iotaNews Aug – Sept 2010
Study No. 14 (2010) by W.S. Cheng – “A technical exercise on pattern and timing”
Just added to the Library & Study Center collection is “Study No. 14” (2010) by CalArts alum W.S. Cheng. The film features three rectangular boxes, each containing four parallel lines that peak and fall in different patterns and spaces creating an intriguing viewing experience. With a digital score by Robert Hurst.
This short and any of our other videos can be viewed at our Library & Study Center in Culver City, CA. Please set up a viewing appointment by contacting us at: info@iotacenter.org
Study No. 14: 6.5min, DVD, b/w, 2010
Sound & Vision: Ocusonic – two films from Paul O’Donoghue aka Ocusonic
This new submission from filmmaker Paul O’Donoghue aka Ocusonic includes two recent films:
“A Diamond Forms Under Pressure” (2008) is an anomaly existing somewhere between experimental film and music video, computer animation and programming, science and art.
The improvised electronic soundtrack drives proprietary software, which analyses the audio and generates a cogent synchronous image in real-time. Frequencies push and pull against each other, stabilising or agitating the central image.
“Chasing Waves” (2009) is visual music composed using voltage controlled video synthesis, the audio creates the image, what you hear is what you see. The title refers to the search for those sonorous audible frequencies which form the most interesting patterns, creating a harmonious balance between sound and vision. A metaphoric search for a place of tranquility free from the extraneous noise of contemporary life, like watching an electronic version of the patterns created by waves lapping along a sea shore, constantly changing but always the same.
These shorts as well as many other videos can be viewed at our Library & Study Center in Culver City, CA. Please set up a viewing appointment by contacting us at: info@iotacenter.org
Sound & Vision: Ocusonic: 9min, DVD, Color, 2009
Includes:
A Diamond Forms Under Pressure: 6min, DVD, Color, 2009
Chasing Waves: 3min, DVD, Color, 2009
09.15.2010
Patah (2010) by Dr. Diego Garro
An investigation into (mainly abstract) spectro-morphologies articulated in both the audio and the visual domains, Patah features electro-acoustic sounds combined with computer-generated animations, as well as filmed footage. A possible viewing strategy, which is somewhat in line with the composer’s design, may consider the role of the sonic material in permeating the ‘fractures’ (‘patah’ in Indonesian) of the streaked visual textures and the dramatic effect that results from such interaction.
For more information about Dr. Garro and his work, please visit his website.
This short and any of our other videos can be viewed at our Library & Study Center in Culver City, CA. Please set up a viewing appointment by contacting us at: info@iotacenter.org
Patah: 15min, DVD, Color, 2010
The iotaWeekly – September 13-19, 2010
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Clip of the Week
“Patah” (2010) by Dr. Diego Garro
Watch a clip from Dr. Diego Garro’s “Patah” (2010), an investigation into (mainly abstract) spectro-morphologies articulated in both the audio and the visual domains. It features electro-acoustic sounds combined with computer-generated animations, as well as filmed footage. A possible viewing strategy, which is somewhat in line with the composer’s design, may consider the role of the sonic material in permeating the ‘fractures’ (‘patah’ in Indonesian) of the streaked visual textures and the dramatic effect that results from such interaction.
For more information about Dr. Garro and his work, please visit his website. Site of the Week
Cinematheque 108
Cinematheque 108, the University of Southern California’s FREE screening series of Independent and Alternative Cinema, has launched its Fall 2010 season! Headed by former iotaCenter intern Benjamin Miller, Cinematheque 108 started off last Thursday night with The Monkees’ “Head” and continues this Thursday with “The Films of Natasa Prosenc-Stearns.”
On Thursday, November 4, as part of iotaCenter’s LIVE VISUAL PERFORMANCE 2010, Cinematheque 108 will present the 2005 VJ-documentary “Video Out” featuring directors Paul Vlachos and Meredith Finkelstein in attendance.
Artist of the Week
Amy Alexander
Amy Alexander has worked in film, video, and digital media. She received a BA in Communications: Film/Video from Glassboro State College (now Rowan University), and an MFA in Film/Video and New Media from California Institute of the Arts. Alexander has taught at CalArts, USC and UCSD, as well as worked commercially in television and digital media. With a background in music and information technology, as well as in visual media, her work encompasses live performance, real-time software and hardware processes, as well as a critique of software and its relationship to contemporary culture and politics.
