Catalogue > At random

Ken Jacobs

excerpt from THE SKY SOCIALIST stratified

Film expérimental | dv | couleur | 18:0 | USA | 2009

excerpt from THE SKY SOCIALIST stratified A digital visit in 2009 to where we, Flo and I, had been in 1964/65. Young people of today, take my word there`s no exaggerating how vivid, of the moment, whizbang and splendidly new 1964 and 65 were in their time. True, I was entering my thirties but Flo, my child-bride, was turning 23. Underground Cinema had gotten momentarily hot just as my 16mm camera was stolen. I recoiled from the throng pushing to enter the circle of cheap celebrity and switched to 8mm. I then filmed THE SKY SOCIALIST, a sunny feature during the time of US assault upon the Vietnamese people -why? because they were there, they were "yellow". and profit margins couldn`t be better, and afterwards Flo and I struggled to make a decent 16mm. blow-up, yet to happen. The purpose of cinema as I understood it then was to lie, in order to make history bearable. The lie, however, was to be obvious enough so as to allude to the truth; film was a lie that invited seeing through, it was like religion but with a more of a wink. Flo then became a stand-in for Anne Frank, while The Muse Of Cinema flew to the rescue with a happy ending mostly because she knew doing so gave her a chance to look good. Our days were permeated with the transcendent music of Olivier Messiaen and Charles Ives and Arnold Schoenberg and so, naturally, was this perfectly self-indulgent movie. For this return visit some of Messiaen can still be heard, contending with the supremely hip sensibility of Michael Schumacher.

Ken Jacobs: Resume/Biography Born, 1933, Brooklyn, New York Studied painting with Hans Hofmann, 1956-57. Started making films, 1955. Created/Directed The Millennium Film Workshop, N.Y.C.1966-68; started the Dept.of Cinema at S.U.N.Y. at Binghamton, 1969; Professor of Cinema1974-2000; Distinguished Prof. of Cinema, 2000; Distinguished Prof. of Cinema Emeritus, 2002- Grants and Awards (a selection): D.A.A.D. 1986; Maya Deren Award 1994; J.S. Guggenheim Fellowship 1995; N.E.A. 1995; The Rockefeller Foundation special grant 1999; NYFA 2001; NYSCA 2001, 2007; NYSCA distribution grant 2002; Fund For Jewish Documentary Filmmaking 2003; Stan Brakhage Vision Award 2004; Los Angeles Film Critics Association -The Douglas Edwards Experimental/Independent Film/Video Award 2004 (for ?Star Spangled To Death?); Il Cinema Ritrovato DVD Awards 2006 III edizione, Bologna (special mention/experimental for ?Star Spangled To Death?); renew media (Rockefeller Foundation) grant 2007, Oberhausen prize of the Jury of the Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia, May 2007; awarded Great Prize ?15th Curtas Vila do Conde, Portugal, July 2007, Gran Prix (one of 3) 25 FPS Festival, Zagreb, Croatia, October, 2007; awarded Best Experimental short film Curta Cinema, Dec. 2007, 2008 Rio De Janeiro Int. Short Film Fest.; ?Tom, Tom, The Piper?s Son? named to the National Film Registry, Dec. 27, 2007 Included in The Whitney Museum of American Art, Biennial 1981, 1985, 1989, 1995, 1997, 2002. Included in The Whitney Museum of American Art, The American Century: Art and Culture, 1950-2000, 1999-2000; Film and film/performance