Skokie - VHS - Experimental

Recently, the experimental, live audio/video project, Skokie, of which I'm a part, went to LA to provide visuals for a show put on by FEELS MUSIC.

Here's a photo of me from the night:

(yes, a real picture of me)

MADTEO & SUZANNE KRAFT both DJ'ed at the show.

Go Visit:

SKOKIE TV

on tumblr!

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Skokie is an experimental live performance piece exploring the ignored, forgotten and undiginified aesthetics of VHS media.

For the performance, images and audio sourced from a collection of second-hand VHS tapes are manipulated, distorted and otherwise detourned in real time through analog means. What arises is a uniquely psychedelic collage of sight & sound; an assault on the senses; a celebration of ephemeral phenomena; a testament to the endurance of analog transmissions; and an ode to the constant fluctuations of our media landscapes.

It is also some trippy, weird cool looking stuff, good for parties & whatnot.

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Related VHS art:

 [ "Tube" -- Zilvinas Kempinas ]

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"Tube" -- Zilvinas Kempinas

"Tube" by Zilvinas Kempinas

(image:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zilvinas_Kempinas_Tube_2009.jpg)

"Tube" is an installation piece by lithuanian born, contemporary NY artist Kempinas.  The tunnel utilizes the magnetic tape within VHS cassettes.  The installation measures 80 feet long.

The visual effect is stunning, mesmerizing and hypnotic.  The placement of this sci-fi effect within a very classic and traditional architectural space is surreal, to say the least; it reminds you of a time-travel effect from old sci-fi movies, hence visualizing the feeling you might get just by walking into a space like that.

Kempinas's piece could be read into further.  These VHS strings superimpose a fantasy onto our reality, much like the escapism promised by what is recorded on the VHS's themselves; they play with our perception, affect our vision.  The old fallback of movies leading us into another world or dimension is realized twice fold here: one time in the form of the media, and again in the optical illusion of 'Tube.'

This also reminds me of just how wasteful the consumerist entertainment culture can be.

How much stuff-- real, physical stuff-- do we produce and consume daily?

How many more 'tubes' could be erected?

But aside from giving you some food for thought, 'Tube' is also plain cool to look at.

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"... not Door to Heaven... but instead... Stargate."

-- Stargate, 1994

I wonder if any of the VHS's pillaged for this project happen to be an old copy of "Stargate," the Roland Emerich directed Kurt Russell & James Spader buddy-romp....

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from "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968).

Dir. Stanley Kubrick

Effects:  Douglas Trumbull