ART TORRENTS

6 documentaries about the work of Christo & Jeanne-Claude (1987-2003)
Thursday, October 4, 2007

Deborah Dickson - Christo in Paris (1990) / Karagarga / Demonoid

It took Christo & Jeanne-Claude ten years to get permission from the Parisian government to to wrap the famous Pont Neuf in Paris, France.


Albert Maysles, David Maysles & Charlotte Zwerin - Running Fence (1978) / Karagarga / Demonoid

This video documents the creation of a 24-mile silk fence which runs through Marin and Sonoma countryside to the (and into the) sea, that Christo erected in the '70s. Much of the 58-minute running time it taken up by his local fights to get permits and permission to run through ranches, over roads, and into the beach property.


Ellen Giffard, Albert Maysles & David Maysles - Christo's Valley Curtain (1974) / Karagarga / Demonoid

Short and to-the-point documentary covering Christo's first large public work - the bright neon-orange valley curtain in Colorado, which spanned the gulf between two small mountains.


Henry Corra, Albert Maysles & Grahame Weinbren - Umbrellas (1994) / Karagarga / Demonoid

1760 umbrellas were put up by Christo & Jeanne-Claude close to Interstate 5 near Gorman in California in Oct 1991 (for only 3 weeks).


Albert Maysles - Islands (1987) / Karagarga / Demonoid

Using 6.5 million square feet of floating pink fabric, Christo and Jeanne-Claude encircled eleven islands in Miami's Biscayne Bay, extending the perimeter of each island by 200 feet. An elaborate undertaking that involved legions of contractors, engineers, attorneys, and seamstresses, Surrounded Islands also required extensive consultation with marine biologists and ornithologists. Ultimately, the project benefited its surroundings: Christo and Jeanne-Claude's crew removed forty tons of garbage from the uninhabited islands.

Evoking hibiscus flowers and flamingos, the vibrant woven polypropylene fabric was sewn to correspond to the contours of each island. As the unfurling began on 4 May 1983, the islands themselves seemed to bloom. The artists and their crew of 430 surrounded the last island three days later. Remaining on view for two weeks, the work was visible to the public from the causeways, the land, the water, and the air.

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Supersilent Discography
Friday, September 21, 2007

Over 3 hours totally improvised deathjazzambientavantrock from new limitstretching quartet featuring members and ex-members from Terje Rypdal Skywards, Farmers Market, Motorpsycho, Deathprod and Veslefrekk.

Supersilent 1-3 at Karagarga.

New, quite stunning recordings from the quartet spearheading the new wave of Norwegian jazz. Colourful, dynamic and more varied than their debut, it combines improvisation and electronics, without a drumloop or computer in sight.

Supersilent 4 at Karagarga.

Producer and member Helge Sten (Deathprod) went through some 30 hours of live recordings to come up with this 70 minute collection, including selections from Oslo, London and Bologna. Mostly a calmer, more reflective side of Supersilent that those familiar with their concerts might have experienced. As always an utterly thrilling experience in the art of improvised soundcreation and even more difficult to define than before.

Supersilent 5 at Karagarga.

Supersilent have been a solid cornerstone in Rune Grammofon since the very beginning and are seen by many as the very essence of the label. From the monumental hardcore blizzard storms of "1-3" to the elegant electrojazz of "4" and the almost quiet soundscapes of "5", this new album is where the sum of all things Supersilent comes together in a shape of almost epic proportions. Like "1-3" and "Scorch Trio" it was recorded at Athletic Sound in Halden, Norway. More than ever it appears clear that their music lives in a no man's land between the genres, somewhere between rock, electronica, jazz and modern composition. As with all their recordings and live performances, everything here is improvised. That most of the music on "6" appears to be written or at least arranged, is testament to the high, almost telepatic level they work at . Needless to say, there are no overdubs. Often being labelled jazz because of the improvising aspect of the music and the fact that three of the members come from a jazz background, with "6" they are just as likely to attract followers of bands such as Goodspeed You! Black Emperor, Sigur Rós, King Crimson, (late) Talk Talk or Popol Vuh.

Supersilent 6 at Karagarga.

Note: This is ONLY the audio from the dvd. The dvd can be found here.

Finally we can present this longawaited treat of a concert film. The sold out concert took place in Oslo in August last year and was beautifully captured by Kim Hiorthøy and friends to 16 mm black and white film, and later edited by Hiorthøy. The sound was recorded by Athletic Sound and mixed by Helge Sten. Needless to say, it looks and sounds fantastic. The concert itself was rewarded a six out of six review at the time in Norway´s major national paper Aftenposten. You get the complete concert, 109 minutes, 6 tracks, in the same order as on the night, there are no overdubs or repairs. And there is no bonus material, not even a menu. This is a conscious decision by the director, artist and label. We wanted it to work like a cd, with instant access to the concert material and individual tracks. Both sound and picture has been coded in the best possible way. It´s a DVD-9 (as opposed to the more normal DVD-5), meaning it´s a dual layer disc with more space for information and therefore better picture quality. In addition to the standard Dolby Digital, there is also a DTS sound option for those with players equipped for this. Please note that we now have both a PAL version and a NTSC version available. NTSC is generally used in North America, Central America, Japan and Taiwan and some countries in South America and Asia. Today NTSC versions will play in most PAL territories while it might be more difficult the other way around. Apart from this coding, the versions are identical. Please note that it is your own responsibility to order the correct version for your player.

Supersilent 7 at Karagarga( audio/dvd).