retrospective, American Museum of the Moving Image 1989; included in the N.Y. Film Festival at Lincoln Center 1991, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009; partial retrospective of films and film/performance work, The American Center, Paris, 1994; partial retrospective of film/performance works, Museum of Modern Art, 1996; included in (a selection): Oberhausen Short Film Festival 1996, 2007; Berlin Film Festival, 1997,2007; Taormina Film Festival, 1997; London Film Festival 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007; Rotterdam Film Festival 2001, 2003, filmmaker-in-focus, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009; Hong Kong International Film Festival, 2003, 2004, 2006; Tribeca Film Festival 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009; a featured artist (partial retrospective) Argosfestival, Brussels, 2004, 2007; Jeonju International Film Festival 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009; Jeon (Seoul Film Festival 2005, 2007; Cinematexas International Short Film Festival 2004, 2005; Starz Denver International Film Festival 2004; inc. in Movies on the Mind; Psychology and Film Since Sigmund Freud (Exhibition, Publication and Film Series) 9/2006-1/2007, Film Museum Berlin; World premiere of digital version of my Nervous System film/performance ?Two Wrenching Departures? MoMA, Oct. 2006; included in the Danish documentary and experimental film festival, Copenhagen, Nov.10-20, 2006; inc. in the Rio de Janeiro International Short Film Ken Jacobs: Resume/Biography (continued) page 2 Festival, 2006, 2008, 2009; San Francisco Int. Film Festival 2007, ?Star Spangled To Death? inc. in Documenta 12 (July 18/19, 2007); included in 15th Curtas Vila do Conde Int. Short Film Fest., Portugal, 2007; inc. in American Film Festival in Moscow, 2007, 2008; inc. in Toronto Int. Film Festival, Wavelengths, 2007; Viennale, Int. Film Festival, 2007, Austria; Leeds Int. Film Fest., 2007; Torino Film Festival, 25th 2007, 26th 2008, 27th 2009; Sonic Acts XII, Feb. 2008, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; James River Film Festival, April 2008; BAFICI 10 Cine Independiente, Argentina, April, 2008; EXIS 2008, Seoul, Korea, Sept. 2008; 25fps Zagreb, Croatia, Sept. 2008; ?Return To The Scene Of The Crime? premiere Louvre, May, 2008; ?Return To The Scene Of The Crime?, Tate Modern, Sept. 2008; Valdiva Film Fest., Chile, Oct. 2008; Lausanne Underground Fest., Switzerland, Oct. 2008; ?Return To The Scene Of The Crime? premiered in NYC, MoMA, Oct. 16-22 (with other films); Bolzano ShortFilmFestival, Nov., 2008; Dallas Video Festival, Nov. 2008; Janela, Brazil, Nov. 2008; AURORA, Film Festival, Norwich, UK, Nov. 2008; Avanto Festival, Helsinki, Finland, Nov. 2008; KYTN, England, Dec. 2008; Les Rencontres Internationales 2008, 2009; Nervous Magic Lantern performace Harvard Film Archives, Jan. 11-13, 2009; premiered ANAGLYPH TOM (Tom With Puffy Cheeks) Anthology Film Archives, May 15-21, 2009; short film WHAT HAPPENED ON 23rd STREET IN 1901 inc. Curtocircuito 6th Int. Short Film Festival 2009, Santiago de Compostela , Spain; HOT DOGS AT THE MET inc. Ourense Int. Film Fest. , Spain Filmography of Ken Jacobs ORCHARD STREET, 1955, 12 min., clr. silent THE WHIRLED, 1956-63, 19 min., b/w & clr., sound & silent STAR SPANGLED TO DEATH, 1957-59, completed (in digital) 2003-4, 440 min., b/w & clr., sound LITTLE STABS AT HAPPINESS, 1958-60, 18 min., clr., sound BLONDE COBRA, 1959-63, 30 min., b/w & clr., sound BAUD`LARIAN CAPERS, 1963, 25 min., silent & sound WINDOW, 1964, 12 min., clr. silent THE WINTER FOOTAGE, (1964-8mm.) (1985-16mm.) 50 min., clr., silent THE SKY SOCIALIST, (1964-65 8mm.) 16mm. to be completed 2006, approx. 