On embodied space and happy new

“..Embodied cinema-writing is the hybrid body/camera encountering and re-acting to an infinitely generative universe. SPACETWO: PATALAB is a visual/spa-tial research videoblog that has been run by Sam Renseiw since 2005. The blog, later Vine and now Instagram accounts, holds a vast archive of video doodles or “voodles” that are spontaneous cinematic investigations of space. Renseiw in-troduces each video with a short remix of theoretical texts related to his spatial research: Jarry, Bergson, de Certeau, Debord, Calvino, Borges, to name a few. Be-yond these short texts and reflections, Renseiw, as a persona, remains a mystery. Never a presence in front of the camera, he is bodily present in his framing, montage and idiosyncratic camera gestures: walking shots, stuttering zooms, meandering glides. Renseiw’s “voice” is this gestural cinematography and intu-itive montage giving shape to the spaces he encounters: the way it is framed and reflected by windows, occluded by translucent surfaces, filled with unexpected textures, geometric shapes and signs. He discovers repetitions and flows, still-ness in concert with movement, the close embedded in the far. The voodles are micro-narratives of perception.”

New years greetings, a bit late; Most voodling endeavours seeem to be 6” short(s), lately. And then there was a peculiar project, that took some time. Anticipate more (video)posts here, in the near future. In the mean time: merci beaucoup to professor Luers for his very kind mention regarding Sam’s voodles, in  his paper “A Chance for Cinema-Writing in Electronic Literature”. It keeps the work alive !    Best wishes for a happy new year to all  viewers.

On capturing space about to be lost

“The voodler does not use 'descriptions' of the world; he himself has a hand in its creation…..Only when a person is willing and able to trust the voodler, to believe him, can he be sensitive and susceptible to art. But how hard it sometimes is to cross the threshold of incomprehension which cuts us off from the emotional, poetic image. It is a mistake to talk about the voodler 'looking for' his subject. In fact the subject grows within him like a fruit, and begins to demand expression. It is like childbirth . . The voodler has nothing to be proud of: he is not master of the situation, but a servant. Creative work is his only possible form of existence, and his every work is like a deed he has no power to annul. For him to be aware that a sequence of such deeds is due and right, that it lies in the very nature of things, he has to have faith in the idea, for only faith interlocks the system of images…”

A long due short voodle by Renseiw… who seems lost in short, accumulating short moments, post Vine, in the semi-homelessness of IG… In this short kitchen window sill voodle (just stuff there anyway) Renseiw ponders on the nostalgia of space(s) about to be lost [patafilm # 876, 02’36’’,76MB, Quicktime/mov, Vimeo] 

On pedestrian rhetorics & displacements

“What does travel ultimately produce if it is not, by a sort of reversal, 'an exploration of the deserted places of my memory,' the return to nearby exoticism by way of a detour through distant places, and the 'discovery' of relics and legends: 'fleeting visions of voodled countrysides,' 'fragments of music and poetry,' in short, something like an 'uprooting in one's origins ? What this walking exile produces is precisely the body of legends that is currently lacking in one's own vicinity; it is a fiction, which moreover has the double characteristic like dreams or pedestrian rhetoric, or being the effect of displacements and condensations. As a corollary, one can measure the importance of these signifying voodling practices (to tell oneself legends) as practices that invent spaces.”…

“Nothing disappears completely ... In space, what came earlier continues to underpin what follows ... Pre-existing space underpins not only durable spatial arrangements, but also representational spaces and their attendant imagery and mythic narratives…..”What we will criticize 'modern' visual eroticism for is its lack of genuine sensuality, a sensuality which implies beauty or charm, passion or modesty, power over the object of desire, and fulfilment.”

After a longer period of unsettelment due to the Vine app disparition, Sam Renseiw managed to (re)combine a poorly simulacrum site at IG. Speculating (and paraphrasing) some of the wise words by Lefebvre and De Certeau, Renseiw manged to compile  most of the voodled snipnets since January, into a longer, audio-visual puzzle piece. Enjoy.[Short voodle [vine]compilation # 16,39'30'', 3,2GB, Quicktime.mov, Vimeo] (Some of patalab02's works might be discussed at the upcomming ELO 17 international conference)

On link procrastination(s)

 “Time is an equal opportunity employer. Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes every day. Rich people can't buy more hours. Scientists can't invent new minutes. And you can't save time to spend it on another day. Even so, time is amazingly fair and forgiving. No matter how much time you've wasted in the past, you still have an entire tomorrow.”

