#skip sweeney

[butohheart]

Last night Butoh Heart (Chris Carlone, Lauren Sky, Lucy Kerr and Leah Beltran) got to perform inside of the an incredible sculpture installation called The Web of Azoth (created by Laurie Cuille)  to the live ambient sounds of Black Valley’s (aka White Hills) It was truly magical and mind blowing. Part of what was so interesting about it was there was a see through front screen pulled down in front of the sculpture stage we were on and a screen behind us with beautiful projections ( Skip Sweeney) on the front and back screens while we were well lit from the floor. The gallery was packed and I could feel the energy of the crowd but could see no one. We were inside our own cocoon. The space and sculptures such a perfect Butoh setting and we were all moving together as one organism. I’ll never forget this experience!

[videofeedback]

Illuminatin' for Skip Sweeney by The Wrocenter Group

This new installation using only analog equipment – a VHS camera hooked up to traditional cathode-ray TV sets – is an allusion to Skip Sweeney’s 1975 work Illuminating Sweeney. Sweeney, who founded the San Francisco collective Video Free America in 1970, was fascinated with the phenomenon of feedback, which he regarded as a manifestation of contemporary transcendence – almost religious in nature. Video feedback is alive and always changing in response to indepedently functioning technical processes.

By moving the camera only slightly we modify the video signal and create new images. We can also experiment with introducing an additional light source – for example, the illuminated screen of a mobile phone – between the camera and the monitor.

[videofeedback]

Feedback can be turned into a machine, and there will be people who can very precisely manipulate the machine to make the feedback. But to me the excitement of feedback, or what can make a feedback really exciting is when it's live and when you see someone human doing it, someone human involved in the process, as supposed to machines.

Skip Sweeney in 'Illuminating Sweeney'

[videofeedback]

“When I was very young I discovered that my mother’s mirrored wardrobe doors could be positioned to reflect back into each other. I placed my head between the mirrors and was amazed to see the chorus line of heads repeating to infinity in each direction. I reveled in the illusion.”

- Skip Sweeney

[videofeedback]

"Feedback is like lead guitar play to me. There will be people who will just be fantastic at it, who will have a feeling for it and be able to make images that will bring people to tears."

- Skip Sweeney (from Illuminating Sweeney)

[videofeedback]

Illuminating Sweeney

I just discovered the work of Skip Sweeney, who is considered the master of feedback...

You can watch 'Illuminating Sweeney', a film in which he talks about his work and video feedback here

[dfilecab-blog]

This is a promo video I produced and shot back in December in midtown for the TV of Tomorrow Show.  Tracy Swedlow is the wonderful woman who is the brain behind the event and organization, Interactive TV Today, and I think the promo came out really nicely and shows what an interesting day it was. My friend and mentor in San Francisco, Skip Sweeney edited all the interviews and clips together. I shot all the B-Roll and interviews with my Canon 60D and used my Tascam DR-40 Digital recorder for the audio.  It worked out well to have the interview subjects just hold the recorder in one of their hands about mid-chest level as the internal mic in the device is excellent. I didn't have to spend time putting a mic on anyone and was pleased with the quality of the sound.  My two camera men, Mark Wotton and Rade Popovic both did a great job so it made my life a lot easier to trust that they were getting great coverage of the breakout sessions.

[dfilecab-blog]

Was hanging with one of Zachary's and my most favorite people in the world this past week and was reminded of his brilliance in documentary filmmaking, Skip Sweeney.  This is one of his best films, and uses the video medium in such a truthful way that was unique at the time.  I also love his other films, Illuminating Sweeney and My Mother Married Wilbur Stump. Skip is a filmmaker who has been walking around with a video camera on his shoulder since the late 1960's when video was invented.  He was a pioneer in video art with his creations in video feedback and also jettisoned people into the limelight with his shooting of the documentary film The Continuing Story of Carel and Ferd which is in the NY MOMA's permanent video collection. It was revolutionary as a flashpoint for reality television as it documented the relationship between a porn star and a bisexual junkie in San Francisco in and around 1972. Skip and I were talking about this the other night because it came before the PBS series, An American Family that was recently made into a movie for HBO entitled Cinema Verite. Zachary used to work for Skip at Video Free America and we both learned the craft from seeing his work and absorbing his positive outlook on life.

I remember watching clips from Carel and Ferd while transferring his old 1/2 inch reel to reel videos to the then more reliable formats like Beta-SP. If you ever want to relax and get hypnotized by any of his video feedback, you can just pay the VFA site and sit back and let your eyes take it in.  This is all created by hand as well.  There is no computer program doing this.  It's all from pointing video cameras at monitors and adjusting it to make art.