On Vertigo and Spiral Jetty

"...As I looked at the site, it reverberated out to the horizons only to suggest an immobile cyclone while flickering light made the entire landscape appear a quake. A dormant earthquake spread into the fluttering stillness, into a spinning sensation without movement. This site was a rotary that enclosed itself in an immense roundness. From that gyrating space emerged the possibility of the Spiral Jetty..."

A different Spiral Jetty, this time from some interior. Sam Renseiw's re-make with a kind Vertigo. View it here or enter the still whirling above. (patafilm 126, 01'09'', 4.6 MB, mov/quicktime) / relinked 02.10.15

The room was furnished with taste

"....from the door to the window; from the fire to the bed, from the bed to the door; from the door to the bed, from the bed to the fire; from the bed to the fire, from the fire to the window; from the window to the fire, from the fire to the bed; from the door to the fire, from the fire to the window; from the window to the fire, from the fire to the door; from the window to the bed, from the bed to the door; from the door to the bed, from the bed to the window; from the fire to the window, from the window to the bed; from the bed to the window, from the window to the fire; from the bed to the door, from the door to the fire; from the fire to the door, from the door to the bed..."

And sometimes Sam Renseiw wore on each a boot, or on the one a boot and on the other a shoe, or a slipper, trying to keep up the pace, in the sand. And sometimes he went barefoot. Take a videorun from here, or try to catch the runner above; ( patafilm 124, 01'52'', 4.6 MB, mov/quicktime)/ relinked.02.10.15

On multiple methods of data gathering

"...The psychologist strives to use the most appropriate methods available for addressing the questions raised in a specific child custody evaluation and generally uses multiple methods of data gathering, including, but not limited to, clinical interviews, observation, and/or psychological assessments. Important facts and opinions are documented from at least two sources whenever their reliability is questionable..."

Sam Renseiw addressing the color yellow's meaning, shifting according to cultural setting. View it appear here as geomantic blessing, or click on the Y above. (patafilm 122, 02'27'', 9.9 MB, mov/quicktime - Best viewed in Firefox !) /relinked 02.10.15

On Andrei Tarkovsky's sacrifice

"..."Sculpting in time" is Tarkovsky's metaphor for the construction of a film's rhythm. The emphasis is put on time and rhythm, rather than on editing, which Tarkovsky considers little more than an assembly process. This distinction clearly separates him from his Soviet predecessors like Eisenstein, Pudovkin, and Kuleshov, whose experiments in montage Tarkovsky refers to as "puzzles and riddles," intellectual exercises that require too little of the audience..."

A short repo-remix, of a central sentence by Tarkovsky; A humble homage. Enter here, or click on the image above. (patafilm 120, 00'44'', 5.6 MB, mov/quicktime)

On selectivity and perceptual constancy

"...Our focus here is on the perception of motion pictures. As David Cook remarks, motion pictures occupy a central position in our lives and yet few people understand how they work, so much so that "If we made an analogy with verbal language we should be forced to consider ourselves barely literate" (Cook 1981, XV)..."

Sam Renseiw admits that it is hard not to start 'seeing things' in this abstract geometrical video, complete with door handle. View it here or enter on the red above (patafilm 119, 01'00'', 2.4 MB, mov/quicktime)

On Caravaggio and Goya's chiaroscuro

"Caravaggio “put the oscuro into chiaroscuro.” Chiaroscuro was practiced long before he came on the scene, but it was Caravaggio who made the technique definitive, darkening the shadows and transfixing the subject in a shaft of light. With this went the acute observation of physical and psychological reality which formed the ground for his frequent problems with religious commissions. Goya also attempted to "perpetuate" by the means of notable videos of heroic actions of glorious insurrection against tyrants."

Sam Renseiw presents a banal remix of a recent scene, from a frozen moment, to which the over-crowded composition and gestures contribute dramatic impact. View it here or click on the chiaroscuro above (patafilm 118, 01'14'' 6.4 MB, mov quicktime)/ relinked 02.10.15

The blue, sloping Intrado

"Up to the twelfth century the windows of the Romanesque churches had small openings for light, a sloping intrados, and an inclined sill. Originally without decoration, they later received a framework, that is, they were surrounded by a border of slender shafts as by a frame. The most frequent and most artistic form is the combination of the simple frame and the truss-frame, from which spring the most varied combinations, as sometimes the simple frame encloses a truss-frame, or the reverse, or sometimes two truss-frames are combined with each other."

