Sunday, December 23, 2007

Scope Miami recap



The Cuban barbecue, the $17 martinis, the sunshine and the kids on low rider bicycles. Miami wuz booty poppin' awesome. Big props to Alex, Jordan, Mo and the whole Scope crew for bringing us down and letting us blast videos on a 16x20 foot wall at the entrance to the Scope Art Fair (Miami, Dec. 5-9, 2007), that could also be viewed from the reverse side in the VIP lounge. Our projection tower and booth was an incredible cardboard construction by Boris Hoppek of heliumcowboy artspace - it was the sweetest collaboration we've ever been a part of.

Content-wise, we more or less VJed our way through the five days with classics from the Urban Nomad hard drive, a bunch of new material, and REAL ART given to us to play, including the world premier of DJ Spooky's New York is Now (via Irvine Contemporary) and the very oldschool Tooth and Nail: Film and Video 1970-74 by Dennis Oppenheim. The final day, we showed 20+ films by local Miami directors and were really impressed by their work.

We also sold a few independent films, projects we support like Wholphin, Pervert's Guide to Cinema and director-activist Franny Armstrong. In addition to generating a little financial support through sales, there is a symbolic importance to having cheap, independently produced DVDs in the generally much more high-flying economy of an art fair.

Now, here's the slide show:


Projection tower with our 20-foot screen behind it. View from the main entrance of the Scope Art Fair. Who the thumbs-up kid is, we have no fucking idea.


Front view of our installation. On screen: Marc D'Andre.


Sean (left) and Dave, the night before opening.


One of two 12,000-lumen projectors we used.


Dave gave a presentation, followed by one by Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky. Martin Irvine (left) of Irvine Contemporary makes the introductions.


Sculpture by Boris Hoppek. Our projection booth is housed inside, as is the projector. It was like a fort.


Boris Hoppek, who made our projection tower. To do "legal" graffiti art in Barcelona, where he lives, he told me he collects cardboard boxes from the garbage, builds them into walls on front of walls, and then spray paints them.


View inside the projection booth. Hi Mo! Thanks for the visit!


Our indie DVD distro. We sold various indie DVDs, including Pervert's Guide to Cinema (featuring Slavoj Zizek, by Sophie Feinnes), two issues of the Wholphin DVD magazine (by Wholphin), McLibel and Drowned Out (by Franny Armstrong), The Naked Feminist (by Louisa Achille) and a compilation of Taiwanese short animations.


And of course there were the t-shirts, in summer colors. Our meager earnings from these went some small ways towards subsidizing the $17 martinis we were more or less obliged to drink - there is less irony in this remark than you think - to keep up with the high rolling South Beach crowd.


A satisfied customer (with one of Boris's paintings in the background).

Miami Premiers

We premiered a bunch of new stuff in Miami, some of it new for us, and a lot of it new for the art world, not least of all the 20+ Miami submissions in the post below. But before we get to that, here's what we brought with us from Taipei, including short films and video art.


The Fabled Shots by Su Hui-yu (蘇匯宇)
single channel video, courtesy of the artist and VT Art Space

Su claims the subject here is a synthesis of a terrorist and a victim. During one showing, a woman (one of the exhibitors) walked up to me and said, "While the air conditioning is broken, could you play something a little more cheerful?"



Flov'er by Huang Bo-chih (黃博志)
single channel video, courtesy of the artist

This video was made with a scanner, and Huang used more than 10,000 scans of flowers in its making. Other works we showed by him were:
Sweet Dream by Huang Bo-chih
Self Portrait No. 1 by Huang Bo-chih



Introduction (序)by Kuo I-Chen (郭奕臣)
single channel video, courtesty Galerie Grand-Siecle

This one is very windy.


Visitor by Wang Ya-hui (王雅慧)
single channel video, courtesy Galerie Grand Siecle

Notice the floating cloud in the upper right hand corner. It is a trompe l'oeil that floats through the entire video piece.