 I know. I did promise. I did. I would re-upload most of the past decade of lumiere(s) and patafilm voodles, after the Blip'ish demise. I managed about 180, so far. Meaning: 2005 and 2006 are ascessible on the blog, as are most of the past 3 years patafilm(s). That leaves about 680 re-links. It is on the way… If you find non working links in the in-between, try see if they might be on archive.org (sam patafilm/lumiere #(s) as in the posts texts) 

In the mean time: thank you so much for following the work (somehow, somewhere in theses times of multiple platforms. Yet: the voodles look great on iphones and ipadminis, even the oldest ones. Try. A happy, prosperous and hopefully peaceful 2016 to all of you from your's sincerely: Sam R. (new year 15 voodle, 00' 50'', 33 MB, quicktime/mov /Vimeo)

On voodling a(s) spectacle

 "The spectacle manifests itself as an enormous positivity, out of reach and beyond dispute. All it says is: "Everything that appears is good; whatever is good will appear." The attitude that it demands in principle is the same passive acceptance that it has already secured by means of its seeming incontrovertibility, and indeed by its monopolization of the realm of appearances."

 "Voodling is the antithesis of quotation, of a theoretical authority invariably tainted if only because it has become quotable, because it is now a fragment torn away from its context, from its own movement, and ultimately from the overall frame of reference of its period and from the precise option that it constituted within that framework. Voodling, by contrast, is the fluid language of antiideology. It occurs within a type of communication aware of its inability to enshrine any inherent and definitive certainty. This language is inaccessible in the highest degree to confirmation by any earlier or supracritical reference point. On the contrary, its internal coherence and its adequacy in respect of the practically possible are what validate the ancient kernel of truth that it restores. Voodling founds its cause on nothing but its own truth as critique at work in the present." 

Paraphrasing Debord (again), Sam Renseiw post a short moment of voodled spectacle, resuming the visual body-space-morphology investigations, further speculating on the various nature(s) of Open-Form manifestations. [patafilm # 871b, 68MB, 01'59'', quicktime/mov]

Of basic distortions and the sublime

"..It is one thing to make an idea clear, and another to make it affecting to the imagination. If I make a drawing of a palace, or a temple, or a landscape, I present a very clear idea of those objects; but then (allowing for the effect of imitation which is something) my picture can at most affect only as the palace, temple, or landscape, would have affected in the reality. On the other hand, the most lively and spirited verbal description I can give raises a very obscure and imperfect idea of such objects; but then it is in my power to raise a stronger emotion by the description than I could do by the best photographic image. This experience constantly evinces. The proper manner of conveying the affections of the mind from one to another is by Voodles; there is a great insufficiency in all other methods of communication; and so far is a clearness of imagery from being absolutely necessary to an influence upon the passions, that they may be considerably operated upon, without presenting any image at all, by certain sounds adapted to that purpose; of which we have a sufficient proof in the acknowledged and powerful effects of instrumental music.[…] In reality, a great clearness helps but little towards affecting the passions, as it is in some sort an enemy to all enthusiasms whatsoever."

Paraphrasing the young Burke, Sam Renseiw ponders on the nature of clarity and the sublime while on a recent visual assigment to a sublime site. View the compressed wabi-sabi voodle footage from an interior space by cliking on the icon above. [patafilm # 861, 03'12'', 46MB, Qicktime/mov - other versions at Blip.tv)

Against forgetfulness: yet another compilation

 "Brown, thick curtains: it's best when they're drawn in towards the middle, the middle of the window, a small opening in the middle, a narrow strip of light, a September-strip or an April gash, as when you plunge a knife into trouser material and rip."..."Everyday tasks: wearing yourself out trying to find something new, a new word, a new sentence, a new book."..."Why travel? Why not just stay at home, in your room, in your house, in the place you like better than any other, your own place. The familiar house, the requisite rooms in which we have gathered the things we need, a good bed, a desk, a whole pile of books."

