~ 2013 ~
Meek by Harry Martinson
A poem by the 20th-century Swedish poet Harry Martinson, one of three recently animated by Ana Perez Lopez, who writes:
Olofström is nature: tall trees, infinite lakes and the echoing voice of Harry Martinson. But Olofström grew with a factory, a building where everything from pots, bullets and cars can be made.
After spending a month as an art resident in Nabbeboda Skola I tried to combine this three elements in one project. I interview Johnny Carlson and wondered around the town. I stuck my nose into Harry Martinson’s poems and left pen be taken by his imagination.
I illustrated three of his poems and brought them to life with animation. I hope you enjoy these bits of Olofström through the penetrating voice of Johnny Carlson.
First glimpse at collaborative “12 Moons” videopoetry project
I first heard about 12 Moons back in August. That’s the videopoetry collaboration between Erica Goss (writer), Nic S. (reader), Kathy McTavish (musician) and Swoon (filmmaker) slated to result in monthly films throughout 2014, appearing at Atticus Review. Now they’ve released a trailer:
https://vimeo.com/79471054
If this is any any indication, the series should be very watchable indeed. See also Swoon’s blog post introducing the trailer, which contains a thumbnail account of how the idea for this “videopoetry calendar” developed.
New Motionpoems project: “Arrivals & Departures at Saint Paul’s Union Depot”
Motionpoems and public artist Todd Boss present “Arrivals & Departures at St Paul’s Union Depot,” a colossal 3D poetry film installation that will magically transform the facade of one of St Paul’s most impressive landmark buildings.
The plan is to:
- select a handful of original poems by Minnesotans (theme: “Arrivals & Departures”) from a statewide call for poems (see GUIDELINES below),
- commission Minnesota film teams to turn finalist poems into short films to fit digitally mapped 3D templates of the building,
- project the films onto the screen-filled facade of St Paul’s historic Union Depot at 5-minute intervals like trains, with accompanying audio from lawn-area speakers, during the St Paul Art Crawl, October 2-4, 2014.
The artistic vision for this project is to celebrate Union Depot’s renaissance as a rail hub with an act of locally sourced meaning-making that will reclaim the space in the hearts and minds of all who experience it.
They need a lot more backers, though, so please consider making a contribution to the Kickstarter campaign.
It’ll be huge. Five poems. Five films, departing every 5 minutes like trains, looping till late-night during the Saint Paul Art Crawl, when thousands of art-lovers already flock to Lowertown.
I’m a passionate evangelist for poetry, and I believe that our public spaces could be more “poetic.” This project is not about me or my poet friends. It’s about inviting everyone to write a poem, and sharing those poems (in film!) with the community.
Iluzjonista / Illusionist by Slawomir Elsner
A poem by the Polish artist Slawomir Elsner turned into a film by choreographer, dancer and filmmaker Jagoda Bobrowska, who notes that it was a
Film made for a competition “Nakrec wiersz” (shoot a poem)
Idea, directing, montage, music: Jagoda Bobrowska
Dance: Elena Sgarbi and Svelin Velchev
Sweet Tea by Eric Blanchard
https://vimeo.com/79032004
*
Another pair of video remixes for a poem in The Poetry Storehouse. This time, the poem is by Eric Blanchard, and what’s especially interesting is that they employ the very same soundtrack, with a reading by Nic S. and a soundscape composed by Marc Neys, A.K.A. Swoon. The first video is by Nic and the second is by Swoon, and as you’ll see, they take very different approaches. Nic uses images and animation by Donna Kuhn, while Marc worked with four still photos, as he describes in a blog post:
I started from 4 pictures: that I took in my series ‘Dust of time‘; pictures of wood, rotten, wet,… Colours golden brown (like tea).
First I merged those pictures together, creating a short 10 second film showing those merged pictures. What followed was a stream of re-editing and layering of those 10 seconds… Until there was nothing recognisable left. Only a constant moving stream of psychedelic forms…
These two videopoems are an excellent demonstration of the fun to be had working with material at The Poetry Storehouse. Keep ’em coming, folks.
Playing Duets with Heisenberg’s Ghost by Peg Duthie
Othniel Smith used images from the Internet Archive featuring Martha Davis to accompany a reading (by Nic S.) from The Poetry Storehouse, where the author, Peg Duthie, has five poems. Sebastian herself had also earlier made a video remix of the same poem, and it’s interesting to compare her approach with Smith’s:
https://vimeo.com/77778283
According to a note at the site, the poem appears in a collection called From Measured Extravagance (Upper Rubber Boot, 2012), and was first published in The 3rd Annual SFPA Poetry Contest in 2008: Energy (Spec House of Poetry). So it’s definitely been getting around!
Stopping by Dick Jones
A video by Nic S. for a poem and author recording at The Poetry Storehouse, one of three there by the British poet, blogger and musician Dick Jones.
Today is your advocate by Peter Ciccariello
I’m featuring videos based on poems in The Poetry Storehouse this week. Artist and poet Peter Ciccariello has three texts on the site. This one was read by Nic S. and made into a film by Marc Neys, A.K.A. Swoon. Marc shared some process notes at his blog.
This soundtrack/reading led me to images I shot over a year ago. Footage of someone looking back, remembering the past, someone watching life gliding by her… Just a few long shots (in and out of focus), nothing else…just the gaze.
Underground by Emer Martin
https://vimeo.com/76805308
Like Judith Dekker’s lark, this is a videopoem made from a passage of poetic prose: in this case, the unpublished novel The Affection of a Hag by Irish writer Emer Martin. Daragh McCarthy is the producer, editor, composer and reader, with filming by Richard Donnelly (see Vimeo for the complete credits). McCarthy writes,
I came across the work of Emer Martin in a copy of Stinging Fly magazine that a friend left in my flat on a winter evening in 2011.
Leafing through the contents I was struck by the title “going underground” in the novel extracts section, as I had made a film about the Dublin punk rock scene “The Stars Are Underground”.
Reading the character’s monologue in my kitchen I realised I was speaking it out loud, caught up in the rhythm. The words felt like an anger cheat sheet and history lesson and I immediately knew I wanted to put it to music.
The words seemed to encapsulate what myself and many of my contemporaries have been trying to express in terms of our place within history at this time and how we might begin to create a route forward.
While initially they suggested a full throttle approach, in the end a considered and deliberate reading was more appropriate.
I had been planning to combine my love of both film and music and felt that this piece was where I should start.
I wanted the visuals to be abstract for the most part, suggestive of the natural world and an internal world in equal measure.
I wanted the music to be a combination of midi, analogue and the human voice. I have been exploring Shape Note singing for some time and felt it’s raw human power would suit the sense of a people’s emotional response to their situation perfectly.
The Whole Place is Dark by Nick Sturm
Video by DJ Berndt for a poem by Nick Sturm that originally appeared in Ink Node. (Hat-tip: “The dA-Zed guide to Alt Lit.”)
Grand Union Bridge by Ian Duhig
Another of Alastair Cook‘s filmpoems for the Poetry Society in partnership with the Canal and River Trust as part of the Canal Laureate 2013 project. See my post of Lifted for more details. Jo Bell writes,
Ian Duhig’s poetry combines a deep learning with a lively wit, and a strong sense of Irish heritage as well as a need to honour the workers of a former age. His poem, Grand Union Canal, takes us to Paddington Basin in London.
Ian Duhig reads his text in the soundtrack, which was composed by Luca Nasciuti.
