not the very beginning, but quite early on
I have always been interested in the layers of image and identity, both what we chose to project and what is projected onto us, i.e. fantasy, prejudice, and cultural stereotypes. I am intrigued by how they are communicated, understood, and misunderstood by others.
One contributing factor to my interest in this was an accident that I had at the age of 21 which badly damaged my upper lip. It required 6 re-constructive surgical procedures over 6 years . During that time, I experienced people reacting to me differently and realized just how important it was for me to separate my physical appearance from my sense of self. This deepened my already deep appreciation for the playfully flamboyant culture of San Francisco, the wonderfully accepting city that had welcomed me at the age of 18.
I met one of these particularly extreme SF characters shortly after my accident, a time when I was experimenting with disguises and wigs to explore the different ways in which strangers reacted to me. I considered it a social experiment, not art. I met Carmel Sanger while working in café/bar across from her hair salon, The Pink Tarantula, in the South of Market district.
I liked her and enjoyed her friendly brutality. She was an extremely exaggerated personality but, at the same time, seemed to be absolutely real. She was 10 years older than I and I admired her. She had survived so much and made something good out of her life.
Five years later, I made my first video, trying to express the lack of attachment a person can have to their appearance. The original video also included an interview with Carmel Sanger. A couple of months after the interview, Carmel was murdered. The second video I ever made was for/about her. It was very much an emotional reaction and more about a personal connection and loss. It contains the original interview footage and footage of the shrine left outside her doors after her death. The first part of the text was written in response to the news of her death and the second after the visit to her shrine. The quality of the video is quite deteriorated so here are some stills and the text, including my narration and what Carmel said in the original film.
In memory of carmel sanger,
who could have survived almost anything
San Francisco 1997
pink tarantula
the name suits you
like everything in this place
walls painted
in hard black and neon
crawling with images
a snake a fat lady with green hair
covered like your tattooed body
…”and hair dressing is a very delicate and intricate art form, where you are dealing with peoples emotions and psychosis .. and with a slip of the scissors, I can ruin their lives or their ears forever..” (Carmel)
fur
fake fur
fabulously fake on you
and covering the pillows and the bench
where people wait for your magic
God gave you natural, I give you supernatural
you said to me
“..not everyone can cut hair, it’s akin to surgery, to brain surgery actually, so I can go along with that, and Thank God, I was thinking about it this morning, for all THE home coloring jobs and home hair cut jobs, if there were that many home surgery jobs walking around the streets, it would be a national epidemic..” (Carmel)
I’ve forgotten what natural is
red? blue? green? yellow?
like the wild-haired trolls that line you shelves
faithful troops
waiting for you to throw back your long black hair
and bark out an order with playful brutality
orphaned fools are gonna wait forever
'cause you don’t anything more to say
first time you didn’t make up your own mind
last time you threw back your mane
it was full
of what should have been inside
“…it’s not their hair, it IS their lives that’s a mess, we just have to trim them up and get rid of their dead ends and they can just go about their business..” (Carmel)
a bald man with no eyebrows came into the pink tarantula
He claimed to have an appointment with the owner Carmel Sanger
while she looked over the books, he shot her in the face
the woman driving the getaway car had blond hair
with roots
“..these psycho freaks want to have long hair for the night because they THINK they are going to get laid or something, and that the are going to find complete and utter happiness through long hair.. NOW THAT’s the kind of people you want to…” (Carmel)
some tourists were noticing
the flowers
that had been left for you
twisted and dying in the iron gate of your door
lifeless
I drive by slowly on my motorcycle and
I notice them noticing your dead flowers
and they notice me in black leather
noticing them
and they move on
I have driven a ways past your door
to park
so I can approach with caution
had I expected any less?
lots of flowers all dying
two doors both yours
locked
not intended to be opened
at least for a while
six people were in there
six people saw
six people watched you life explode
too quick to help it
behind these doors echo screams
a child's drawing confirms what I know
sad spider frowny face
I look on
a bible beside two burning candles
SO many pictures of you
little girl halloween angel wings
twisted up in the gate that holds the secret
for a moment I wonder
who made it look so clean?
