Works by Jacob Ciocci
“I’m more interested in the relationship between the mind and popular culture. And that relationship has to do with innocence, some kind of acceptance””when you accept something and when you don’t. I think that is particularly potent when it’s through the lens of a child. A child is just given this media and they’re forced to deal with it”¦ When you’re a child you kind of accept things for exactly how they are. You don’t necessarily judge them yet”¦you don’t have a lot of doubt. So, that is simultaneously very powerful and very un-powerful–you’re just basically told what to do and what to believe. At the same time, you’re very confident and you create magic out of those beliefs.” – Jacob Ciocci
2 Blessed 2 B Stressed (2010) by Jacob Ciocci
Ciocci’s music and art, along with Paper Rad’s monumental output, have been (to say the least) highly influential on a younger generation of artists and musicians. The music is often composed in ACII, blasted through a series of vintage Casio keyboards and budget electronics, recorded in real time and captured onto rainbow-colored floppy discs before being mixed down to digibeta, for that perfect sound. This collection is an attempt to collect solo video works from the past decade.
“The Peace Tape is a multitude of fantasies stuffed into a membrane of montage that seems to represent fantasy itself””as such, it seems apt that the video’s last, lingering image is a dog in a dog costume.” – Brian Droitcour (Art Forum)
Extreme Animals: Music is a Question With No Answer (2010) by Jacob Ciocci. Music by Extreme Animals.
Hardcore hip-hop bagpipe jamms and pixelated party wisdom, including the tracks “Get Out of Your Mind”, “Question of the Ages”, “Gone Green”, and “Your Life/Your Language”. Life is a wilderness, don’t do anything illegal, it’s our time down here! If you don’t have a seizure we will give you a refund (no guarantees).
“A flashing, buzzing graveyard of primitive, low-resolution animated animals… is instantaneously dazzling and nauseating. (By the way, the museum installation of this work, which includes real stuffed animals thrashing wildly and turning on spits once you approach, is fabulous, the hit of the show.) And no one will blame you for turning away from it after a few seconds.” – NY Times
These films and much more 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. For more information about Jacob Ciocci and his work, please visit his website.