid, one with his amoebic self. Enjoy the short visual piece by clicking here or enter the set-up above. (patafilm#236, 01'13'', 5.5 MB, Quicktime/mov - Flash version also generously hosted at blip.tv)

The mermaid's double aspect

"...our consciousness would never regard time as a homogeneous medium, in which the terms of a succession remain outside one another. But we naturally reach this symbolical representation by the mere fact that, in a series of identical terms, each term assumes a double aspect for our consciousness, one aspect which is the same for all of them, since we are thinking then of the sameness of the external object, and another aspect which is characteristic of each of them, because the supervening of each term brings about a new organization of the whole."

As the following scene could have taken place thirty years ago, Sam Renseiw attempted to somehow re-capture it, once more. View the timeless fascination the little mermaid attracts - on her 93rd birthday - by clicking here, or click on the worn icon above (patafilm # 235, 01'39'', MB, Quicktime/mov - Flash version here) Yet, this is just a crude and dull world, compared to Paul Neave's amazing Bonobo:Flutter. Enter his fantastic, multi-layered and funny universe!

True stories from nature

Once when I was thirty six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book, called True Stories from Nature, about the primeval forest. It was a picture of a beautiful naked woman holding a black handbag . Here is a copy of the picture, in the video. I pondered deeply, then, over the adventures of the jungle. And after some work with a few coloured, moving pictures, I succeeded in making my first video. The grown-ups' response was to advise me to lay aside my videos whether from the inside or the outside, and devote myself instead to accounting, urbanism and architecture. That is why I gave up what might have been a magnificent career as a cineast.

"Yes, I had been disheartened by the failure of my buildings " states Sam Renseiw while unearthing an older summer video. View the puzzling cut-up montage by clicking here or mouse around the monitor above.(patafilm #233, 01'07'', 5 MB, Quicktime/mov - Flash version here)

copenhagenfridaynightskate IV

UPDATE ! > video from Sept.8 available by clicking here or go to Sept 9 post (click on logo at top and scroll down to post)

The fourth consecutive Friday Night Skate in Copenhagen, August 18th, 2006. Fantastically organised, superb asphalt on parts of the route, twice around Kgs. Nytorv, and best of all: this time it was, indeed, night. And: we all got in just in time. Pouring down the rest of the evening... Enjoy Sam Renseiw's compilation with fine dub sound by klovn by clicking here or mouse the torch above. (classic vlog #6, 05'39'', 26 MB, Quicktime/mov - Flash version for PC, click here)

Remember: install Quicktime for best viewing. For free download PC/Windows version click here.

Faire une description precise

As Gaumont recently informed the public of their cancellation of the long awaited release of Jean-Luc Godard's seminal and indispensable chef d'oeuvre Histoire(s) du Cinéma, the only remaining opening for seeing this work (in Europe) is the acquisition of an exquisite 8 DVD box with the complete work from Japan. It remains to be seen how long this window will remain open, though.

In entering Histoire(s), each viewer may chose his or her own path. Lured in by an incessant flux of intimately multilayered coats of archive imagery, JLG daily life excerpts, photos, various soundings, disparate musical inlays, and JLG's sublime poetic writing, montaged in as frosting on this monumental cake. As anyone thus can (re)construct a personalised history in this generously interactive and participatory work - probably shelved by mounting copyright issues- Sam Renseiw crudely montaged tiny parts of 2B Fatale Beauté as short appetiser. View it by clicking here, or enter the overlay above. (patafilm #232, 00'30'', 2.2 MB, Quicktime/mov - Flash version here)

The dervish

"Ziya Azazi searches for his roots in a dance where meditation, improvisation and acrobatics lead to genuinely astounding contemporary sufi dance which transcends a thousand-years practice. While speed tension and feelings intensify, one disappears in a space-time continuum of strange attractions."

In an attempt to capture the essence of Azazi's hypnotic dance whirling, seducing aesthetics and almost narcotic transcendence, , Sam Renseiw's short viideo essay of an exceptional performance yesterday in Copenhagen, introduces some quite surprising audio-visual cut-ups. View the piece by clicking here, or enter the corner above. (patafilm #231, 01'51'', 8 MB, Quicktime/mov - Flash version here)

Going through phases

"...The muffled arrangements show a refreshing restraint compared to ever-louder R&B records and the rolling beats and diverse tempos ensure this is not another set of redundant post-Chain Reaction techno..."