behind the dying roses
there is no trace of the ugliness
so clean
so quiet
so empty
the name suits you
like everything in this place
walls painted
in hard black and neon
crawling with images
a snake a fat lady with green hair
covered like your tattooed body
…”and hair dressing is a very delicate and intricate art form, where you are dealing with peoples emotions and psychosis .. and with a slip of the scissors, I can ruin their lives or their ears forever..” (Carmel)
fur
fake fur
fabulously fake on you
and covering the pillows and the bench
where people wait for your magic
God gave you natural, I give you supernatural
you said to me
“..not everyone can cut hair, it’s akin to surgery, to brain surgery actually, so I can go along with that, and Thank God, I was thinking about it this morning, for all THE home coloring jobs and home hair cut jobs, if there were that many home surgery jobs walking around the streets, it would be a national epidemic..” (Carmel)
I’ve forgotten what natural is
red? blue? green? yellow?
like the wild-haired trolls that line you shelves
faithful troops
waiting for you to throw back your long black hair
and bark out an order with playful brutality
orphaned fools are gonna wait forever
'cause you don’t anything more to say
first time you didn’t make up your own mind
last time you threw back your mane
it was full
of what should have been inside
“…it’s not their hair, it IS their lives that’s a mess, we just have to trim them up and get rid of their dead ends and they can just go about their business..” (Carmel)
a bald man with no eyebrows came into the pink tarantula
He claimed to have an appointment with the owner Carmel Sanger
while she looked over the books, he shot her in the face
the woman driving the getaway car had blond hair
with roots
“..these psycho freaks want to have long hair for the night because they THINK they are going to get laid or something, and that the are going to find complete and utter happiness through long hair.. NOW THAT’s the kind of people you want to…” (Carmel)
some tourists were noticing
the flowers
that had been left for you
twisted and dying in the iron gate of your door
lifeless
I drive by slowly on my motorcycle and
I notice them noticing your dead flowers
and they notice me in black leather
noticing them
and they move on
I have driven a ways past your door
to park
so I can approach with caution
had I expected any less?
lots of flowers all dying
two doors both yours
locked
not intended to be opened
at least for a while
six people were in there
six people saw
six people watched you life explode
too quick to help it
behind these doors echo screams
a child's drawing confirms what I know
sad spider frowny face
I look on
a bible beside two burning candles
SO many pictures of you
little girl halloween angel wings
twisted up in the gate that holds the secret
for a moment I wonder
who made it look so clean?
behind the dying roses
there is no trace of the ugliness
so clean
so quiet
so empty
See Susie do the can can
San Francisco
1997
SEE SUSIE DO THE CAN CAN was inspired by the feminist cyborgian theories of Donna Haroway. It especially explores the oppressive method of projected victimization using real interviews of San Francisco tourists at the Cliff House observing an antique wooden can can dancer who dances wildly for a quarter, and the counter observations of her human persona, who is played by a young intellectual from the Czech Republic. ENGLISH ORIGINAL version
Tonya Monique/Tony Monaco
San Francisco
1997
TONYA MONIQUE/ TONY MONICO a young singer tells a true story of how she used gender bending to confront sexual harrassment and discrimination in the power structures of the San Francisco Jazz industry. ENGLISH ORIGINAL version
featuring Tonya Monique as herself
(the open jam jazz band here IS NOT the same band as mentioned in the story)
featuring Tonya Monique as herself
(the open jam jazz band here IS NOT the same band as mentioned in the story)
berlin-early years
words under water
1998
When I arrived in Berlin, it was February 1998. It was a time before on line social media, and even regular use of email. Like many, I didn't own a computer. I didn't even imagine I would ever own a mobile phone. Without having known anyone in Berlin, I felt a bit lost as I wandered around the strange changing streets of former East Berlin and it seemedquite like I was under water as I tried to understand the words spoken around me in the underground tunnels of this city with a history like no other. This is a collage of various language learning materials, children's things and the sounds I recorded around me. It was in a show where every piece was contained in a suitcase stored on a shelf, which viewers could pull down and open.
lichterloh (up in flames)
1998
I was interested in the challenge of installing my work in a
room which was an existing installation, especially such a
dominating one as ‘Collette's Salon’ in Stiftung Starke- Berlin.