Sam Renseiw combined some frames for a piece of footage, probably transcending time and space a tad, kind of blurrry. View it here or click on the blue sloping intrado above (patafilm 117, 01'23'', 4.2 MB, mov/quicktime) / relinked 02.10.15

On Calvino, bricks and brig

"...The Danish custom of hanging the replica of a sailing vessel in the church sanctuary is widespread in Denmark. It has two sources of origin. The custom of giving the replica of a ship to the sanctuary is very ancient. It can be traced back to pre-Christian times, when pagan belief taught that the offering of a miniature ship would assure a safe voyage for the real ship and its crew. Such a gift is called a "votive offering", and many a Viking family have built such replicas of the ships on which their husbands and sons set sail. This folk custom coincided with an ancient Christian metaphor of comparing the church itself to a ship. Even to this day, the main worship area in churches is called the "nave".."Sam Renseiw navigated a bit in a patterned world, where chip or pixel is replaced by brick, and met a larger brig than expected in the videographic space of this footage. View it by clicking here or try sitting on the chairs above (patafilm 115, 01'03'', 2.5 MB, )/ relinked 02.10.15

The retinex theory of color vision

"...But I wasn’t interested in those kinds of fetishistic objects; I’d rather have a cork on a string or a broken piece of wood. The appeal of an object for me has nothing to do with its age or material value, and even less to do with the fame of its former owner. Goethe was a great writer but also a great traveler and a manic collector..."

Sam Renseiw layering some simultaneity. Reminiscences of Grcic's Goethe exhibit, chairing out, with some soundings by Kelly Davis from up north. View the melting pot here or click on the yellow arte-fact above ( patafilm # 113, 01'14'', 2.4 MB, mov/quicktime )/ relinked 02.10.15

On pattern recognition

"...The front page opens, familiar as a friend's living room. A frame-grab from #48 serves as backdrop, dim and almost monochrome, no characters in view. This is one of the sequences that generate comparisons with Tarkovsky. She only knows Tarkovsky from stills, really, though she did once fall asleep during a screening of The Stalker, going under on an endless pan, the camera aimed straight down, in close-up, at a puddle on a ruined mosaic floor. But she is not one of those who think that much will be gained by analysis of the maker's imagined influences. The cult of the footage is rife with subcults, claiming every possible influence. Truffaut, Peckinpah ...."

Sam Renseiw's video examines the work of contemporary patterns that explore, in various ways, the human struggle to create and to understand our individual and collective identities. View it here or enter by clicking on the blue square above ( patafilm #112, 01'23'', 5.3 MB, mov/quicktime )

From headland to headland

"In the history of maritime intercourse there was a time when the timid seaman crept from port to port, feeling his cautious and wary way from headland to headland, and daring no distant voyage where seas, and winds, and rocks, unknown to him, increased the dangers of his uncertain life. Then a bolder race sprung up--tall ships danced proudly upon the waves, and many brave hearts manned and guided them; yet still they rarely ventured from sight of land."

Such is the view for todays inward panorama: Sam Renseiw, stranded, caught a tall ship, waiting. See it developp here or click on the hull above. ( patafilm # 111, 01'53'' , 3,7 MB, mov/quicktime ) / relinked 02.10.15

Tina Modatti, Frida Kahlo and my cappucino

"Until recently Tina Modotti's reputation was based on her personal association with Edward Weston, for whom she modeled during the 1920s. However, her sharply focused portraits, still-lifes, and abstract compositions, made in Mexico contemporaneously, show her to have been an accomplished photographer in her own right. Modotti's work combines a sophisticated sense of design with socially and politically oriented subject matter. Her images of the Mexican working classes and Mexican artifacts became powerful revolutionary emblems..."

San Renseiw seems to catch up with anything these days, in the snowy danish winter meeting Frida (flash movie) enjoy the video here or click on the feet above.('patafilm # 110, 01'01'', 6.5 MB , mov/quicktime )

Dissolution and Precipitation

"The process of dissolution occurs when a solute is placed in contact with a solvent and dissolves to form a solution. If solvent is removed from a solution, by a process such as evaporation, eventually the solute will be found to separate from the remaining solution. This separation is called the precipitation of a solid or the evolution of a gas. The concentration of solute which the solution contains at the onset of precipitation or gas evolution is the maximum concentration of solute which the solution can contain. This concentration is called the solubility of the solute."

Sam Renseiw recorded some diffuse algebraic moments in an otherwise unsaturated and cliché diluted set-up, in the midst of some sublime spacial settings. View it here or click on the characters above. ( 'patafilm #109, 02'04'', 2.4 MB, mov/quicktime ) / relinked 02.10.15

Satie said one day to Cocteau

Satie said one day to Cocteau: "I want to write a play for dogs, and I already have my set design: the curtain rises on a bone". It often happens with Satie that, amazed by the arresting image he suggests, we forget to dig for meaning beneath the proposal. Such a magic formula - we're happy just to mull it over, even pass it on, to transmit it intact. Why ask ourselves about the details of such a play? About its plot, its dialogue? Why did he go out of his way to describe the set?