For more information about Alexander and her work, please visit her iotaCenter Profile and her website.
09.08.2010
Digital Art LA – iotaCenter at the Downtown LA Artwalk
As part of the Downtown LA Artwalk and the Downtown Los Angeles Film Festival, iotaCenter was invited by Rex Bruce of the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art to bring a selection of films to the video installation gallery set up in the Rosslyn Lobby. Please join us for the exhibition and afterparty!
Films include :
Diana Reichenbach’s “a moment of silence” (2009)
Ying Tan’s “Dawn” (1999)
Audri Phillips’ “Never Saw a Dweeble I Didn’t Like” (2010)
Stephanie Maxwell’s “Terra Incognita” (2001)
Mattia Casalegno and Martux_M’s “X-Scape” (2007)
For more information, please visit Digital Art LA online.
When: Thursday, September 9, Exhibits: 12-9pm, LACDA Reception: 7-9pm
Where: Rosslyn Lobby, 107 West 5th Street (5th & Main St) Downtown LA, Los Angeles, CA 90013-1417
Map and Directions
DigitalArt.LA, DFFLA, & Artwalk Afterparty
When: doors open at 9pm
Where: Spring Street Arcade, 541 S. Spring St. between 5th & 6th
Map and Directions
FREE and open to the public
09.01.2010
Mark Kirkland Films at Burbank International Film Festival
Mark Kirkland’s 1978 CalArts student film “Animal Crackers” will be screening at the Burbank International Film Festival along with his newly completed short “A Letter from Home.”
For more information and program line up, please visit the festival website.
When: Wednesday, September 15, 7-9pm
Where: Burbank International Film Festival, AMC-6, 770 North 1st Street, Burbank, CA €Ž 91502
08.30.2010
2010 Online Auction – Become a member today and be eligible to bid in iotaCenter’s first ever Online Auction!
One-of-Kind items include :
* Original artwork by Paul Glabicki, Adam Beckett, and Sky David
* A one-of-a-kind collage portrait of Adam Beckett by artist Byron Werner
* Framed Photo Portraits of Jules Engel, signed by Mark Kirkland
* Private screening of rarities curated by Mark Toscano at the Museum of Jurassic Technology
For more information, stay tuned to the 2010 Online Auction page!
The iotaWeekly – August 30-September 5, 2010
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Clip of the Week
“Aleph” (2002) by Bill Alves
Watch a clip from Bill Alves’ “Aleph” (2004), inspired largely by the geometric patterns of Islamic art, an art derived from the same proportions and numerical symbolism as the tuning systems of the ancient Greeks and Byzantines.
“Aleph” can be found on Visual Music from iota, available from the iotaStore.
For more information about Bill Alves and his work, please visit his website. =top>
Site of the Week
The Museum of Jurassic Technology
Nestled right near iotaCenter’s Library and Study Center in Culver City, CA, The Museum of Jurassic Technology is an institution dedicated to preserving relics and artifacts from the Lower Jurassic, with an emphasis on those that demonstrate unusual or curious technological qualities with a flavor of “incongruity born of the overzealous spirit in the face of unfathomable phenomena.”
Become an iotaCenter Member today and bid on a ticket to a private screening of experimental film rarities curated by Academy Archivist Mark Toscano held at the Museum of Jurassic Technology.
Find out more at iotaCenter’s Membership Page and 2010 Online Auction Page.
from Symphonie Diagonale (1921)Artist of the Week
Viking Eggeling
1880(Lund, Sweden)-1925
Swedish painter Viking Eggeling lived in Paris from 1911 to 1915, where it is likely he became aware of Léopold Survage’s attempt to animate a series of paintings. In 1917, Eggeling settled in Zurich, the center of the emerging Dada movement, and met Hans Richter. They began collaborating and moved to Germany in 1919. Eggeling labored for three years on an unfinished animated film HORIZONTAL VERTICAL ORCHESTRA. After that he created SYMPHONIE DIAGONALE (DIAGONAL SYMPHONY), which was screened in 1925. Eggeling was too ill to attend the premiere and died six days later of septic angina.
