Image source: still of Dave Chapelle impersonating Rick James from “Mashup Video with Jackson, Britney & Rick”

The following is a set of links I prepared for one of my classes on film and video language. I repost them here for later use, and to share with the online community. The list is not by any means exhaustive, and is not linear in any way. The top links are mashups and the bottom links are early hip hop and rock videos. They were chosen in part because of the different approaches to video making, this was necessary for the class, because the students need to understand how music video language evolved throughout the eighties and nineties on to today.

Some of the videos also show early traces of sampling, for example, Trans Europe Express was sampled by Afrika Bambaataa for Planet Rock. Also, the remix of Tour de France juxtaposed with the early version shows how electronic music has evolved while acknowledging the important paradigms set by early electrofunk compositions. The now well known mashups of Christina Aguilera and the Strokes, Madonna and the Sex Pistols, as well as Michael Jackson, Britney Spears the White Stripes and Rick James are some of the most successful remixes in this genre. Part of me admittedly rejects them for their popularity, but the creativity that has gone into the audio remix as well as the video editing have to be noted, because they have at this point set a standard in Remix Culture.

Christina Aguilera and the Strokes, Mashup:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl85yq_k0V0

Madonna/Sex Pistols Mashup:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucLIYZ-tyiQ
Madonna Eurithmics Mashup:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK-
ppQnAl8A&feature=related
Madonna/Depeche Mode:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW2
YUyeK5FI&feature=related

Michael Jackson/ Britney Spears and Rick James”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6
A8uivUNX0&feature=related

Oasis, “Wonderwall”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAPtTS0TYtU

Greenday, “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bxfpMGLMZ7Y

Early Version:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akGR
WdkAxhI&feature=related
Greenday/Oasis with Travis Mashup with Eminem:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0DzDcAW6GmQ
Yet another twist on the mashup:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=vNLop_nuCzo

Talking Head’s “Burning Down the House”
http://youtube.com/watch?v=st1lH8zcIuQ
&feature=related
Talking Head’s “Wild Wild Life”
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4NXkM8PsPXs

The Cars, “Magic”
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6bEu9wLDjKY
The Cars, “Shake it Up”
http://youtube.com/watch?v=foj81S44_
bE&feature=related

Sex Pistols, “God Save the Queen”
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8z2M_hpoPwk

Ramones, “Rock and Roll High School”
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hLahs7yCprQ

Malcom Mc Claren, “Buffalo Gals”
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7b1zKyVeKgk

Sugar Hill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=diiL9bq
valo&feature=related
In Scrubs:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=
CtAlZB2iqCU&feature=related

Soul Sonic Force’s “Planet Rock”
http://youtube.com/watch?v=9h6pcqC6wrI
Grandmaster Flash’s “The Message”
http://youtube.com/watch?v=k3kRuJhIVIo

Kraftwerk, “Tour De France” Original Version:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=VPowpIR
VOuY&feature=related
Kraftwerk, “Tour De France,” 2003
http://youtube.com/watch?v=sQz-C
ZvkY8k&feature=related
Kraftwerk, “The Robots”
http://youtube.com/watch?v=VXa9tXcMhXQ
Kraftwerk, “Trans Europe Express”
http://youtube.com/watch?v=LWlgbAc3bbM

Image source: Albright-Knox Art Gallery
Originally published on ArtForum,  April, 2006  by John G. Hanhardt

Text source: Bnet

DO YOU KNOW….?
How soon TV-chair will be available in most museums?
How soon artists will have their own TV channels?
How soon wall to wall TV for video art will be installed in most homes?
–Nam June Paik, A New Design for TV Chair, 1973

THE CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE of Nam June Paik–who died at his home in Miami Beach on January 29–is clear in the expressions commonly used to describe his unique role in transforming the nascent medium of video into a contemporary art form, from the “father of video art” to the “George Washington of video.” It is incredible to think that an entire decade before Paik predicted the ubiquity of video technology in A New Design for TV Chair, he was featuring his “prepared,” or altered, televisions in solo exhibitions. And as we become the media culture he envisioned in his artwork and writings, we can see how the range of Paik’s creative accomplishments and both the prescience and breadth of his thinking–in a practice unlike anything that preceded him–are all the more astonishing. From his early performances to his work in music, television, video, and film, Paik was constantly in action, exploring and expanding the horizons of art.