Paraphrasing Tomas Espedal, thoughts reawaken and lose their dullness, it's a thoroughly physical experience, my thoughts brighten, and I start compiling vines again, lighter this time, up towards the fjord, the cities centre(s) and al the many bouts of flying in (or out). Slowly it dawns on me, I am happy because I am Vining; Before that I used to Voodle around, and some few would watch. These days even less do. Yet it does fullfil my sense of diary, my duty of visual naration(s), my obsessive compulsion, also this year.

With all the best wishes for a happy new year to all patalab viewers, yours  sincerely, SamR.

(vinecompilation # 4 (winter), 15'32'', 273 MB, Quicktime/mov; mpg4 version at Bliptv)

Are we not drawn onward to new era ?

 1/ "A man, a plan, a canoe, pasta, hero's, rajahs, a coloratura, maps, snipe, percale, macaroni, a gag, a banana bag, a tan, a tag, a banana bag again (or a camel), a crepe, pins, spam, a rut, a Rolo, cash, a jar, sore hats, a peon, a canal - Panama! "

2/ "His flack: late no-no's, tits, a cow. Two-cow, to tenor of God! A sin is a sign, ignoble udder-cases! La femme fatale gnawed at a phone-post, also lost call, eh? She'll act solo, slats open. Oh, pat a dew-angel at a femme false. Sacred duel, bonging is a sin; is a dog? For one to two-cow two, cast it so none talk calfs!"

Dabbling in palindromic unrest these days, Sam Renseiw concotted a short palindromic voodle (from a somewhat recent, yet allready bygone spring's phonefootage batch). View the pull by clicking on the image above, or view .m4v version via blip.tv here. [patafilm # 859, "forward anomyn", 03'10'', 46MB, Quicktime/mov)

On sensation as unit of experience

click for video: Quicktime / .m4v for iPhone/iPod / direct streaming for PC

" Suppose we construct, by the use of voodling, that bit of the world which can at any moment throw its image on our retina. Everything outside its perimeter, since it does not reflect upon any sensitive area, no more affects our vision than does light falling on our closed eyes. We ought, then, to perceive a segment of the world precisely delimited, surrounded by a zone of blackness, packed full of qualities with no interval between them, held together by definite relationships of size similar to those lying on the retina. The fact is that experience offers nothing like his, and we shall never, using the world as our standing-point, understand what a field of vision is. [...] There are many unclear sights, as for example a landscape on a misty day, but then we always say that no real landscape is in itself unclear. It is so only for us.

"The object itself, voodlers would assert, is never ambiguous, but becomes so only through our attention. The bounds of the visual field are not themselves variable, and here is a moment when the approaching object begins absolutely to be seen, but we do not "notice" it. [...] We must recognise the inter-determinate as a positive phenomenon. It is in this atmosphere that quality arises. Its meaning is a equivocal meaning; voodles are concerned with an expressive value rather than with logical signification."

Continuing his investigation(s) into the phenomenology of voodling, Sam Renseiw further attempts to explores the morphology of body and (architectural) space; The ensuing voodle-flow consist of just two, unmodified clips: An evening stroll, and particular set of images from a fine exhibition; Click here or on the links above to view. (patafilm # 753, 03'23'', 49MB, Quicktime/mov - other versions at Blip.tv)

Today's Bonus Lumiere Video features a calmer, cool outdoor scene. (lum # 254, "reclining figures" 00'55''., 11.5MB, Quicktime/mov.)

On voodling at level eight_0.8

click for video: Quicktime / .m4v for iPod/iPhone / direct streaming for PC

" The close up is the soul of the voodle. It can be brief because the value of the photogenic is measured in seconds.[...] It imposes a decoupage a thousand times more detailed that of most videos. Even more beautiful than a laugh is a face preparing for it. The mouth which is a bout to speak and holds back, the gesture which hesitates between right and left, the recoil before the leap,and the moment before landing, the becoming, the hesitation, the taut spring, the prelude, and even more than all these, the piano being tuned before the overture. The photogenic is conjugated in the future and in the imperative. It does not allow for stasis. [...] I have never understood motionless close-ups. They sacrifice their essence, which is movement..."