In a short visual of "Going Through Phases", Sam Renseiw practised crude montage: autoritratto AR01 , soundtrack sample by Pellarin&Lenler, and a crytic camp fire setting. Decode the video piece by clicking here or take a momentary seat by mousing in above. (patafilm #230, 01'34'', 7 MB, Quicktime/mov - Flash version here)

Everyone alive wants answers

In an interactive videoblogging project from pouringdown, made possible by the goodness of "HaveMoneyWillVlog", Daniel Bliss just completed his seventh video map. A fine opening to furthering poetic vlogging, where some visual slices of Montreal, Buffalo and Niagara Falls are the backdrop for this remarkable and generous endeavour.

Everyone alive wants answers is the soundtrack sample from colleenplays complementing Sam Renseiw's seemingly utterly boring visual essay on the etheric hardships of remote controlled, filtered vlogging on the road. View it by clicking here or join the longeing above. (patafilm #229, 01'47'', 8.7 MB, Quicktime/mov - Flash version here)

Pierrot Lunaire, somehow

At first, when listening to Pierrot Lunaire, Arnold Schoenberg's seminal 21 song-cycle about a drunken clown which marks the pivotal moment in the composer's transition between tonality and complete atonality, one feels the desire to claw one's eyeballs out, or gnaw off one's arm. It is remarkably unlistenable, at first listen. Yet, Schonberg made it possible for John Cage to compose music using an elaborate system of flipping coins and charting their outcomes in the 70's.

Balancing the beauty of Schoenbergs 12-tone technique and Cage's random approach, Sam Renseiw captured a short recital some years ago at a workshop presentation. View the resulting cut-up with sound excerpts from Klovndk by clicking here or mouseplay it by the ear above. (patafilm #228, 02'09'', 9.8 MB, Quicktime/mov - Flash version here)

Public Service takes place

Public Service is one of the absolute leading festivals for electronic music in the Nordic countries. The festival presents new as well as established electronic acts from all over the Nordic region ranging from the aggressive to the elegant; from the heavy beats of the night club to sophisticated tonal art. Public Service takes place every year in the third week of August (11th to 20th in 2006) with the emphasis on events taking place at the end of the week.

Listening to some older space gunning from Rumpistol, Sam Renseiw, at awe in the Fakse chalk pit, is given directions. View the quiet rummage by clicking here, or follow the lead above.(patafilm #227,01'45'', 7.8 MB, Quicktime/mov - Flash version here)

Seeing is not enough

Seeing is not enough: while the more recent art history has largely dismissed the visible, the heirs of Duchamp, in their nihilistic impulse, often go one step further, abandoning the object nature of art as such. This is the approach taken by Karin Sander in her piece Zeigen (2006), which confronts visitors with an existing empty room or empty gallery walls which only show the usual title labels of the works exhibited. The works themselves are missing or not to be seen. Their presence, however, is perceptible through a different sense. The artist asked a number of fellow artists such as Sylvie Fleury, Hamish Fulton, Mona Hatoum, or Lawrence Weiner to choose a work of their own and give an audio description of it. The viewer is liberated from vision and referred to an alternative mode of perception which leads him from a concrete, obvious, accustomed, trained to an imaginative, aural aesthetic experience. In this sense, nothingness cannot exist – for there is always imagination, the viewer’s seductive mind power.

As one could argue that seduction is a reverse power game where the seducer aims at controlling the realm that will over-power him in return, Sam Renseiw shifts, in this video, from colour to a seemingly empty, colourless space. A short recent experience of Nothing, in Frankfurt, with audio from London's Tate Modern. Enjoy the cryptic piece by cliking here, or enter nothing above. (patafilm #223, 02'22'', 8.3 MB, Quicktime/mov - Flash version here)

On the ceaseless flow of time

As the film theorist André Bazin once remarked, unlike all the other arts, photography is not reliant on the presence of human beings, but benefits from their absence. At the heart of Bazin's strictures on cinematic realism lies the conviction that the movie camera, by the simple act of photographing the world, testifies to the miracle of God's creation. Bazin ascribes this to what he calls the "mummy complex" - an innate human need to halt the ceaseless flow of time by embalming it in an image.