It was a time when I had no space of my own and was
surrounded by the personal objects of others. I had been in
Berlin for 9 months and was thinking about the compulsive
curiosity that causes one to throw ones life up into the air
and play with fire. I created a collaged sound piece based on
the tale by Heinrick Hoffman, where little Paulinchen plays
with matches and burns herself up. One video and 6 super 8
projectors spread fire across the room, where visitors sat at
tables drinking wine and lighting cigarettes. I provided
matchboxes with photo details of the original room on them.
room which was an existing installation, especially such a
dominating one as ‘Collette's Salon’ in Stiftung Starke- Berlin.
It was a time when I had no space of my own and was
surrounded by the personal objects of others. I had been in
Berlin for 9 months and was thinking about the compulsive
curiosity that causes one to throw ones life up into the air
and play with fire. I created a collaged sound piece based on
the tale by Heinrick Hoffman, where little Paulinchen plays
with matches and burns herself up. One video and 6 super 8
projectors spread fire across the room, where visitors sat at
tables drinking wine and lighting cigarettes. I provided
matchboxes with photo details of the original room on them.
1 minute from 13
This entirely new situation, of my being the only link in my current life to the 28 years before this place, was a bit unsettling. The burden of that responsibility brought the instability of memory into a blaring light.
Spiel wenn du willst
berlin
1999
This sound/video installation explored the instability of memory and the impossibility of completely understanding a foreign culture which was not the context of your own childhood. In a colorful room in the Postfuhramt in "II Festivals der Jungen Experimentellen Kunst" in Berlin-Mitte 1999 was a text about early memory with hand-colored black and white photographs, German children's songs sung to the melody of American Jazz and Blue's standards and mixed into a friendly dance song, and the use of 'generation loss' where the video quality deteriorates through copying, exaggerated by reefilming repeatedly from the television screen.
cold war kids- collaborations with Ilya isupov of kiev
During the exhibition at the Postfuhramt, I became aquainted with a Russian/Ukranian painter named Iliya Isupov. My attention was drawn to his work through many stranger presuming I was the woman in his paintings. I found him obnoxious, but found something oddly familiar in his ideas and work. We were the same age, both about to turn 30 in the year 2000, so we had both experienced growing up during the Cold War. This meeting in Berlin provided us an opportunity to explore the other side and it seemed obvious that we should do some work together. It began with Iliya tattooing my back with needles sterilized with vodka in the tech of the exhibition's trailor in the pouring rain behind the Postfuramt. It continued some months later when I took the 2 night train from Berlin to Kiev and the next night, on to Odessa. Our final piece together was a mad installation in a WW2 bunker in Nurenburg from Dec. 99- January 2000. It was a very mixed media piece, low tech to high tech, with many dark images and stories of cats and dogs.
unfinished taTTOO
ODESSA
1999
In Berlin, I was confronted with the issue of national identity and national image. This was strange for me because I had never felt that I was really part of any culture where I had lived except for San Francisco, which is a city of immigrants, hippies, homosexuals, and misfits.
lusty lady liberty's last journey to the dark side
san francisco/berlin
2000
After 2 years abroad, I returned to San Francisco/Oakland to sort out my things before returning to Berlin indefinitely. There was a lot of revived Star Wars obsession at the time, and I was also struck by the intensity of the city's tendency towards the nostalgic and the erotic. Part mockingly and part lovingly, I shot this B/W Super 8 with Aaron Hawks and a borrowed cardboard figure and a mask. Back in Berlin, I put it to a musical story i wrote, and roughly recorded with Margareth Kammerer and Asi Foecker, which we performed live at an exhibition where the film was visible through a peephole in a door.
efforts to connect with the past in the present
neither here, nor there
Berlin/usa
2000-01
My personal American history is basically a combination of the liberal land of San Francisco and Salt Lake City, Utah, which is the city dominated and founded by the Latter Day Saints (Mormons). My ancestors were among them and either travelled the difficult journey westward with the earliest Saints, or left their homes and cultures in Europe and Norway to join this new religious culture in their new Zion. These ancestors decided my fate 3,4,and 5 generations ago when the Mormon church and the hope of America were both very different things.
