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Over the second half of the nineteen nineties, I became interested in making angular, visceral, ‘short-circuiting’ videos. My videos Electro Nosebleed, Bhumisparsa, Contact and Against are examples of these endeavours.
As part of this process, I sampled diverse music genres to create raw, polyrhythmic music tracks which I rehearsed, and then played and recorded straight onto DAT (Digital Audio Tape).
I stumbled across this track while digitising my archive over the past five years. During this process I also rediscovered some S-VHS footage I had irreverently recorded at the Louvre; as well as video feedback experiments recorded around the same time. They all have a bracing freshness which inspired me to start working on this video.
Even though the creation of this video spans thirty years, there are some ideas which – to a greater or lesser extent – inspired its creation and completion – although nuances and new ideas have of course accumulated in the interim.
These ideas include Walter Benjamin’s quote: “There is no document of civilisation that is not at the same time a document of barbarism.”
I don’t necessarily agree with Wilhelm Worringer’s thesis in – Abstraction and Empathy – yet I feel it’s an interesting assertion to ponder.
Then there’s my love for Ch’an / Zen brushwork and philosophy, and viewing the camera as a paintbrush to paint gestural strokes in time and space.
Finally there’s my attempt to edit sound and image into a synaesthetic whole which temporarily short-circuits “thinking” – allowing us to become one with the sensory, the sensual, the material, the physical – the ever creating, ever creative cosmos of our existence. But this can also be enjoyed as an exhilarating twenty-five “FUCK OFFS” a second – the prefect antidote to being museumed out.
To be honest, watching the Louvre footage now, it physically pains me to notice all the masterpieces which I flippantly walked past at the time of recording. I used to have a total disdain for the Rococo – which has thankfully been tempered1 over the ensuing thirty years. To the point that I want to express my great love and respect for Jean Siméon Chardin and Jean-Antoine Watteau. Respect to Jean-Honoré Fragonard, and hat tip to Nicolas Largillier – the painter of the hands. Lastly, thanks to Jean Jouvenet for the boisterous yellow trousers.
As for the music, I unfortunately cannot remember the sources of the samples. The only one I still remember is from a piece by Györgi Ligeti – I think his Chamber Concerto. I have a feeling that I sampled a track by Painkiller – a group I love. Or maybe it was Naked City…
As for the title of this video… I’ll say it’s an acronym for Animal Resistance Technology.
PS: I still hate academic art – as does this video.
1: Rococo to Revolution by Michael Levey is a stunning book which I thoroughly recommend.