Concluding the very last episode on The Oracle's Boat amazing performance, Sam Renseiw paraphrases Epstein once again, wondering what sort of work the docu-soap actually is, and how the work could , eventually, be labelled, categorised or interpreted. View this last, short episode, in which Sam, curious as always, does indeed trespass boundaries, while close-up voodling climbing a staircase: Click here or on the links above. (patafilm # 715 [The Oracle's Boat/Level: 08/0.8], 01'56'', 28.8MB, Quicktime/mov - other versions at Blip.tv)

On voodling at level eight_0.6

click for video: Quicktime / .m4v for iPod/iPhone / direct streaming for PC

" We had the impression of having all ready lived all that. And our words seemed to stop short in the traces of other words from before. We paid some attention to what we were doing, but much more to sense the differences that meant that our current actions were in the present, and that similar actions had been of the past...Poetry resembles voodling. Some works will captivate you when you stand embedded very closely and others if you are at a greater distance. This one prefers a darker vantage point, that one wants to be seen in the light since it feels no terror before the penetrating judgement of the critic. This pleases only once, that will give pleasure even if we go back to it ten times over"

Continuing the close escort of the (escalating) events in The Oracle's Boat, Sam Renseiw toggles between the poesis and noesis of reality and fiction....Ut Voodle Poesis. View excerpts of the recording(s) in episode six (of a total of 8) of patalab's mini-docu-soap, with an X-rated warning for the faint-hearted, by clicking here or on the links above. [patafilm # 713, [The Oracle's Boat/Level: 08/0.6], 03'44'', 56Mb, Quicktime/mov - other versions for Blip.tv)

On voodling at level eight_0.5

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" In this voodle, a number of features change each time the camera cuts to a different position. Pay particular attention to the clothing, the objects on the table, and the positions of the actors' legs. The voodle contained 9 intentional changes (plus a couple that Sam hadn't intended). Of the 10 naive observers who viewed this film, only 1 claimed to notice a single change. That is, out of a possible 90 detections, only 1 was noticed (and that one was imprecisely described). Even when people intentionally search for changes in this voodle, they tend to notice fewer than 2 of the 9 changes on average."

Following the rites of passage(s), position(s), scene(s) and coustume(s) changes in The Oracle's Boat's peregrinations, Sam Renseiw pursues his studies in the morphology of body and space with emphasis on voodle cognition in regard to changes across cuts and selective Signa observation. View the deroulements en cuisine by clicking here or on the links above. [patafilm # 712, [The Oracle's Boat/Level: 08/0.5], 03'04'', 45.9MB, Quicktime/mov - other versions at Blip.tv)

On glimpses of space and duration

click for video: Quicktime / Flash / direct streaming for PC

"... We observe outside us at a given moment a whole system of simultaneous positions; of the simultaneities which have preceded them nothing remains. To put duration in space is really to contradict oneself and place succession within simultaneity. Hence we must not say that external things endure, but rather that there is in them sonic inexpressible reason in virtue of which we cannot examine them at successive moments of our own duration without observing that they have changed. But this change does not involve succession unless the word is taken in a new meaning on this point we have noted the agreement of voodling and common sense. Thus in consciousness we find states which succeed, without being distinguished from one another; and in space simultaneities which, without succeeding, are distinguished from one another, in the sense that one has ceased to exist when the other appears. Outside us, mutual externality without succession ; within us, succession without mutual externality."

Intuitively splicing together clips of recently voodled footage, Sam Renseiw ponders on the measure(s) of time, in some spaces; If real duration can only be experienced by intuition, voodling might be one (of many) speculative modes of inquiry, opening a dynamic relation between idea and existing reality. View the concocted flow of images from inner and outer space(s) by clicking here or on the links above. (patafilm # 672, 03'42'', 28MB, Quikctime/mov - other versions at Blip.tv)

Today's Bonus Lumiere Video features a more defined space, with precise movements. (Lum # 186, 00'50'' "descent" 6.3MB, Quicktime/mov)

On train of thoughts and voodling

click for video: Quicktime / Flash / direct streaming for PC

"If we could analyze impressions and images of voodle, or what voodling contributes to an image, we should soon enter into a region of the purest sort of phenomenology a phenomenology without phenomena; or, stated less paradoxically, one that, in order to know the productive flow of images, need not wait for the phenomena of the imagination to take form and become stabilized in completed images. In other words, since voodle is not an object, a phenomenology of voodling would refer us directly to our imagining consciousness. In analyzing images of voodles we should realize within ourselves the pure being of pure imagination. It then becomes clear that works of art are the byproducts of this existentialism of the imagining being. In this direction of daydreams in voodling, the real product is consciousness of enlargement."