Read the entire article at  Bnet

Image and text source: Greg.org

Originally posted on September 14, 2007

Wait, the Warhol Museum called the 1-hour excerpt of Empire released on DVD an unauthorized bootleg?

Yes they did, in 2004:

“It’s a bootleg!” says Geralyn Huxley, a curator at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.

Which is odd. The Italian company Raro Video has released several Warhol films on DVD over the last couple of years. Andy Warhol: 4 Silent Movies is listed as a 2005 release on Amazon, and there’s a Chelsea Girls DVD, too.Last year, Raro compiled 11 films and 8 discs into a box set, Andy Warhol Anthology, which–like all the films–is issued in region-free PAL format. There are extensive bilingual notes, interviews, and bonus material accompanying the discs, but there are also odd errors in formatting:

At least two of the silent films, Kiss and Blow Job, are mastered at the wrong speed [25fps instead of 16fps], and the once-randomly silent or audible soundtracks on the split-screen Chelsea Girls are provided in a single, seemingly arbitrary configuration which omits much well-documented dialogue.

Read the entire entry at Greg.org

Image source: Youtube

I recently ran into some interesting remixes of Mr. Rogers and a young breakdancer in Youtube. The original excerpt in which Mr. Rogers interacts with a young African American boy already has sexual and class tensions, which could be ignored by the average viewer. But these tensions are brought forth in a one minute remix titled, “Mr Roger’s Breakdance Remix” in which Mr. Rogers states repeatedly “Hey Jermaine”, “Breakdancing with your friend…” and “I really like the way you do that…”

And then there’s another remix titled, “Mr. Rogers Was a B-Boy MOFO ! (feat NWA)” which is subtle in its intervension: it leaves the entire video clip intact, except for the moment when the young boy performs. In this remix, the original musical composition, which is non-intrusive, middle of the road, and exudes enough funk for the young boy’s moves to feel authentically off the street, is replaced by one of NWA’s track “F__k the Police” from back in the day–cursing from beginning to end. And like the previous remix, this one also makes obvious the cultural tensions at play between the two individuals. Mr. Rogers’s pleasant stride feels a bit forced, and when the music is over, he appears a bit out of touch with the boy’s performance.

These are multiple readings that any Mr. Rogers fan may want to retaliate against or at least play down, but one only has to look at the original clip carefully to sense the tension that the two remixes have brought forth for critical reflection. And this does not necessarily mean that there is something “wrong” with Mr. Rogers’s behavior, or with his interest in featuring a young breakdancer in his popular show. It just means that the remixes are able effectively to make obvious the social codes that both Mr. Rogers and the boy carry based on their ethnicity, class and gender, that are already at play in culture and they both, as well as us (the viewers), should be aware of.

Image source: comunismodaforma.zip.net
text source: Rhizome.org

July 18, 2007

From this Friday until the beginning of August, Sao Paulo’s Galeria Vermelho hosts one of the most riveting exhibitions of the summer. Curated by local critics Fernando Oliva and Marcelo Rezende, ‘Communism of Form: Sound + Image + Time ? The Music Clip Strategy’ brings together works by 30 Brazilian and international artists that reflect, examine, or evoke the aesthetics of the music clip within contemporary visual culture. The show’s organizing principle takes on French critic Nicolas Bourriaud’s definition of ‘communism of form,’ an expression that identifies the current art practices based on an immense library of images, emotional states, and psychological experiences generated by post-Fordist societies that are shared both by the artists and the audience–as the music clip– that thus engage in a participatory relationship with the pieces. Many artists–such as Forsyth & Pollard (UK), Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand), Nuevos Ricos (Mexico), Laibach (Slovenia), and Tetine (Brazil)–developed new works, addressing with different and surprising styles the fundamental elements of the music clip: sound, image, and time. As Oliva and Rezende say, ‘the music clip, with its absence of an hierarchy between the old and the new and the technological and the craft, puts in motion all the world�s repertoire.’ A blog comprising several posts–from film stills to YouTube videos–and a book with various commissioned essays and interviews discussing the theoretical frame of the show complements this project, expanding its original and very opportune features in unexpected ways and furthering the debate around this prominent cultural expression. – Miguel Amado

The following is a response to my brief posting about KnowProSE’s entry on a Cultural Remix. I have no comment at the moment, but KnowProSE’s response is worth considering. I’m sure to write something about it in the near future. For now I leave you with KnowProSE’s comment (which starts with a Quote from Remixtheory):

RemixTheory commented, based on this entry:

“This particular video is contextualized as a “Remix.” I’m not sure I would agree completely, because it is more of a performative hybrid of different styles–rather than a sampling of material. Regardless I do find the comments by KnowProSE worth quoting below.”