Helge Sten, Ståle Storløkken, Arve Henriksen and Jarle Vespestad celebrate 10 years as a groundbreaking quartet with their first studio album in almost 5 years. Their music lives in a no-man's-land between the genres, somewhere between rock, electronica, jazz and modern composition. Yes, we say composition because when listening it´s not far fetched to think it could have been, although everything here is improvised, as it has always been with Supersilent. With ”8” they have yet again re-invented themselves, exploring more abstract and mysterious pathways and ending up even further away from traditional categories.
The album is produced by Deathprod and mastered by US mastering guru Bob Katz.

Supersilent 8 at Karagarga.

Demonoid links will be added later.

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T. Minh-ha Trinh - The Fourth Dimension (2001)
Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Download this at KaraGarga.






Today, when one goes on a journey, the travel is ritualized through the visual machine. The image, coming alive in time as it frames time, is there where the actual and virtual meet. In the process of ritualizing Japan's "hundred flowers," it is the encounter between self and other, human and machine, viewer and image, fact and fancy that determines the field of relations in which new interactions between past and present are made possible. Shown in their widespread functions and manifestations, including more evident loci such as festival, religious rite and theatrical performance, "rituals" involve not only the regularity in the structure of everyday life, but also the dynamic agents in the ongoing process of creating digital images at the speed of light.

"Striking visual compositions and juxtapositions and a stunning soundtrack. As we watch and listen to this provocative and meditative piece, we, too, become 'attentive to the infraordinary - an intrusion of eternity.'" - I. Leimbacher, The San Francisco Cinematheque

Download this at KaraGarga.

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Carine Asscher - Passageways: James Turrell (2006)
Sunday, April 13, 2008

Download this at KaraGarga.

This was produced for the museum of modern art, paris in 2006. It documents the infamously reclusive Earthworks artist James Turrell, and his majestic Rodin Crater project that he's been working on for about 25 years now. Since Turrell's work is not open to the public, and you're likely to get shot trespassing out in New Mexico where this sits, this is your only chance to see it. Highly recommended for those interested in late modern and contemporary art.

Box:
A pilot for many years, James Turrell is today the greatest American "Land Art" artist, and considers the sky as his studio. Upon spectacular and historical aerial images of Arizona's canyons, Turrell recalls his formal research on natural light and his friendship with the Hopi Indians. The film gives Turrell the opportunity to present his masterpiece, Rodin Crater, a true celestial light "observatory".








Download this at KaraGarga.

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Mike Kelley and Paul McCarthy - Fresh Acconci (1995)
Friday, March 7, 2008

Download this at KaraGarga.

Fresh Acconci
by Mike Kelley and Paul McCarthy

1995, 45 min, color, sound

Artists McCarthy and Kelley re-stage classic 1970s performance pieces by Vito Acconci, with a decidedly ironic Southern California sensibility. States McCarthy: "[The piece] is a reference to art now, to a resurgence of the 1970s and an interest in youth in the art world. There are also references to Hollywood 8 movies and soft porn made in the Hollywood hills.... In Fresh Acconci, the New York art scene is sandwiched with Hollywood. Two kinds of esthetics overlap. The tape itself crosses lines of what is politically correct, exploitation and softening or obscuring the meaning."

Based on Videotapes by Vito Acconci: "Claim Excerpts" ('71) "Contacts" ('71) "Focal Points" ('71)"Pryings" ('71) "Theme Song" ('73).

Download this at KaraGarga.

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Ian MacTilstra - Stretched: Mike Kelley and Paul McCarthy (2008)

Download this at KaraGarga.


"Stretched"; a documentary about Mike Kelley and Paul McCarthy.

"It's actually weird to see the way he has received himself in this sort of this sliver and the way it functions is a bit like architecture, but also like an abstract painting. The way that it's kind of folded back is a big like Jasper Johns. Is it Jasper Johns? Yeah, I think it's Jasper Johns, yeah, it kind of looks like that, like a canvas being peeled away, where you can see the male body in this supermodernist reference, and to me this is pretty interesting, and he seems to be masturbating with ketchup, and I guess the colour part of the ... anyways."
-Vivienne Bessette, critic.





Download this at KaraGarga.

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Ernie Gehr - Eureka (1974)
Sunday, February 3, 2008

Download this at KaraGarga.



This is a refilming of a remarkable movie depicting Market Street, San Francisco, around the turn of the century. The original film consisted of one long continuous take recorded from the front of a moving trolley from approximately Seventh Street all the way to the Embarcadero. I extended each frame six to eight times, full-frame, and increased the contrast and the light fluctuations.

To some degree, the original film has obviously been transformed, but I hope that this simple muted process allowed enough room for me to make the original work "available" without getting too much in the way. This was very important to me as I tend to see what I did, in part, as the work of an archaeologist, resurrecting an old film as well as the shadows and forces of another era.

Download this at KaraGarga.

at 12:00 PM  

Various - Regarding Beauty in Performance and the Media Arts (1960-1999)
Sunday, April 13, 2008

Download this at KaraGarga.

This is perhaps the most important and inclusive collection of video art I have ever encountered. Not to say that it includes everything - far from it. But it has a heck of a lot of really important and interesting works from 1960-1999, compellingly grouped under various themes, and as such, represents a virtual treasure trove of rare material. I've left the compilation intact, and ripped it to keep the file size under 15gb. Like the 40 years of Video Art, this is simply a must-see. Even titles like Dara Birnbaum's Wonder Woman, which I previously u/l here, are more complete.

This was the film and video art component of the Hirshhorn Museum's 2000 show "Regarding Beauty" and by all accounts, more successful than the painting and sculpture section. Thanks to the little bird to flew this to me. Let's release this one into the wild!

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