ONE PLACE AT A TIME
Photo
Berlin/U.S. 2001
and
OHRWURM
Sound/Super8 film
U.S. 2001
These two works were developed in the Spring of 2001, while traveling through the U.S.- Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, the San Francisco Bay Area, and New York City.
They are intended to be shown together.
ONE PLACE AT A TIME, is about places.
It is about the unachievable desire to be in two places at once.
I carried more than 50 photographs of my current neighborhood in East Berlin with me on my journey through the places of my past. In these American landscapes, I photographed each Berlin photo twice, one time - focused on the Berlin photo, and the other- focused on the landscape behind.
OHRWURM, literally “Ear worm”, is about people.
Ohrwurm is the German name for the songs, which get stuck in ones mind. As I traveled, I asked the people whom I visited to sing their “Ohrwurms”. I recorded them, and filmed them with Super 8 film. In Berlin, I took stills from each person, framed them and placed them together on a small, round table. Viewers could hear them singing on headphones, but there was no indication as to which voice belonged to which person.
Ohrwurm is the German name for the songs, which get stuck in ones mind. As I traveled, I asked the people whom I visited to sing their “Ohrwurms”. I recorded them, and filmed them with Super 8 film. In Berlin, I took stills from each person, framed them and placed them together on a small, round table. Viewers could hear them singing on headphones, but there was no indication as to which voice belonged to which person.
[]''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''I am interested in the way lines of history move in different ways and their relationships to one another are changing so that ones perception of these things is constantly contradicting itself and is ultimately entirely subjective.
In Berlin; I became increasingly aware of this shifting perception when I started to think of the landscapes of my Mormon childhood as "Marlboro Country". At the same time I felt the many roles of "American Woman" which were projected upon me. As I noticed how others defined America and "typical" Americans, I wondered how I could define my American experience. After a few years I was becoming more and more aware that I couldn't really identify with The Mormon Culture half of my life. It had been too long. I had become too detached.
In Berlin; I became increasingly aware of this shifting perception when I started to think of the landscapes of my Mormon childhood as "Marlboro Country". At the same time I felt the many roles of "American Woman" which were projected upon me. As I noticed how others defined America and "typical" Americans, I wondered how I could define my American experience. After a few years I was becoming more and more aware that I couldn't really identify with The Mormon Culture half of my life. It had been too long. I had become too detached.
life as an american in Europe- post 9-11
After an unexpected return to the US in the Summer of 2001, to film the documentary, Family Recipes, I was shocked with the rest of the world to view the events of 9-11 from a TV screen just under a week after leaving NYC. In the years following, I was saddened by the way it was used by politicians and the way my fellow American citizens seemed so easy to manipulate through fear, at least from the European media coverage's perspective, as they mourned a lost sense of security. On a personal level, I had just taken on the hardest project of my life with 38 hours of material shot around the religious culture of my family and had just become acutely aware of my chronic back problems.
Untitled(egg series)
Berlin 2002
three videos and one sculpture. lead balls, egg holder, eggs, and black water.
The actual bowl made of broken eggs was placed the center of the video installation, empty.
It has been estimated that 40 percent of all pregnancies end in miscarriage, so it must be happening all around us all of the time, secretly in the minds and bodies of many a woman, who quietly bears the turmoil of hormones which may have lifted her up like a goddess of creation during pregnancy and dropped her into a very deep dark place when the too-small- to-see life left her…
“ If we go deeper into daydreams of nests, we soon encounter a sort of paradox of sensibility. A nest- and this we understand right away- is a precarious thing, and yet it sets us to daydreaming of security.” Gaston Bachelard.
still living
video/painting installation
berlin
2002
shown in a loop as an installation
what appears to be a still life painting is actually a video, which is in constant motion. The books in the shelves fade in slowly and every 2 minutes or so, a hand reaches in and turns a page of the open book on the table.