The way in which the absence of people suggests the scene of a crime already struck Walter Benjamin as a special feature of Eugène Atget’s intense black-and-white photographs of Paris. The only crime in Sam Renseiw's short video of the court-yard of Frankfurt's Kunstverein is the absence of visual superimposition(s). View the sequence by clicking here, or enter the space above- soundtrack by P Jorgensen ( patafilm # 220, 02'16'', 10.4 MB, Quicktime/mov - Flash version here)

copenhagenfridaynightskate III

Skating time again. Great route through new parts of Copenhagen. This time with the Dutch Skate Babes, the Christiania In-liners and the usual bunch of local in-line skate aficionados. A total of 21 km, with an average speed of 11.8 Km/h.

View Sam Renseiw's compilation of Friday's night skate flow complete with diatonic ambient sound. 3 possibilities to view: click on the following links: WMV file for PC/windows, Flash version, Quicktime/mov version. Enjoy !(classicvlog #5, 05'06'', 23.3 MB )
video conversion: courtesy bulist/bitlabmalmo.

Update: video from August 18th is on. Click on the spacetwo:patalab bar above to get to the post.

Casual street cat-walk

" The profile of Copenhagen's fashion designers has increased dramatically. These days, Danish designers working both in Copenhagen and for world famous labels in Paris, London and Milan, exert a sizeable influence over the fashion industry. This creative strength, and the esteem in which Danish designers are held around the world, is also reflected in the city's wealth of designer stores and the underground upstart designers cellar storefronts ateliers ".

Young talent provides the basis for the continued success of Danish fashion design and emerging designers stage casual street cat-walks during summer. Sam Renseiw caught a short glimpse of some of Designeriet's creations yesterday evening. Enjoy the dub soundtrack on top by clicking here, or enter the stage setting above. (patafilm #226, 01'35'', 7.2MB, Quicktime/mov - Flash version here)

Every theory of painting is a metaphysics

A decade ago, David Reed staged "Two Bedrooms in San Francisco," an exhibition for which he modified clips from Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 Vertigo by inserting images of his own paintings into the bedrooms of the film's two main characters, Judy and Scottie. In addition, he made life-size replicas of the two beds as they appear in the film. Finally, on the wall above the beds, he hung the very paintings that had been inserted in the film clip, which ran continuously on a television monitor next to the beds. The work as a whole directs the viewer to establish with the (real) painting the relationship implied between Judy and Scottie - and the relationship the two have with the paintings visible in the doctored film

Although bedroom installations by the '80s became a familiar international art phenomenon, Reed's installation is refreshingly evocative, although Judy's Bedroom does not itself seem ideally suited for most homes. Study Sam Renseiw's short video clip of the bedroom setting, as seen recently in Frankfurt: Try the Vertigo claustrophobia by cliking here, or enter the scene above. (patafilm #222, 00'54'', 4 MB, Quicktime/mov - Flash version here)

Duration, Memory, Virtuality

For Henri Bergson, virtuality is the ontological modality of duration. Duration roughly corresponds to what William James, with a famous metaphor, named "stream of consciousness." As James' conscious stream is continuous, forward-moving, and in constant change, Bergson's duration is the succession of qualitative states of mind, indiscernible as atomic units but only feasible in their interconnectedness and fluidity. The fluidity pertains to those deep currents that, while remaining submerged, push whatever stretch of the stream to the surface, allowing us to identify it. Both the deep currents of the stream and the ones that emerge to the surface are real components of our experience. But while the ones that reached the surface are actual, the submerged ones are virtual.

As experience is a "composite" of tendencies insofar as, one the one hand, it contains them, and on the other, is the product of their internal dynamics, Sam Renseiw introduces patalab's first philosophical music video. Soundtrack exclusive for the video by StrawberryLoveLove. Enjoy the treat by clicking here or touch the creature above.(patamusicvideo#1, 04'12'', 19.4 MB Quicktime/mov - Flash version here)

Apparitions on smaller scale

Although manatees hardly resemble the voluptuous sirens shown on ancient maps, Columbus immediately labeled them mermaids when he encountered manatees in the Caribbean . . . although he noted they were not as handsome as artists traditionally depicted them. The immensity of the sea had left it traces.

Apparitions on smaller scale can be as astonishing. Drenched in the midst of the current European heat wave, the big blue, cornered in more geometric shape, reveals quite poetic choreographic potential. Enjoy Sam Renseiw's short glimpse of a cultured oceanic mirage by cliking here or enter the blue above. (patafilm 221, 01'31'', 6.9 MB, Quicktime/mov - Flash version here)