Friends, I got out and saw some work. It feels like it's been a very long time. Mabe and Nixon programmed a show for the Block this evening, part of their Channels quarterly series, this time under the auspices of Northwestern's media curator, Metzger.
Child's Surface Noise was like watching Eisenstein - both for the kinds of images used and for the way in which they are used. It's a meaning derived from shots taken from disparate sources. Only there is this addition of sound, handled in the much the same way. I mean sound is also gathered and inserted like shots. The film feels like a series of pairings and juxtapositions, which can suddenly work for you but be over before you can fix it in mind. As I watched the work that followed in the program and thought back to the Child, it felt almost cynical. I mean, just listen to it. Anyway, after the Child film, there were three that I thought could have just been the whole show, a profound and lasting experience. I have never heard of Maïa Cybelle Carpenter or Chi Jang Yin. The two together, however, I thought was brilliant. And so unwordy, so principled, mature and uncompromising. Yes, someone does show the work you really want to make. It is possible. Anyway, there followed a Geiser, the second senior American artist, if I may call them that. Now Geiser is in a league of her own. It calls for a new paragraph. See, there is this competency or proficiency question. There is this intensely beautiful work in the Carpenter, but it's of a different order. Then you have Geiser . . almost a demonstration, not pedantic, but virtuoso. But see that might give the impression that the work is just about effects, and it's not. You can hear her think, and you can see it take shape on screen, but really as an artistry like music. I always expect a degree of clutzy when I'm watching the kind of film Geiser has here. I like the simplicity of clutzy, authentic. But like I said, I think Geiser is in her own league. Bernie
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