In a frame on the top of the shelves, there is an image from Truffauts' Fahrenheit 451. It is a moment between a dying old man who is one of the "book people" and a young boy who is learning his book before the man dies and takes it with him. This scene is not part of the original novel by Ray Bradbury. Still living was originally installed into a fake wall as a rear projection on a screen disguised to look like a framed painting. Flat screen technology has since made that effect more simple to achieve. However, it looks quite good on a chunky TV set as well.
what appears to be a still life painting is actually a video, which is in constant motion. The books in the shelves fade in slowly and every 2 minutes or so, a hand reaches in and turns a page of the open book on the table.
In a frame on the top of the shelves, there is an image from Truffauts' Fahrenheit 451. It is a moment between a dying old man who is one of the "book people" and a young boy who is learning his book before the man dies and takes it with him. This scene is not part of the original novel by Ray Bradbury. Still living was originally installed into a fake wall as a rear projection on a screen disguised to look like a framed painting. Flat screen technology has since made that effect more simple to achieve. However, it looks quite good on a chunky TV set as well.
hula hoop series
us west/berlin
paris/barcelona
2001-02
This series started in Summer 2001, while filming my feature documentary, FAMILY RECIPES. It was about the awkwardness of coming "home" when one has moved far away from that culture. Also, those typical Western road movie images that Europeans romanticized and placed me in. After returning "home" to Berlin, 9-11 happened and the light playfulness of the American image was completely lost. The landscapes of my youth were fading "Marlboro Country" billboards and the Bush administration certainly did not shine a flattering light on the American people. The first 2 parts of the series won a prize in the America in Berlin competition in 2002. The Paris and Barcelona segments followed and were more about the stereotypes most Americans have around those places and a the quirky way tourists bumble around. The hula hoop became some kind of representation of my burdensome relationship top my own cultural identity and something I could not let go or get rid of completely, no matter how absurd and distorted it became.
shock, pop, and awe
berlin
2003
During the first month of George W. Bush's attack on Iraq, named "Shock and Awe",
there was constant media coverage with special theme music which nearly turned
the flashes of light caused by exploding bombs into a beautiful spectacle. I found this
sporting event like coverage disturbing and strange. Meanwhile, the owner of the
little shop next door to my storefront studio was making more and more "American woman"
comments. This has been shown in installations with
HOME MOVIE and the HULA HOOP SERIES
there was constant media coverage with special theme music which nearly turned
the flashes of light caused by exploding bombs into a beautiful spectacle. I found this
sporting event like coverage disturbing and strange. Meanwhile, the owner of the
little shop next door to my storefront studio was making more and more "American woman"
comments. This has been shown in installations with
HOME MOVIE and the HULA HOOP SERIES
Why can't you come home?
Us west
2001-03
During the long process of editing of my feature documentary,
FAMILY RECIPES about my large Mormon family and those who had left the faith,
I started to question my role and potential power to manipulate the images as director
and editor. This is a playful experiment/self-mockery with word manipulation and
semi-subconscious secret hopes and dreams.
FAMILY RECIPES about my large Mormon family and those who had left the faith,
I started to question my role and potential power to manipulate the images as director
and editor. This is a playful experiment/self-mockery with word manipulation and
semi-subconscious secret hopes and dreams.
A DAY IN ‘HIS’ LIFE
Digital photo series
Berlin 2003
I was asked to take part in an exhibition in a old GDR bookstore in Mitte using some leftover books there. I picked up this unlikely Born Again Christian pamphlet and on one day in December, I asked the people I met (mostly strangers) to be ‘Him’ for a moment.