For more information about Eggeling and his work, please visit his iotaCenter Profile.
The iotaWeekly – August 23-29, 2010
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Clip of the Week
“Anthrodance Variation #3” (2004) by Beth Warshafsky
Watch a clip from Beth Warshafsky’s “Anthrodance Variation #3” (2004), one of an on-going project using motion capture data to create experimental animations. The work is based on dance movement choreographed and performed by Beth Warshafsky and Ellen Scott at SIGGRAPH. The motion is translated into data in a 3D environment and then reinterpreted in a creative process of filtering through 3D, 2D, video post-processing, and editing techniques.
“Anthrodance Variation #3” can be found on Visual Music from iota, available from the iotaStore.
For more information about Beth Warshafsky and her work, please visit her website. 
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Site of the Week
Glendale Planetarium
Previously home to Dome Fest, the Glendale Planetarium is currently host to a number of exciting astronomical shows as well as J. Walt’s Spontaneous Fantasia. Catch J. Walt’s performance this Saturday, August 28!
from Emperor Tomato Ketchup (1971)Artist of the Week
Shuji Terayama
“The late Shuji Terayama remains one of the most enigmatic figures in the history of Japanese cinema. His films are thick with symbolism, featuring a psychosexual content that can, and has, rubbed many the wrong way. Emperor Tomato Ketchup (Tomato Ketchappu Kotei, 1970), with children taking part in sexual scenes, is but one example. Incest fantasies were among his most recurring motifs.
Terayama was much more than just a filmmaker. A playwright, stage director, poet, essayist, and all-round media personality, his work continues to have a strong following in his homeland, where he remains a phenomenon. On our shares, largely due to a shameful unavailability of any of his work, he has never received his due. As a filmmaker he is often lumped together with the Japanese New Wave, despite his complete lack of filmmaking apprenticeship. His unorthodox approach to theatre has furthermore made him something of a pariah among Western historians of Japanese drama, who, unable to conveniently fit him into any sort of current, seem to have opted to simply disregard him.”
–Tom Mes, MidnightEye.com
The iotaWeekly – August 16-22, 2010
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Clip of the Week
“frameframer” (2009) by Barbara Doser
sound by Hofstetter Kurt and Norbert Math, designed by Barbara Doser
Watch a clip from Barbara Doser’s “frameframer” (2009) where a rotating video feedback event becomes a moving and transforming pattern by selecting a small image detail, multiply arranged in a matrix. Through the seriality in the horizontal lines and vertical columns of the matrix, the original circular movement will be transformed into a linear one. New forms in movement, and movement as form come into being.
“frameframer” will be featured in The Best of Punto y Raya 2009 US Tour in Fall 2010. Site of the Week
Northwest Audiovisualists
Looking for the latest developments, movers and shakers in audio visuals in the Pacific Northwest? Keep an eye on Northwest Audiovisualists, a community for aspiring AV Artists – VJs, Musicians, Filmmakers, Animators, Traditional Artists and more who meet regularly for workshops, screenings, demonstrations, collaboration and networking.
from Parallel (2009)Artist of the Week
Huckleberry Lain (aka Paul R. Shepherd)
SPECIAL OFFER! As a part of iotaCenter’s Membership Drive 2010, iota is offering DVDs of Huckleberry Lain’s work as a raffle prize. Join today to take part in the iotaCenter member exclusive event!
“Huckleberry has been making films for over 8 years with more than 10 films completed within that time. He usually sticks to experimental and animation, but he has made documentaries, live-action comedies, stop-motion tragedies and many other styles and genres. He has performed in the films of underground film legends Mike and George Kuchar, rising filmmaker Marie Losier and established artist Katja Loher as well as other individuals.
…He has had films included in screenings around the United States including the LA Filmforum at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, the Robert Beck Memorial Cinema in New York City and the Artist Television Access in San Francisco among other places. Huckleberry has recently been accepted as a board member to the NewTown Art organization located in Pasadena.”
–artist’s website
For more information about the artist and his work, please visit his website.