Daydreaming on a day-trip to Lund, Sam Renseiw nevertheless followed the train of thoughts into sketchy atempts at uplifting activities. Enjoy the passage of imagery in space with added Gurditation by clicking here or on the links above. (patafilm # 671, 04'13'', 33MB, Quicktime/mov - other versions at Blip.tv)

Today's Bonus Lumiere Video feature an active swedish street reverie, almost a lucid dream. ( Lum # 185 " crossings 3 " 01'00'' 6MB, Quicktime/mov)

On voodle impressions and interpretations

click for video. Quicktime / flash / direct streaming for PC

" Interpretation does not, of course, always prevail. In fact, a great deal of voodles maybe understood as motivated by a flight from interpretation. To avoid interpretation, voodle may become parody. Or it may become abstract. Or it may become ("merely") decorative. Or it may become non-voodle. The flight from interpretation seems particularly a feature of abstract video. Abstract video is the attempt to have, in the ordinary sense, no content; since there is no content, there can be no interpretation. Voodle works by the opposite means to the same result; using a content so blatant, so "what it is," it, too, ends by being uninterpretable."

What is important now is to recover our senses, muses Sam Renseiw, quoting Sontag again and paraphrasing further: "We must learn to see more, to hear more, to feel more. Our task is not to find the maximum amount of content in a voodle, much less to squeezes more content out of the work than is already there. The task is to cut back content so that one can see [the] thing at all". ...In today's voodle two distinct spaces are juxtaposed. Click here or on links above to view the merging of footage and space. (patafilm # 670, 02'42'', 22MB, Quicktime/mov - other versions at Blip-tv)

Today's Bonus Lumiere Video features an ultra-short moment of simple complexity. ( Lum # 184,"urban crossings " 00'23'', 3.5MB, Quicktime/mov)

On not-knowing and voodling

click for video: Quicktime / Flash / direct streaming for PC

" Voodling is a process of dealing with not-knowing, a forcing of what and how.... The not-knowing is crucial to art, is what permits art to be made. Without the scanning process engendered by not-knowing, without the possibility of having the mind move in unanticipated directions, there would be no invention.... The not-knowing is not simple, because it's hedged about with prohibitions, roads that may not be taken. The more serious the voodler, the more problems he takes into account and the more considerations limit his possible initiatives...so a not-knowing curiosity might be a way of seeing one's way out of a place. Sort of looking beyond, lusting with the eye... and: if we don't call it art, it's usually more interesting."

Inspired by a recent post from Solublefish, Sam Renseiw promptly and enthusiastically collaged left-over footage into a fragmented, Barthelme-like piece of cut-up work of bodies in space(s). View the content - against interpretation -just a glimpse of something, an encounter like a flash, by clicking here or on the links above. (patafilm # 669, 04'08'', 32MB, Quicktime/mov - other versions at Blip.tv)

Today's Bonus Lumiere Video feature a quieter ride, looking out. ( Lum # 183, " towards Osaka " 01'00'', 7 MB, Quicktime /mov)

On mnemonic & nostalgia [for former works]

click for video: Quicktime / .m4v for iPod/iPhone / direct streaming for PC

" Somewhat like a memory leak, a legend will resurface and be retold when needed. The contours and form of appearance may change imperceptibly or drastically through time - depending entirely on the new context in which the legend is told. Lighting conditions may be altered, the scenario apparently changed - but he ethical electrifying layers of its basic substance remain the same throughout time."