Home movie
berlin
2004
HOME MOVIE was filmed through a crude hole in my back door after I had witnessed a violent and disturbing event involving my neighbor in front of my window. The camera was a way to hide myself from the police while observing them and also a way to make a frightening situation feel more contained.
INSTALLATION- this piece works best on a monitor, either in a dark corner where the viewer can be drawn in by the loud bashing sound, or with headphones if shown in the same room as another piece.
It has previously been shown with "Shock, Pop, and Awe" and "Playing with Fire"
INSTALLATION- this piece works best on a monitor, either in a dark corner where the viewer can be drawn in by the loud bashing sound, or with headphones if shown in the same room as another piece.
It has previously been shown with "Shock, Pop, and Awe" and "Playing with Fire"
an extended visit to Salt Lake City in 2004
is this the place?
at the mall
uninvited thanksgiving guest
family recipes
2001-06
and to be continued
MoNsieur Marie
COUREZ,COUREZ and LES TEMP MODERNES – I directed, filmed,
and edited these following 2 video clips for the original music of
Marseilles based music/performance group, Monsieur Marie.
Marseilles, France 2007
French original version
Monsieur Marie
music, voice, acting-Roland Catella
text, voice, acting-Marie Salemi
king's cake eater- Milo Catella
conta bass- Jean-Yves Abecassis
and edited these following 2 video clips for the original music of
Marseilles based music/performance group, Monsieur Marie.
Marseilles, France 2007
French original version
Monsieur Marie
music, voice, acting-Roland Catella
text, voice, acting-Marie Salemi
king's cake eater- Milo Catella
conta bass- Jean-Yves Abecassis
Playing with Fire (Home movie 2)
Berlin
2009
on-going video/audio project exploring the
relationship between sound and image
I was drawn out onto the balcony by the drumming and honking of a wedding procession. I noticed the Zimmerman, who had been repairing the roof across from me, fussing around some smoke. It was just getting dark and the smoke was beautiful in the light of their lamps so I grabbed my camera and filmed as the smoke became a fire, which quickly grew out of control. Fortunately no one was injured.
While editing this video, I found it particularly difficult to decide how to handle the sound, as someone was talking next to me at some point rendering the natural sound unusable.. I am always aware of the potential emotional manipulation and power of music and sound in the editing process and this time I simply could not decide, partially due to the intense and mixed feelings one experiences watching such a fire. So, I asked my many friends who work with sound and music to watch the film and give me a soundtrack. So far, I have 12 diverse solutions totaling approx. one hour. by:
Anouschka Trocker/Antonio Vacirca/Sylvia Marks/Rico Repotente/Francis Ruggirello/Heidi Adair/Joe Williamson/David Certano/Sean Reynard/Jeff McGrory/Marzipan Marzipan/Miranda Lloyd &Bart Higgins
Here are a few examples:
While editing this video, I found it particularly difficult to decide how to handle the sound, as someone was talking next to me at some point rendering the natural sound unusable.. I am always aware of the potential emotional manipulation and power of music and sound in the editing process and this time I simply could not decide, partially due to the intense and mixed feelings one experiences watching such a fire. So, I asked my many friends who work with sound and music to watch the film and give me a soundtrack. So far, I have 12 diverse solutions totaling approx. one hour. by:
Anouschka Trocker/Antonio Vacirca/Sylvia Marks/Rico Repotente/Francis Ruggirello/Heidi Adair/Joe Williamson/David Certano/Sean Reynard/Jeff McGrory/Marzipan Marzipan/Miranda Lloyd &Bart Higgins
Here are a few examples:
Miranda Lloyd &Bart Higgins
Francis Ruggirello
Joe Williamson
red heads in berlin 2009
Archaeological digs in the Chinese desert of Takla Makan found mummified redheads dating back 3,000 years.
Sixty percent of women who dye their hair do so at home. Of them twenty six percent choose to go blonde, twenty seven percent go basic brunette, and thirty percent choose to become redheads. The sale of at home red dye kits has gone up seventeen percent since the year two thousand hit.
