Posted June 26, 2006 by John Menick
Today, Chris Moukarbel responded to a previous post concerning Paramount’s lawsuit against him.
As he points out, the press only seems to be able to understand his work in the context of commercial filmmaking, and, like Paramount, isn’t interested in knowing that Moukarbel is working in a tradition of contemporary art in which appropriation is a form of criticism. (In case you’re the one person reading a contemporary art blog who doesn’t know what I’m talking about, try looking into Guy Debord, Bruce Conner, Pierre Huyghe, Douglas Gordon, et al.)
Am I the only person who finds this lawsuit wildly arbitrary? (Other than Chris, of course.)
(Related: Also see this previous post on Godard’s screening at the MoMA.)
Posted June 22, 2006 by John Menick
The search for Mandela’s buried gun.
Michael Winterbottom discusses Road to Guantanamo on WNYC (Leonard Lopate).
Brando insists you don’t remember him (direct link to quicktime file).
Posted June 21, 2006 by John Menick
Saul Symonds, Light Sleeper’s editor:
This issue of Light Sleeper presents two articles on Pasolini’s Salò to mark the 30th anniversary of what is deservedly one of the 20th century’s most controversial films. The first article is a roundtable between myself, David Ehrenstein, and Noel Vera. The second article, “A Look into the Mythic-Real Mirror of Pier Paolo Pasolini”, was written a few months after this roundtable and picks up on several issues that were forming in my mind by the end of that discussion.
(And here is a third.)
Posted June 21, 2006 by John Menick
A couple of weeks ago, I was thinking of linking to artist Chris Moukarbel’s video version of Oliver Stone’s WTC. Good thing I didn’t. It seems like Paramount is not only suing the artist, but also cited a blog that linked to the project as evidence in the case. When will it stop? I didn’t think I would bother seeing Stone’s film until I saw Moukarbel’s short, which actually got me interested in doing a side-by-side comparison. I’ll go back to not bothering.
A little background in case you’re scratching your head:
Using an appropriated copy of Oliver Stone’s script for “World Trade Center,” filmmaker Chris Moukarbel took matters into his own hands and went ahead and shot an extract from the script with student actors in his own studio. The first of its kind in an internet rife with trailer mash-ups and footage remixes, the idea of creating an adaptation of a film months prior to release is part of Moukarbel’s current video art installation, and aimed specifically at pre-empting the upcoming Oliver Stone film’s release in August 2006. The installation piece is currently touring European art galleries, and has just recently found its way online.
Posted June 21, 2006 by John Menick
The first ones to leave [a slowing art] market is not the established collectors but the speculators, and the current market seems to be driven by the latter.
- Anders Petterson on Reuters
