Sleepwalkers..Doug Aitken, Tilda Swinton, Myself.

You know, typical Saturday night. I had some wine, and somehow that left me up at 4:27 AM remembering the film Doug Aitken did on the walls of MoMA the winter of 2007. (Hint: it was cool.)


The actors, such as Tilda Swinton and Chan Marshall of Cat Power, are cool. Screening your film on the huge walls of MoMA is cool. Waiting in the cold as snow starts falling to see how the different characters wake up, just for a short time, out of the comatose of their lives was also pretty cool. (Read: I am cool.)

So somehow when up at this time my thoughts drift to Sleepwalkers. I still remember how neat the experience of watching it was. The narrative played out on the city streets, with people hustling by or starting to look. Different parts of the film were shown on different walls, so the viewer had to walk around MoMA to see what other parts of the narrative.

This is a longer clip that gives you a better feel for the pacing and experience of watching at MoMA. The viewing process was fragmented, so you could never see anything at once and had to put it together in your head. Aitken says of the structure of the film that “the narratives interlock in a kinetic synchronicity and expand and break apart again. It’s almost like chaos theory.” Aitken, by the way, has also made videos for Fatboy Slim and Interpol.

So with that I leave you, well-rested reader, and may you all have a happy, bright Sunday morning. Enjoy your coffee and your blogs.

I will be sleeping.

Ravels in Review Friday


Hello bloggy reader! And welcome to another installment of Ravels in Review Friday. Although stupefied that on this Spring day snow is falling, I shall persevere. Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow, nor internet connection problems shall keep the blogger away.

We really were well-rounded artworld citizens this week, as we jumped from an informative post on Albrecht Durer’s painting, which drew some admiring glances of the basest kind from readers, to current topics such as how fashion is (not!) art and whether public art becomes part of the landscape. (If art needs to be on a gallery or museum wall to be recognized as art, what does that say about the nature of art?) Then we had some laughs with the stellar cast of Blithe Spirit, currently playing at the Shubert Theater.

Lastly, but certainly not leastly, we have a video of Art Ravels on a trip to MoMA for the Martin Kippenberger exhibition! It’s very exciting: there’s music; there’s lights; there’s my voiceover; there’s some shaky camera work. Let me know how you think it ranks next to another Martin Kippenberger at MoMA video.

Also, I would like to do another art video adventure. Does anyone have suggestions on where I should go?

Another Kippenberger at MoMA video?

Some might say I’m cannibalizing my own content value by showing you another, better (in some respects) video of the Martin Kippenberger exhibition. My video is here, by the way.

This video tour is by New York Magazine art critic Jerry Saltz. I knew something like this was in the works. When I was doing the a little video reconnaissance, I bumped into Saltz, a camera guy, and a MoMA employee. I followed part of their filming through the exhibition and really enjoyed listening to Saltz. Also, watching him stand next to the sculpture Martin, Into the Corner, You Should be Ashamed of Yourself was quite fun.

So in terms of video, let’s see how things stack up.

Jerry Saltz’s Video V. Art Ravel’s Video

Non-shaky camera v. Some very wobbly bits
Clear sound levels v. Awesome soundtrack
Access to exhibition v. Difficulty getting images
Knowledge of artist v. Charmingly fresh perspective (?)

My gorilla effort may not have the polished production of New York Magazine’s; in fact, it barely has transitions. Even so, I think between my music and my lovely self, it’s a fun romp through the MoMA show. Perhaps I’m biased.

*Commenters who prefer my video will be sent a brownie.