Adams first wife Lilith, always depicted as a redhead, is known to have refused to lie beneath Adam during sexual intercourse, and stated” why should I lie beneath you when I am your equal since both of us were created from dust” –Patai
The country name of Russia means "land of reds" in honor of a redheaded Viking by the name of Rurik.
Red-haired Clowns have their origins in Russia.
Red-haired Clowns have their origins in Russia.
The Romans kept red haired slaves, and at a higher price.
Adolph Hitler reportedly banned the marriages of two redheads as he feared their children would be “deviant offspring”.
Belief that redheads are witches is a folk belief in Germanic culture. From 1483-1784 thousands of suspected witches were nearly always stripped and searched for “marks of the devil”. These included any “abnormality” such as freckles, moles, warts, and birthmarks. Red hair was certainly considered an abnormality. Considering the freckle factor for redheads this was a deadly and shocking horror. Somewhere around 45,000 women were tortured and murdered usually by burning at the stake or by drowning.
In the late 16th century, the fat of a redheaded man was an essential ingredient for poison.
In Denmark it is an honor to have a redheaded child.
In Corsica, if you pass a redhead in the street you are to spit and turn around.
In Poland, if you pass three red-heads you'll win the state lottery-Sylvia Stevez.
In Greek Mythology, redheads turn into Vampires when they die.
An Irish judge in 2001 fined a man for disorderly conduct stating “I am a firm believer that hair coloring has an effect on temper and your coloring suggests you have a temper.”
At St. Paul’s cathedral in London, figurines tell the story of the fall in the Garden of Eden. Adam points one hand to the forbidden fruit and the other to a golden haired Eve. Then the arch angel drives them from the garden. Adam with his fig leaf loops his arm around Eve who is now cowering and sporting a main of long red hair.
words, words, words
berlin
2010
I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY
Berlin 2010
This examines self-expression in terms of text and language. As a native English speaker living in non-English speaking countries since 1998, I am often curious how much people connect the text on their clothing to who they are and how they feel. Although many are simply advertising a brand, sometimes it seems that the T-shirts are involved in a conversation with each other or saying something to me that the people wearing them may or may not understand.
Berlin 2010
This examines self-expression in terms of text and language. As a native English speaker living in non-English speaking countries since 1998, I am often curious how much people connect the text on their clothing to who they are and how they feel. Although many are simply advertising a brand, sometimes it seems that the T-shirts are involved in a conversation with each other or saying something to me that the people wearing them may or may not understand.
Consuming Berlin Winter
accumulation, advertising, consumption.
This was filmed around the strange and dated Europa center on one of the most horrible shopping strips in Berlin, just before Christmas.
Marzipan Marzipan's
"I'm not Afraid of Tigers"
Berlin 2011
The idea with the balloon walking came first, then it was used for
another music video, until that song was changed in a way that didn't
work anymore. There is also a quiet somber version without tigers.
I asked Marzipan Marzipan if she wanted to do a rendition of it with
her song, so we did a bit more filming with lions and tigers when the
fun fair came back to Berlin's Hasenheide Park the following Spring.
The idea with the balloon walking came first, then it was used for
another music video, until that song was changed in a way that didn't
work anymore. There is also a quiet somber version without tigers.
I asked Marzipan Marzipan if she wanted to do a rendition of it with
her song, so we did a bit more filming with lions and tigers when the
fun fair came back to Berlin's Hasenheide Park the following Spring.
Sung Sun Sunny Sunshine
2011
One rainy Sunday in the Summer in Berlin, I collected all the songs I could find with Sun, Sunny, and Sunshine in the title. I put the 25 I found one above another and cut out all the rest of the words. Then, I lined them all up back to back, as near as I could to their original position. I animated this version to react to audio of the various sung suns.
Everybody Dies Alone/Rico Repotente
from the album 'Dust On The Halo' available from November 2012
video arranged and edited by Amelia Seymour
strings set concept, design, execution and camera by Eva Meyer-Keller,
Andrea Keiz and Amelia
video featuring Rico, Steve Heather, and Kajsa and Otis Repotente.
