Caught on Tape:
Myths and Revisions
page 99 by Caterina Borelli
A vide series curated by Vikki Dempsey
Presented in conjunction with the exhibition:
Millennial Myths: Paintings by Lynn Randolph
Arizona State University Art Museum
February 21 through May 24, 1998
Myths have a power that can inspire wonder and yield creativity. However, it is important to remember that the power for myth to inspire is also a power to influence. If you add the usual implication of myths of delusion and falsehood to its influential quality and this century's technologies for global communication, the result equals another excellent opportunity for the storyteller to fortify capitalistic power structures and existing hierarchies.
Thus in today's environment of media oligopoly, the result is that fewer sources of accurate and accessible alternative information are made available and immediate transmission of the fewer sources to millions demands a deconstruction and reinterpretation of myths, the stories represented to the public. By using the same technology as mass media, the video artists showcased in this video exhibition deconstruct the myth and enlighten us to their interpretation and critique through the genres of the experimental, narrative, and documentary.
Caught on Tape: Myths and Revisions is a series of five short video programs. The series explores issues and narratives frequented in Lynn Randolph's paintings such as the shift of control in radical science, feminine representation of expressed desire and sexuality in the female body, and possible political and spiritual visions of the future.
The programs run on a loop, screen one-a-day, and cycle throughout the exhibition.
PROGRAM ONE: UNOFFICIAL STORIES (50
MINUTES)
This program questions "official stories" presented in and propagated
by the media. These artists intend to challenge apathy and inspire socio/political
change. page 1 (learning to watch) and
page 99 by Caterina Borelli (4.5min,
1997) ask us to reconsider the way we watch and then push us to consider
those images as unfinished products that need to be completed by audience
participation. Superhero
by Emily Breer (10min, 1995) participates by presenting
a dionysian-like superhero who sometimes has to punch out Batman for being
too goody-goody. Animaquiladora by
Alex Rivera and Lalo Lopez (4min except, 1997)includes L.A. Cucaracha,
a series of three animated shorts based on the political cartoon strip
by Lalo Lopez; and S16: Dia de La Independencia,
a coming attraction parody. Finally, Amidst
the White Noise...My Fifth Amendment Privilege by Christiane
Robbins (28min, 1998) very seriously demonstrates that various forms of
supremacy are not the exclusive domain of marginalized extremist groups
or individuals but are also covertly domesticated by mainstream culture,
media and politics. The question pivotal to this piece is to what extent
are we willing to go in our fostering our denial - and to what cost?
PROGRAM TWO: RUMOR OF TRUTH (59 MINUTES)
This program examines the fact that technology has the capacity to image
us at all times. Will this affect our behavior or does it already? We
need to consider the "truth" behind the image and not only the image as
"truth". Suicide Box by the Bureau
of Inverse Technology (13min, 1996) points to some confusing roles for
technology within contemporary culture by documenting the findings of
a motion-triggered camera installed at the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
by the Bureau (a private information agency). Ocularis:
Eye Surrogates by Tran T. Kim-Trang (21min, 1997) combines
constructed and appropriated images of surveillance with voicemail responses
and personal stories about surveillance show us spaces we normally can
not see. The Rumour of True Things
by Paul Bush (25min, 1996) is a remarkable anthropological portrait of
a society obsessed with imaging itself.
PROGRAM THREE: UNDER THE SKIN (43.5
MINUTES)
In this program, battle lines are imagined and debates develop as these
artists consider the mental, emotional, and physical affect of technology
on the human. In Host
by Kristin Lucas (7.5min, 1997), a young woman logs into an on-line therapy
session hosted by the system operator of a streetside multi-media kiosk.
Olympia by Katarzyna Kozyra (8min,
1996, silent) images the artist's body, which is threatened by death.
She wants to see herself from the outside, to observe the process of destruction.
Under the Skin Game by Diane Nerwen
(17.5min, 1996) examines Norplant, the contraceptive implants, and how
it is advocated as a device for governmental reproductive and social control.
Why Cybraceros? by Alex Rivera and
Lalo Lopez (5min, 1997) is a futuristic satire about how Mexican laborers
will be kept South of the Border through the use of internet technology.
Prototype by Viricode duo Andrea
Mancuso and Peter D'Auria (5.5min, 1990) speculates on an evolved human,
using fake viscera, computer models, and bio-mechanical implants.
PROGRAM FOUR: OPTIONS@ALT.LOVE (55
MINUTES)
This program investigates relationships, love, and sex in the technological
age. Law of Averages by James Duesing
(15min, 1996) is a futuristic computer-animated landscape where confused
relationships between objects and people form against the backdrop of
a lush garden and interactive theatre known as the Big Ghost. Impact
Zone by Kadet Kuhne and Sophie Constantinou (10min, 1997) is
auto erotica, so fasten your seatbelt for this fuel-injected ride--full
of contact, speed, and girl-on-girl action. Double
Cross Click Click by Lynn Hershman (30min, 1995) tells a cross-dressing
tale from the frontiers of the virtual world.
PROGRAM FIVE: FUTURE MEMORY (46.5
MINUTES)
Our spirits are aware of future memory which refers to past, present,
and future time happening simultaneously. Does technology now allow our
minds and bodies to follow our spirits? Let's experiment. Aviator
by Darrin Martin (8min, 1997) presents two men play in the balancing act
of airplane. The rhythm of their actions unfolds a relationship charted
by memory and suspension. In Actions in Action
by Halflifers: Torsten Z. Burns and Anthony Discenza (11min, 1997), the
Action Guys engage organic gear, inorganic props and a craft that resembles
a kitchen. As in childhood, reality is very fluid and conditional for
the Action Guys. Processed cheese slices now become memory slabs. Morayngava
by Vincent Carelli and Centro de Trabalho Indigenista, produced by Virginia
Valadao (20min, 1997) explores the "design inside the TV". This tape,
made in collaboration with the tribes, shows the importance of video as
a tool for the indigenous people of Brazil. It examines the contradictions
inherent in the use of video technology to preserve indigenous culture
and their spirit. In Transmission
by Kevin and Jennifer McCoy (7.5min, 19), Lt. Jones transmits a report
to her employers. A zone is entered where memory becomes a player in present
events. Disengagement from the physical results. Danger may lie ahead
or it may just be a transformation into another realm.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank Marilyn A. Zeitlin and Gregory Sale for generously
giving me the opportunity to curate a video show at the ASU Art Museum.
Much gratitude to Lynn Randolph for allowing me to program the video show
in response to ideas presented in her work. Thanks also to Heather Lineberry
and John Spiak for their assistance and perspective; to Steve Speck for
technical support; to Jean Makin for program design support and to the
Security Staff of the museum. Much appreciation to the Friends of the
ASU Art Museum for their funding support in making this series possible.
A very special thank you to all the video artists in the series; to Kelly Leslie for the program guide design; to Pan Left Productions for editing assistance; to V ideo Data Bank for a great deal of patience and cooperation; to Mindy Faber at Video Data Bank, Steve Seid at the Pacific Film Archives, Kathy High, and Chris Straayer for their curatorial assistance.
Return to Millenial Myths main page
Visit other video and film projects presented by the
ASU Art Museum:
PHACAEANS: Desktop
Video Installation by Sloane McFarland
Bill Viola: Buried Secrets
Jim Campbell: Transforming Time, Electronic
Works 1990-1999
Token City: A Multimedia Subway Installation
by Muriel Magenta
Physical Fiction: Electronic Installations
by Sara Roberts
Annual museum Short Film and Video Festival
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