Experimental Video #2

An experimental video by Eileen Joseph
Quicktime video with found sound.
23 seconds.

Experimental Video #1

An experimental video by Lindsay Murdoch, Leah Faller and Eileen Joseph.
Quicktime video.
Silent.
56 seconds

Music: What It Is and What It's Made Of
David Byrne
2002

These are images from David Byrne. You may know of him
from his groundbreaking work with the band Talking Heads,
but also he is a very prolific multi-media / visual artist.
In recent years he has created sound installations,
PowerPoint performance art, many art books and currently
has an exhibition of chair designs: Furnishing the Self —
Upholstering the Soul at Pace/McGill Gallery in NYC.



Tree Drawing (site-specific installation), "What is It?,"
Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem,
NC, July 19 – September 26, 2003

Factory
By Caleb Foss
Found archive footage
54 seconds
2006

Using footage of a drive in commercial for cigarettes, I edited this not particularly pleasant experimental video. The footage is in the Public Domain and was downloaded from Archive.org

David Pohl
b. 1963, U.S.A.
Mantra, 2001
phonograph record players, record albums, various found objects.

from the Gestures show at
The Mattress Factory
Pittsburgh, PA
October 27, 2001 - December 8, 2001
Copyright © 2001 David Pohl
House of Pingting Archives

This video is a brief documentation of my installation Mantra, which was in the
first Gestures show at The Mattress Factory - 1414 Monterey Street. Pittsburgh PA
October 27, 2001 - December 8, 2001.

The idea of creating a sound installation had been in my head since 1994,
when I discovered a way to create low-tech analog audio loops by placing
a 45rpm record on top of a 33rpm record. When the needle (playing
the 33) hits the 45, it skips, creating a brief loop. An endless repetition
of the sound recording. I selected various albums including Indian sitar
and vocal music, Indonesian gamelan music, sounds of the ocean, humpback
whales, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Broadway Soundtrack
to Hair, Van Morrison's Common One and many others.

Mantra was created during the weeks following September 11th, 2001.
I wanted to create an experimental space for meditation by creating random sound currents to facilitate various meditative states within the viewer/listener. The act of creating the piece also became a devotional act for me and references the Hindu concept of Puja: devotional reverence to God or Spirit-making connection between Individual and Universal Consciousness.

Each morning I would arrive at the piece, and leave an offering on one of the
(record player) altars. Offerings included flowers, incense, ash, fruit, fire, rocks, coins, candy and a large variety of found objects. People also began to leave behind offerings. After making my offering, I would set up the mantra for the day, by creating a series of "loops" with 2-4 records playing at the same time.

Mantra
Source: Wikipedia

The Sanskrit word mantra- consists of the root man-
"to think" (also in manas "mind") and the suffix -tra meaning, tool, hence
a literal translation would be "instrument of thought". Mantras are interpreted
to be effective as sound (vibration), to the effect that great emphasis is put
on correct pronunciation (resulting in an early development of a science of
phonetics in India). They are intended to deliver the mind from illusion and
material inclinations. Chanting is the process of repeating a mantra.

"Well how do you use minimalistic tools and kick a-- with them?"

For students, it's a brave new world of filmmaking - Pittsburgh...
"You see the connections between YouTube and the birth of the ... know about video through her (Foley's) classes," says student Caleb Foss, of Mt. Lebanon. ..

After today's class, I wanted to view more of Caleb's video work and so, to get to his you tube page, I Googled his name.

I was curious to see if his You Tube videos would appear in the search results. I typed in caleb foss + You Tube. None of Caleb's You Tube videos appeared in the results,
however I was pleased to find a link to an October 18th article in The Pittsburgh Tribune Review, in which he is quoted and in which he discusses The Mattress Factory and many of the ideas which we've been working with. That was a long sentence, but what nice serendipity. Take a minute to read the article click here.

Argument

Argument
2006

A video by Caleb Foss

Thrift shopping

Searching for materials at the Red, White and Blue
Thrift store on Route 65.

Little Tricker the Squirrel Meets Big Double the Bear

Little Tricker the Squirrel Meets Big Double the Bear
Puppet show at The Tom Museum by Tom Sarver and friends.
410 Sampsonia Way Pittsburgh
October 28, 2006

Tom Sarver is a Pittsburgh based puppeteer, painter and sculptor. He is a member of the Brew House Association and a founding organizer of The Black Sheep Puppet Festival. His work has been featured regionally at Space Gallery, Digging Pitt Gallery, The Hoyt Museum, The Three Rivers Arts Festival, and the Mattress Factory. His puppetry group, The Puppet Express performs regularly throughout the Pittsburgh area.

Photographs by Leah Faller

Quicktime video from The Tom Museum

Little Tricker the Squirrel Meets Big Double the Bear
Puppet show at The Tom Museum by Tom Sarver and friends.
410 Sampsonia Way Pittsburgh
October 28, 2006

Tom Sarver is a Pittsburgh based puppeteer, painter and sculptor. He is a member of the Brew House Association and a founding organizer of The Black Sheep Puppet Festival. His work has been featured regionally at Space Gallery, Digging Pitt Gallery, The Hoyt Museum, The Three Rivers Arts Festival, and the Mattress Factory. His puppetry group, The Puppet Express performs regularly throughout the Pittsburgh area.