Thanks to Rhonda Repotente and the unknown gardner
Berlin 2012
video arranged and edited by Amelia Seymour
strings set concept, design, execution and camera by Eva Meyer-Keller,
Andrea Keiz and Amelia
video featuring Rico, Steve Heather, and Kajsa and Otis Repotente.
Thanks to Rhonda Repotente and the unknown gardner
Berlin 2012
catch the light
4 part concert, performance, installation series
in my flat
berlin sept.- dec. 2012
We are heading into Berlin winter and finding ourselves, frozen fools closing our eyes and turning our faces up to the sun, like desperate stranded aliens finally being rescued from a dark and miserable place. We crave that glorious source of light and warmth, which is becoming more and more precious and rare. To help survive the Winter, I am opening my light catching nest over Boddin Platz for concerts, installations, performances... and to catch the last rays of light.
PART ONE was announced as an effort to enjoy the disappearing light, and the piano that was temporarily living with me, by gathering on the last Saturday of every month one hour before sunset for an artistic exchange in an intimate setting. There were live concerts by Rico Repotente and Marzipan Marzipan accompanied by banjo player, Guilhem Loustalot-Forest and with DJ youcantgoogleme. Of course there were unplanned performances as well.
PART TWO was also a Halloween/Day of the Dead event. There were live performances by Marcello Busato and Ceby Cuircina, as well as an unplanned performance with the both of them plus Asi Foecker. Costumes were encouraged. I created a dancing sketeton shadow throwing head piece for the occasion.
PART 3-DEALING WITH THE WEATHER For this part, many visual/performance and installation artists were invited to join me in playing with the weather, rather than feel played with by it. Results: floor to ceiling tornado, storms in bathtub, the sun in the attic, dinosaurs in ice cubes, rain, rainbows wind, guitar pick rose petals, etc. etc. Also guests were invited to collect weather themed songs for the evening. Participating artists incuded: Frederik Foert (sculpture and performance), Ulrika Ferm (film), Johnny Johnny (video), Marzipan Marzipan(music), Romain Vicente (drums and documentation)Stephan and Karl Maetz(performance), and especially Max Sudhues (installation, documentation, performance)
PART FOUR- No light to catch, pfft! who needs it?! This was also a New Year's Eve Party inviting all participants (and more) back to dance around the tornado through the dark night, while Berliner's did thier wild firework thing all around us.
live and living on and on..
berlin
21.12.12
I filmed some friends live show on the night the world was supposed to end in 2012. It didn't, so I made this little montage with some of my old Super8 footage as a birthday present for the drummer.
worth being heard
Gauteng, south africa
2013
In Febuary 2013, Tembisa, Gauteng, South Africa
on the water problems there....
I later learned that Tembisa means, to hope for or to have hope.
All of this material is from one ordinary late afternoon.
Amelia Seymour - directing/shooting/editing/narration
Tony Mathe - interviews
Music by Ochosa/Rico Repotente
female vocals -Eva Meyer-Keller
on the water problems there....
I later learned that Tembisa means, to hope for or to have hope.
All of this material is from one ordinary late afternoon.
Amelia Seymour - directing/shooting/editing/narration
Tony Mathe - interviews
Music by Ochosa/Rico Repotente
female vocals -Eva Meyer-Keller
Late one night in the first days of the new year, I stepped off of a bus in front of the Piazza Venizia and found myself alone looking down Via del Corso, a normally busy commercial street in the center of Rome, where earlier in the day tourists were bombarded with people trying to sell them umbrellas and a multitude of less useful things. In the early morning hours, just after a heavy rainstorm, it was a radically different place. The strings of rainbow-colored lights draped above, along the length of the long street, were reflected on the surface of the many puddles which had become the top layer of layers and layers of past civilizations. As I walked along the road the rainbows came to life, plunging into the crumbled worlds of ghosts below and springing back up again repeatedly as if attempting to splash the past onto modern storefronts . With no one but myself and the many silent marble faces looking on, I knew that this was one of those experiences I couldn't give to anyone, but it is always worth a try.