Pygmalion’s Ugly Season

Late Anthropocene

October 2016 •

Hand processed expired Kodak 7291, Camera: Beaulieu R16, Lens: Angenieux 12-120mm with +3 Diopter, Polarising filter for the clouds. Hand processed in C-41 chem using a Lomo UPB-1A tank. Still haven't mastered removal of the rem-jet anti-halation layer (thats all the white 'static' on the film). The film expired about 40 years ago.

Revés

July 1999 •Spanish

The portrait of a world in reverse, a society of different tonalities and shades. Aspiration as a refuge from systematization.

Kyupi Kyupi: The Best

August 2004 •Japanese

Video, music, dance, graphics, modelling... that's what Kyupi Kyupi is, a video + performance group that goes beyond the boundaries of all genres. The members are headed by graphic designer Koichi Emura, sculpting and 3DCG artist Masatsuka Kimura, multi-talented singer Asami Wakeshima, and filmmaker Yoshimasa Ishibashi. The culmination of 6 years of Kyupi Kyupi. Super permanent DVD "Kyupi Kyupi The Best" containing cute and erotic images is finally on sale! Re-editing and condensing a number of video works comprising the entire trajectory of Kyupi Kyupi, from the first live performance in Kyoto in 1998 to the long-run performance of "Cabarotica" in 2003. You can now thoroughly enjoy the rich world of Kyupi Kyupi.

Artificial Intelligence, 2023

January 2024 •English

Composed entirely of AI-generated visuals and providing an abstract representation of the evolution of AI video, processed entirely through a VCR.

Spheres

January 1969 •English

This animated short is a play on motion set against a background of multi-hued sky. Spheres of translucent pearl float weightlessly in the unlimited panorama of the sky, grouping, regrouping or colliding like the stylized burst of some atomic chain reaction. The dance is set to the musical cadences of Bach, played by pianist Glenn Gould.

Functional Block Diagrams

Invalid date •English

A synthesis of sound and movement; colourful characters dance and move in repetitive patterns to percussive and melodic elements. A combination of motion and music that is hypnotic and beautiful. At first it feels structured and orderly but as more elements are added becomes quixotically expressive.

Plague Mass

April 1991 •English

"Heart-wrenching cry about the physical suffering caused by the AIDS plague being compounded by the shameful arrogance of self-appointed moralists."

reMemBer2.human

September 2023 •Albanian

In an indeterminate future, forbidden memories challenge a database containing all human memories. An experimental cinematic search between past and future, fiction and fact, Prishtina and Tirana. The future, a glitch.

Street Musique

November 1972 •English

Animator Ryan Larkin does a visual improvisation to music performed by a popular group presented as sidewalk entertainers. His take-off point is the music, but his own beat is more boisterous than that of the musicians. The illustrations range from convoluted abstractions to caricatures of familiar rituals. Without words.

Moto perpetuo

March 1972 •Italian

Naked women dancing and performing to the music of Paganini.

Boulez-Répons

January 1985 •

In this vivid transposition of contemporary music for television, Cahen "responds" to the complex musical transitions of Répons, a work by French composer Pierre Boulez. Performed by the Ensemble InterContemporain and conducted by Boulez, the intricate Répons was designed for an ensemble of twenty-four musicians, six soloists and a "real-time" digital processor. In Cahen's re-composed interpretation, he responds with visual and temporal transformations, "opening" the images in space and time and applying electronic techniques to engulf the instrumentalists in ocean, sky, and trees. Mirage-like superimpositions, temporal shifts, mirroring effects and de-synchronization result in a rhythmic confluence of the illusory and the real. Immersing the viewer in image and sound, Cahen mirrors the transformative process of Boulez's music.

Death in Vegas

January 2023 •English

The life, death, and resurrection of Elvis Presley, as he is transformed from man into product. Composed primarily of an illustrated biography filmed with a microscope camera.

Winterreise

May 2021 •

Tigre

January 2013 •English

Tigre is an experimental film with animation applied directly onto film.

1/2 Man

July 1986 •Japanese

A visual documentary of Einstürzende Neubauten, the German underground band, by Japanese cult director Sogo Ishii, made during their 1985 tour of Japan. The band makes an elaborate and remarkably choreographed appearance in the ruins of an old ironworks which was scheduled for demolition; footage of same was incorporated into the movie and a brief appearance on stage.

Imensidão Cinza

February 2023 •Portuguese

Remember me as Time

May 2022 •English

An experimental short film about a woman who feels stuck in time after experiencing some form of trauma.

it's a mind game.

February 2024 •English

In a dimly lit room, two boys engage in an intense chess match. As tension rises and strategies unfold, the game becomes a battleground of wits and wills, leading to an unexpected climax that goes beyond the boundaries of the board.

All Souls Carnival

March 1957 •English

Len Lye usually timed his films with great care to match their soundtracks, but for All Souls Carnival, he and composer Henry Brant worked separately, preferring to see if the score and visual track would synchronise by chance. Lye also experimented with a new Direct Film technique, drenching the filmstrip in colourful paint and marker pen.

“(ಥ﹏ಥ) ✧_My Parents Are CIA Psy0ps_!!!* ಠ_ಠ"

May 2023 •English

On a sleepy summer night in 2004, eyes peer into the world-wide-web: traveling between conspiracy sites, malware, porn, and mp3 databases in an attempt to lose (find) themselves. Passing through blog graveyards, broken hyperlinks, and digital spirits, they begin to realize the Internet is so much more. Lost websites, anon forums, and inexplicable pixels singing to a prepubescent soul. An ode to the 2000s webpage and flash game culture.