Most consumer grade LCD projectors hover somewhere 2600 lumens in terms of brightness. What do you do when an 18 000 lumen projector aimed at at 12’x22′ screen? Have a kick ass event? Sure. What do you do when moments before the event starts, this monolithic projector hanging so carefully from the ceiling reads off these messages?
No Signal
Bad Sync
One of the answers, it seemed, was to start splitting cables!
This is 18 000 lumen beast we were contending with
Yesterday, I mentioned Tasman Richardson’s Greatest Hits: A Video Mix Tape Bear Witness but didn’t show a photo and there’s a good reason. If a retrospective of his work played on two relatively small LCD displays was impressing me, how great would he be live, on a display bigger than my house at 18 000 lumens?!
Luckily, thanks to a combined effort supported by a past Artengine blogger and a local VJ/DJ/great person, I guess I found out.
Tasman Richardson performs Firing Squad.
This sonically staccato and visually nearly stroboscopic performance is apparently normally done on an wall of 15 cathode ray tube television sets of various sizes but last night, was adapted last night to fit Electric Field’s grand stage. HA-LLU-CIN-ANT.
You all should really spend some time watching some of the clips at TasmanRichardson.com. He has been a definite festival highlight and if you missed last night, you will become better members of humanity for seeking out his work elsewhere. En autres mots, ça vaut la peine (et parfois, l’argent).
First in the night actually was Clinker though.
Clinker performs On the Other Side, “an audiovisual performance that draws from the vast depths of emotion written into the words and music of Leonard Cohen.”
His performance involved the most gear (including a microphone) and perhaps, he was the one who most drew me to watch him as well as the giant screen next to him. His piece, attempting to channel the powers of Leonard Cohen, was much calmer than the other two – gently taking us into an unknown realm, where we would only end up being pleasantly assaulted by members of V-Atak.
So, the final performance was by Nohista de France (merci l’Ambassade de France au Canada!). His piece was basically an abstraction on the human body and I may be reading into this a but but aesthetically, it parts of it were somewhere between Haute Tension (2003), Un chien andalou (1929), and the VHS tape from The Ring. Yet, on the audio side of things, it was probably the danciest piece.
Nohista’s NOBODY
Nohista’s NOBODY
After three days, so much time in this dark room is getting to me, perhaps. Beginning to feel like Artengine has trapped me. I can’t get out and no one can come in.
Worth mentioning is that Nohista and Tasman Richardson are members of the European video label V-Atak. You can watch a trailer for NOBODY on that website.
Sadly, I missed Ray Gould’s installation as I had to hop into a semi-electric car and hightail it to Babylon where I was part of the event as the 3D photographer. While I had initially envisioned using a compact and convenient Fuji 3D camera, I ended up rigging a pair of Canon 5D Mark 2s fitted with two 50mm 1.4 lenses, which synced together using a single strobe. No photos from this yet but If you were there and you want to see the end results, KEEP YOUR GLASSES. The photos will be posted on this blog and also on my own website www.lechampiondumonde.com.
I also just want to thank everyone for coming out and participating in all of it last night. The ticket price was between $10 & $15, which, granted, is more than a movie at the Bytowne or Mayfair but it was truly a rare and unique occasion – and you got a free dance party out of it afterwards (equipped with 3D glasses!). I’ve probably seen about 1000 bands in my life and even more movies so it’s refreshing to attend events like last night’s.
More happening today, tonight and tomorrow. Visit electricfields.ca for all the deets on that!
Finally, I want to encourage people who aren’t already, to become a member of Artengine. If you were at Babylon last night and didn’t realize you were attending a festival event, I’m talking to you specifically! This festival is a testament to what it’s seriously tiny (and great) staff can accomplish. A basic membership is only $20 and you can pay for it over PayPal (talk about convenience!) and it opens a door to an awesome community of wicked and enthusiastic creators from Ottawa and abroad.
Tags: AV, Clinker, Electric Fields, Festival, Frenzy, Nohista, Party, Tasman Richardson, TIND