Simply to raise the question touches on the pedantic or superfluous. In a play "for dogs," the bone is at once the content, the set and the plot. The set is the play. For Sam Renseiw the short 'patafilms are the massage, the content and the plot, set-up. View 'patafilm #108, fresh from the Mac here ,or clik on the coo-coo clock above. ( 00'49'', 5.3 MB mov/quicktime ) relinked 02.10.15

Braque and the symbolic bird

"Mysteries have to be respected if they are to retain their power," said Braque. All his still‑life possessions project the special creation of untranslatable order, harmony and insight that convey more than they say. These graphic symbols allowed the venerable videographer to externalize his psychic processes and meditate on his world of art and artifacts. The birds are forms which allowed him to begin to relate to the necessity of dying; they epitomize the ultimate mystery of human expression."

His was the comfort of complete achievement. For Sam Renseiw, a remix was the artistic fusion, based on material from Nanorama's passions. The first CC.remix Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 licenced remix, with best regards to Jennifer P. View the remix here or enter the corn filed above. ('patafilm #107, 01'21'', 14,5 MB, mov/quicktime)/relinked 02.10.15

De Kooning's picture plane

 "Space is a pre-condition of all that exists, its appearance is emptiness, and therefore can contain everything; or as de Kooning explained, space contains "billions and billions of hunks of matter...floating around in darkness according to a great design of nothingness." De Kooning's picture plane, to which any shape or image could be attached, is not dissimilar to the relativistic unified field theory that tries to integrate into one comprehensive idea the many clashing bits of data and complex uncertainty of randomness that is modern vieoblogging."

View Sam Rensiew's Red Garden data chaos -with a J.L. Godard comment- by clicking here or enter the crimson forest above./ relinked 02.10.15

The angle on the feet of the players

"The open top Tornado table, with Blue and Red players, is firmly established in the US and is also popular with many UK and European pro's. The video was designed as a high-quality cross between styles, and its design greatly facilitates controling and passing the ball, enabling skills to be developed with extremely high levels of precision and consistency. The angle on the feet of the players facilitates pinning the ball without it becomming de rigeur. The style play of is best described as controlled, and pin shots have become very common in short vlogs entries."

Sam Renseiw's first sport documentary, with quite a background of onomatopoetic surround sound. View it here or join the game above. ('patafilm #105, 00'34'', 1.7 MB, mov/ quicktime ) relinked 02.10.15

Meme remix [Egg-punch]

Track 14, The Egg is the second remix on the album. This one is by Dr A.Jacobsen, he of the piano playing adventures on the album. Track four is also a remix of The Future House, attended in this instance by his friend, Mies. Odd that there are two remixes of a song which are featured nowhere else on the album. It’s rather like meeting someone you’ve never met in your life and asking if they prefer your hair the way you’re wearing it today.

Renseiw suddenly into some visual remix of design-icons creator's meme. View it here or click on the heliport above ('patafilm #104, no subtitles, 01'12'', 9.4 MB, mov/quicktime)/ update relink 02.10.15

The persistence of an image on the retina

"...We turned our thoughts to cinematography, and it seemed to us that this medium, slightly modified, would give excellent results, since its light potency was the strongest one could desire. The other problem concerning the need to have hundreds of colors at our disposition was also resolved, since, by exploiting the phenomenon of the persistence of an image on the retina, we would indeed have been able to make many colors merge, in our eye, into a single hue..."

Amazing what can be done with B/W footage in early last century, Sam Renseiw muses, pataquoting Bruno Corra; Thereupon, attempting a bout of colorfull abstract cinema with some Marinetti boom-boom. View it here or click on the areoplane above. (patafilm #102, 00'41'', 3.6 MB mov/quicktime) / relinked 02.10.15

Repo dada_data

"Created by artistic outsiders, the techniques of Fluxus and Dada are now the stock in trade of advertisers and music video producers, and so some contemporary Dada-inspired video artists see their work simply as the beginnings of a television or movie career. One always hopes for a true Dada revival, but what if the Dada spirit in art really is dead, and not just dead again? What if Dada has finally become indistinguishable from the popular culture which it had a part in creating? When Dada cannot be imagined by means of its documents or by the physical stuff it leaves behind--Hugo Ball forbid-- it becomes mere data, interesting only for the technical beauties of its presentation."
Sam Renseiw dada dates some visual stuff, just out of class-room - pure repo manner - in depleted rationale. Flicker in here or eye-ball it above. (00'45'', 11 MB, mov/quicktime) / relinked 02.10.15