2 hrs., clr., sound LISA AND JOEY IN CONNECTICUT, JANUARY `65: "YOU`VE COME BACK!" "YOU`RE STILL HERE!", 1965, 18 min., clr., silent AIRSHAFT, 1967, 4 min., clr., silent SOFT RAIN, 1968, 12 min., clr., silent NISSAN ARIANA WINDOW, 1968, 15 min., clr., silent TOM, TOM, THE PIPER`S SON, 1969, 115 min., b/w, silent (distributed on PAL vhs 2000, NTSC vhs 2002 together with a book of essays) GLOBE, 1969, 22 min., clr., sound Ken Jacobs: Resume/Biography (continued) page 3 URBAN PEASANTS, 1975, 50 min., b/w, silent image alternated with sound-in-dark SPAGHETTI AZA, 1976, 1-1/2 min., clr., silent THE DOCTOR`S DREAM, 1978, 27 min., b/w, sound PERFECT FILM, 1985, 27 min., b/w, sound JERRY TAKES A BACK SEAT, THEN PASSES OUT OF THE PICTURE, 1987, 15 min., clr., silent OPENING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY: 1896, 1990, 11 min., b/w, silent KEATON`S COPS, 1991, 23 min., b/w, silent THE GEORGETOWN LOOP, 1996, 11 min., 35mm. & 16mm., b/w, silent DISORIENT EXPRESS, 1996, 30 min., 35mm. & 16mm., b/w, silent; Theater Works (a selection): all involved shadow-play or unusual uses of film. Each lasted about 90 minutes. THE BIG BLACKOUT OF `65: Chapter One "Thirties Man", 1965 RESTFUL MOMENTS, 2 and 3-Dimensional shadowplay, 1970 A GOOD NIGHT FOR THE MOVIES: 4th OF JULY BY CHARLES IVES BY KEN JACOBS, 1972 A MAN`S HOME IS HIS CASTLE FILMS: THE EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS, 1974 "SLOW IS BEAUTY" -RODIN, 2 and 3-Dimensional shadowplay, 1974; MUMOK, Vienna, 2004 THE BOXER REBELLION, 2 and 3-Dimensional shadowplay, 1975 AIR OF INCONSEQUENCE, 3-Dimensional shadowplay, 1977 Ken Jacobs At The Console Performing STICK TO YOUR CARPENTRY AND YOU WON`T GET NAILED, 1979 AUDIO-VISUAL VAUDEVILLE, 2 and 3-Dimensional shadow-play, 1982, 1994, 2000 Film-Performances of THE NERVOUS SYSTEM; a unique double-analysis projector set-up designed to derive 3-D from standard 2-D film, most often archival and other found-footage materials (all performance lengths are approximate). THE IMPOSSIBLE: Chapter One "Southwark Fair", 1975, (1 hr.) THE IMPOSSIBLE: Chapter Two "1896", 1979, (11 min.) THE IMPOSSIBLE: Chapter Three "Hell Breaks Loose", 1980, (25 min.) THE IMPOSSIBLE: Chapter Four "Schilling", 1980, (1 hr.) THE IMPOSSIBLE: Chapter Five "The Wrong Laurel", 1980, (7 min.) XCXHXEXRXRXIXEXSX, 1980, (90 min.) KEN JACOBS THEATER OF UNCONSCIONABLE STUPIDITY PRESENTS CAMERA THRILLS OF THE WAR, 1981, (90 min.) THE WHOLE SHEBANG, 1982, (70 min.) Ken Jacobs: Resume/Biography (continued) page 4 MAKING LIGHT OF HISTORY: THE PHILIPPINES ADVENTURE, 1983, (90 min.) TWO WRENCHING DEPARTURES, 1989, (2 hrs.) THE SUBCINEMA, 1990, (2 hrs.) NEW YORK GHETTO FISHMARKET 1903, 1993 (90 min.) BITEMPORAL VISION: THE SEA, 1994, (90 min.) THE MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL (A Flicker Of Life), 1995 (90 min.) LOCO MOTION, 1996, (25 min.) FROM MUYBRIDGE TO BROOKLYN BRIDGE, 1996 (includes "Muybridge On Wheels" (animated slides), "The Georgetown Loop" (film), "Loco Motion" (Nervous System work), "Disorient Express" (film), "On The Bridge" (Nervous System work) 90 min. COUPLING, 1996 (1 hr.) ONTIC ANTICS STARRING LAUREL AND HARDY, 1997 (1 hr.) NEW YORK STREET TROLLEYS 1900, 1997 (25 min.) UN PETIT TRAIN DE PLAISIR, 1998 (25 min.) Further Performance Work utilizing THE NERVOUS MAGIC LANTERN; a single self-designed projector that creates 3-D cinema without use of use of film or video, a 3-D which, like Nervous System works, can be seen in 3-D by the unaided eye, the single eye. CRYSTAL PALACE (Chandeliers For The People), 2000 (40 min.) A PLACE WHERE THERE IS NO TROUBLE, 2002 (1 hr.) LOCAL HUBBLE (For Marilyn and Stan Brakhage), April 2003 (1 hr.) LOCAL HUBBLE II: La Conference Des Oiseaux, March 2004 (1 hr.) CELESTIAL SUBWAY Last Stop All Out (music by Black Dice), March 2004, (1 hr.) CELESTIAL SUBWAY LINES 2,3,4,(multiple performances; music by John Zorn assisted by Ikue Mori) May 2004 (45 min.) SEEING IS BELIEVING (music by Rick Reed) September 2004 (1 hr.) SALVAGING NOISE (music by John Zorn assisted by Ikue Mori) October 2004 (1 hr.) INTERSTELLAR LOWER EAST SIDE RAMBLE (music by John Zorn assisted by Ikue Mori) January 2005, (1 hr.) Live Nervous Magic Lantern performance, April 2007 KYTN ?Dundee Contemporary Arts, Scotland Live Nervous Magic Lantern performance Lumen, May 2007, Leeds, England Live Nervous Magic Lantern performance, NYFF, October, 2007 Live Nervous Magic Lantern performance, Bozar, October, 2007, Brussels, Belgium Live Nervous Magic Lantern performance, Sonic Acts XII, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, February, 2008 Live Nervous Magic Lantern performance, Avanto Festival, November, 2008 Ken Jacobs: Resume/Biography (continued) page 5 Live Nervous Magic Lantern performance, KYTN ?England, November, December, 2008 Live Nervous Magic Lantern performance, Rotterdam Film Festival, January, 2009 Live Nervous Magic Lantern performance, Harvard Film Archive, January, 2009 Videography of Ken Jacobs FLO ROUNDS A CORNER, 1999, 6 min., clr., silent, digital computer work NEW YORK STREET-TROLLEYS 1901, 1999, 10 min., b/w, sound A TOM TOM CHASER, 2002, 10-1/2 min., b/w, silent, digital computer work CIRCLING ZERO: Part One WE SEE ABSENCE, 2002, 114 min., clr., sound, KEEPING AN EYE ON STAN, 2003, 117 min., clr., sound, CELESTIAL SUBWAY LINES/SALVAGING NOISE, 2004, 108 min., clr., music by John Zorn assisted by Ikue Mori, a Tzadik DVD MOUNTAINEER SPINNING, 2004, 26 min., clr., music by Rick Reed KRYPTON IS DOOMED, 2005, 34 min., clr., sound (Superman radio-play 1940) INSISTENT CLAMOR, 2005, 22 min., clr., music by Margaret Shelton Meier LEEDS BRIDGE 1888, 2005, 6 min., b/w, silent SPIRAL NEBULA, 2005, 45 min., clr., music by Rick Reed INCENDIARY CINEMA, 2005, 1 min., clr., sound (2005 Viennale Festival cine-logo) LET THERE BE WHISTLEBLOWERS, 2005, b/w & clr., 18 min., sound composed to DRUMMING, Part 1 by Steve Reich ONTIC ANTICS STARRING LAUREL AND HARDY; BYE, MOLLY, 2005, b/w & clr., 90 min., sound NEW YORK GHETTO FISHMARKET 1903, 2006, b/w & clr., 2 hrs. 