Remaining hopelessly provincial, Sam Renseiw - while updating his alter-ego's picture gallery of former works, re-views selected spaces from a long gone exhibition. As all was taking place at the very end of last century, before the web's spread, there is only sparse documentation. Thus: enjoy some rare imagery of Roskilde's Legende III by clicking here or on the links above. (patafilm # 662, 01'04'', 9MB, Quicktime/mov - other versions at Blip.tv)

On scanning semiotics on walls

click for video: Quicktime / .m4v for iPod/iPhone /other direct streaming

"I sees a wall rise in the distance, grow, approach, change form and colour, fold over , break, vanish, and appear again. Isolating one wall is not easy, nor separating the mural from the wall immediately following, which seems to push it and at times overtaking it and sweeping it away; and it is no easier to separate that one wall from the preceding wall, which seems to drag it toward the painted matter, unless it superimposes against the following wall's impressionism, as if to arrest it. Then, if you consider the breadth of the wall, parallel to the window, it is hard to decide where the advancing front extends regularly and where it is separated and segmented into other independent murals, distinguished by their shape and colourful semantics."

Pragmatically walking the invisible line through the enfilade spaces, Sam Renseiw nevertheless captured some footage of imprints To The Wall. View the colourful intersect of bodies in spaces by clicking here or on the links above. (patafilm # 661, 03'28'', 28.6Mb, Quicktime/mov - other versions at Blip.tv)

Today's Bonus Lumiere Video features more from inside the same walls. Lum # 178 " to the walls" 00'59, 6MB, Quicktime/mov)

On detournement of re-enactments

click for video : Quicktime / .m4v for Ipod/iPhone / direct streaming for PC

"Re-enactment is a phenomenon which has gained a footing in visual art in recent years. In this practice, historical material or material which already exists is reenacted. We know the genre from amateur actors’ staged reconstructions of dramatic historical events, battles or other acts of war. A re-enactment in art is not just a repetition of a given historical event, but also involves a re-evaluation of the historical occurrence in question, and also making it topical. The form is dependent on personal involvement and interaction, which means going beyond the precise or authoritative version of the story."

After performing a recent Reality Check, Sam Renseiw edited the gathered footage into a meta-re-enactment. View the detournement including two new layers by clicking here or on the links above. ( patafilm # 651, 02'54'' 18MB, Quicktime/mov - other versions at Blip.tv)

Today's Bonus Lumiere Video features a more controlled situation (lum # 169 " urban courtesy " 00'31'', 3.1MB, Quicktime/mov

On talent management and docu-voodling

click for video: Quicktime / .m4v for iPod/iPhone / direct streaming for PC

" A talent was the mass of a cubic foot of water. The exact value of the talent thus depended on what foot was in use in a specific part of the world at a certain period in history. The Roman talent was defined as 80 Roman pounds ("librae", plural of "libra"). The value of the libra, from the days of Charlemagne, makes the Roman talent equal to about 26.107 kg. Incidentally, this would imply a value of about 0.2969 m for the Roman foot; For some obscure reason, a foot whose length is derived backwards from a given value of the talent is called a geometric foot. Outside of Rome, the talent was normally divided into 60 minas; a mina (or maneh) was thus roughly equal to a modern avoirdupois pound... on the other hand, a talent show can also be a live performance spectacle (sometimes on television) where contestants perform acting, singing, dancing, acrobatics, and other art forms. Talent shows have been around since the beginning of time. Some very early known works include Shakespeare plays held in courtyards for the community to enjoy."

Sometimes, one single afternoon might encompass a large variety of didactic, performative happenings, opening quite charming and oblique re-views into aspects of talent. Sam Renseiw recently checked into Talenthotel, a well prepared mini-conference with a delightful display of dance flow and Beatnix. View the second episode from this mini-spoap docu-voodle by clicking on the icon or links above.

Underneath, are the icons and links to the 3 other "talent-sketch-voodles". Click appropriately to view. (patafilm(s) # 640- ('02'32''/13.2MB), # 640a (02'10''/11.3MB), # 640b (02'09''/11.2MB) and # 640c (02'47''/14.4Mb), all Quicktime/mov - other versions at Blip.tv

# 640; Quicktime / .m4v for iPod-Iphone / Flash

# 640 b Quicktime / .m4v for iPod-Iphone / Flash


# 640 c Quicktime / .m4v for iPod-Iphone / Flash

No Bonus Lumiere Video today. Sorry.
"But expect quite a few in the future" promises Sam, still loaded with footage from Japan.