Portrait of a Sino-American Frienship by James Hong
short experimental film, courtesy of the filmmaker

Covert footage of a fat American doing a business deal while getting a pedicure somewhere in modern China.


Music video for "Joys of the Ferryboat of Mercy" by LTK Commune, directed by Chen Yi-ren (MV:歡喜渡慈航 樂團:濁水溪公社 導演:陳奕仁)
Music video, courtesy of Xiao-ko


Airport by Chen Wan-jen (陳萬仁)
single channel video, courtesy of the artist


A.T.P.M Structure by Li Chieh-hua
single channel video, courtesy of the artist


Walm-Art by David Frazier
stupid channel video, by Urban Nomad

Ok, it was kind of stupid, kind of obvious, but maybe it was better than the "Fuck Art Fairs" t-shirts someone else was selling. Anyway, I saw Jordan chuckle.


Mirror by Dominik Tyliszczak
single channel video, courtesy of the artist

We also showed The Wig by Dominik Tyliszczak.


From Demo Reel & Film Excerpts 99-06 by Coan Nichols and Rick Charnoski
short film compilation, courtesy the filmmakers

This is some of the coolest, most beautiful skate footage we've ever seen or shown. The poetry of skating pipes, pools and other shenanigans. We also showed their Randome Shorts video.


Ricochet by Greendot Films
short film, courtesy of the filmmakers

This was so brutal it was totally awesome!!! It comes off a Greendot Films compilation called Three Legged Legs.

Jade Dragon Snow Mountain by M. Ganzglass
single channel video, courtesy of the filmmaker

Cable cars suspended in a cloud, footage from China that's both poetic and pregnant with metaphor.


Fission by Chang Kun-I
animated short, courtesy of the filmmaker

Kunstmarktbasel

Camouflage by Daniel Staudenmann

Parade by Reto Jeltsch

Shere II by Chris Sigdell

Thanks to our friend Daniel Staudenmann, a curator at the Cargo Bar in Basel, we had a sweet program from the local Basel artists (in other words, not Art Basel artists) of Kunstmarktbasel. Here's the lineup:

Shere II by Chris Sigdell
Camouflage by Daniel Staudenmann
Jubilee by Liliane Freiermuth
Engel by Lukas Buergin
Fragmente by Markus Buser
Schwere der Dinge by Reinhard Wanner
Parade by Reto Jeltsch
The Beast Show by Reto Jeltsch

And last but not least, we showed a high speed film of a bald muscleman breaking flaming cinder blocks with his fist by Matt Luem.

The Miami Local Program

First of all, major props to Miami's local film community. On the last day of Scope Miami 07 (Sun, Dec. 9), we screened a special program of films and video art by local directors and artists as well as a few hand-offs from the globe-trotting carnies of the art crowd. We got a pile of submissions that I'm still rewatching and sorting out, but the important thing is, while still on site, we put together a special 2-hour program of seriously caliente local stuff.

Here's the playlist:

Maps by Fred Karrenberg
Ucelli by Renzo Ortega

Serial Cereal by Mariella Rossel

Candy Melt by Stian Roenning

Bread Performance by Stian Roenning

The Toners by Alex Fumero et al.

Gevurah by Jacek Kolasinski

Bellum Letale by Jacek Kolasinski

Revenge of the B Girls by Dawn Dubriel

Amores Manos by Mariella Rossel

Migration by Robert Del Pino

Red Bull, promo spot by Organic Arma

People 2 by Jane Hsu

Untitled (video art) by Susan Lee Chun

Suenos de Sinena by Aleli Egues

Scratches Michelle Perry

Biscayne Poet by Oscar Fuentes

The Way I Move, music video featuring Fitzroy

New Velvet by Morrison Pierce

Cut Your Hand on the Good Book by J. Vinazza
Dream Machine by Sandrine Bouiniere
Cocked by Matthew Suib
The Mundane by Andres Erazo