Well, I was speaking of the cultural remix – not a technical remix. It incorporates, as RemixTheory says, a hybrid of styles. So I watched the video again – it is a cool video – and I kind of have to disagree on the technical remix standpoint. The DJ isn’t scratching with empty records, but that’s hokey. However – the English is probably sampled — ‘Yeah… there there there it is…”.

Still, I meant it as a cultural remix, and a tribute to the ability to mix cultures effectively. It is not far removed from what Lawrence Lessig wrote of (and hopefully still writes of!), and it is also not far removed from protecting people from a patent process which is a little nuts.

Text source: http://www.knowprose.com/node/17671

Image and text source: NY Times

July 2, 2007

SEOUL, South Korea, June 29 — While Americans have been blitzed with news about the iPhone’s debut, many in South Korea’s and Japan’s technology industries initially greeted Apple’s flashy new handset with yawns.

Pantech’s design center in Seoul, South Korea. An executive at the company says that riding on Apple’s coattails may turn out to be the best business strategy.

Cellphones in these technology-saturated countries can already play digital songs and video games and receive satellite television. But now that analysts and industry executives are getting their first good look at the iPhone, many here are concerned that Asian manufacturers may have underestimated the Apple threat.

Read the entire article at NY Times

Image and text source NY Times

January 11, 2007

Remember the fairy godmother in “Cinderella”? She’d wave her wand and turn some homely and utilitarian object, like a pumpkin or a mouse, into something glamorous and amazing, like a carriage or fully accessorized coachman.

Evidently, she lives in some back room at Apple.

Every time Steve Jobs spies some hopelessly ugly, complex machine that cries out for the Apple touch — computers, say, or music players — he lets her out.

At the annual Macworld Expo in San Francisco, Mr. Jobs demonstrated the latest result of godmother wand-waving. He granted the wishes of millions of Apple followers and rumormongers by turning the ordinary cellphone into … the iPhone.

Read the entire article at NY Times

Image source: Vague Terrain

Note: The following is an announcement of Vague Terrain’s latest issue, in which I’m very happy to be a contributor. Make sure to also peruse their previous releases on Minimalism, Locative Media and Generative Art among others.

Announcement:

The latest edition of the Toronto based digital arts quarterly vagueterrain.net is now live. The issue, vague terrain 07: sample culture is a provocative exploration of contemporary sampling of sound, image and information. This body of work examines the remix as a critical practice while addressing broader issues of ownership and intellectual property.

Vague terrain 07: sample culture contains work from: brad collard, christian marc schmidt, defasten, des cailloux et du carbone, [dNASAb], eduardo navas, eskaei, freida abtan, jakob thiesen, jennifer a. machiorlatti, jeremy rotsztain, noah pred, ortiz, rebekah farrugia, and an interview with ezekiel honig conducted by evan saskin.

For more information please see http://www.vagueterrain.net

Image  & video source: Youtube

Note: This particular video is contextualized as a “Remix.”  I’m not sure I would agree completely, because it is more of a performative hybrid of different styles–rather than a sampling of material.  Regardless I do find the comments by KnowProSE worth quoting below.

Text source: KnowProSE.com

Tue, 05/09/2006 – 02:01 — KnowProSE

I like a good remix. As I was surfing around tonight, I found this one.

Korea & Breakdancing. Korea & Beatboxing. Gayageum & Pachabel in D Major (I think…). Classical and Scratching inderal online pharmacy with a backbeat. The list goes on.

All made visible through a video on the internet. Go figure.

You’ll need decent bandwidth to get this thing to run smoothly. With a 256K ADSL connection, it was hard to get past the ‘buffering’ aspect. I wouldn’t suggest it on a dial-up connection.

But it is very, very, very cool. Wish I could save it somewhere and watch it without the interruptions…

I also wish I could pretend that I could do anything but appreciate the video. Cool.