12 min., music by Catherine Jauniaux and Tom Cora, (Tzadik DVD released March 2007 with THE SURGING SEA OF HUMANITY) PUSHCARTS OF ETERNITY STREET, 2006, b/w, 10 min., silent TWO WRENCHING DEPARTURES, 2006, b/w, 90 min., sound CAPITALISM: CHILD LABOR, 2006, 14 min., clr.,music by Rick Reed CAPITALISM: SLAVERY, 2006, 3 min., clr., silent THE SURGING SEA OF HUMANITY, 2006, 10 min. 40 sec., clr., silent RAZZLE DAZZLE The Lost World, 2006, 92 min., b/w & clr., sound WE ARE CHARMING, 2007, 1 min., b/w, silent HANKY PANKY JANUARY 1903, 2007, 1 min., b/w, silent NYMPH, 2007, 3min., b/w, silent MY FAVORITE WIFE IMPROVED, 2008, 2 min., b/w, sound RETURN TO THE SCENE OF THE CRIME, 2008, 93 min., b/w & clr., music by Malcolm Goldstein THE SCENIC ROUTE, 2008, 25 min., clr., sound THE GUESTS, 2008, 89 min., b/w, sound. Lumiere?s Entree D?Une Noce A L?Eglise; sequential film-frames combine, via slight convergence of the eyes, to produce (irrational) 3-D. Ken Jacobs: Resume/Biography (continued) page 6 ALONE AT LAST, 2008, 1 min. 53 sec., silent THE DISCOVERY, 2008, 4 min. 52 sec., silent LOVE STORY, 2008, 33 sec., silent HOT DOGS AT THE MET, (HD) 2008, 10 min., sound ANAGLYPH TOM, (TOM WITH PUFFY CHEEKS), 2008, 118 min., music by Michael Schumacher, Nisi Jacobs, Malcolm Goldstein; Movement by TOM TOM cast-members converted to (irrational) stereo via red/cyan spectacles WHAT HAPPENED ON 23rd STREET IN 1901, 2009, 13 1/2 min., silent ??SLOW IS BEAUTY? ?RODIN?, 2009, 51 min. clr., anaglyh 3-D recording (original performance 1974, revived 2004), sound BROOK, (HD) 2009, 2? 15?, clr., silent BOB FLEISCHNER DYING, (HD) 2009, 2?42?, clr., silent THE DAY WAS A SCORCHER, (HD) 2009, 7?48?, clr., silent JONAS MEKAS in KODACHROME DAYS, (HD) 2009, 3?19?, clr., silent WALKWAY, (HD) 2009, 8?24?, clr., silent excerpt from THE SKY SOCIALIST stratified, 2009, 18?, clr., sound BRAIN OPERATIONS, (HD) 2009, 22?22?, b/w, silent RON GONZALEZ, SCULPTOR, (HD) 2009, 20?, clr., sound GRAVITY IS TOPS, (HD), 2009, 10?M clr., sound Cine-Installations ZOOM, 1967 -viewer installed on a moving NY ferryboat as part of the NY Avant-Garde Festival. FESTOON, 1975 35 mm. film hung outdoors for individual viewing in (irrational) 3-D THE GUESTS, 1999, 3-D slide installation (74 min. continuous cycle) based on Lumiere?s ENTREE D?UNE NOCE A L?EGLISE, by Ken and Flo Jacobs Re-installed, with sound accompaniment by Nisi Jacobs, at the Maya Stendhal Gallery, NY, 2005 GIFT OF FIRE Nineteen (Obscure) Frames That Changed The World, 2007, 28 min., sound. Anaglyph 3-D; can be shown on a monitor or with a single projector, viewed through red/blue spectacles. 19 film-frames remain of artist-inventor Louis Le Prince`s 1888 movie-recording of Leeds Bridge, the first or near-first movie ever made. Here seen in stereo, Leeds Bridge (U.K.) is again active in deep space. Other 3-D comments regarding the rise of cinema are made. A 6`4 man among a 5`2 population, this giant "vanished" on the way to the patent office, quite possibly a feat of wizardry (skullduggery?) by The Wizard Of Menlo Park, Thomas Edison. Suspicions remain but now Edison is also gone and there`s only the film-fragment (originally over 200 frames) left to investigate. Also available as a Polaroid two-projector installation.