Antonin De Bemels 

(*1975) discovered video art and experimental cinema at Ecole de Recherche Graphique, from 1993 to 1997. His main areas of interest are movement and the human body, and the dynamic relationship between sounds and images.

In his work Antonin De Bemels explores the potential of time and space as it is embodied in a single frame – the image as the static notion of movement. This fascination goes back to his early experiments with a Super-8 camera, in which he made use of the "long exposure" setting, which automatically adjusts the duration of the exposure of each frame according to the quantity of light registered by the camera. Later on, when he incorporates the video medium in his working method as well, the pieces of the puzzle fall into place: the combination of the mechanical possibilities of film and video recording with the elaborate performances of digital editing – the physical and the virtual camera – constitutes a previously unexplored source of spatial-temporal alterations. His research always revolves around the human body, as a dynamic organism of attitudes, gestures and rhythms. Whereas De Bemels pointed the camera first at himself, his close collaboration with dancer/ choreographer Bud Blumenthal (and others later on) leads to countless new perspectives. Together they introduce a choreographic dimension in the transitional area between photography and cinematography. The result is a series of "videochoreographic" propositions, which causes the linearity of both the dance movements and the cinematographic medium itself to implode.

 

Source: cas zuidas

 

 

Antonin De Bemels, choreography, people

Reading

Audio.Visual - On Visual Music and Related Media (2009) by Cornelia Lund and Holger Lund (Eds.) is divided into two sections: the first deals with the academic discussion on the subject of visual music; the second introduces contemporary paradigms of audio-visual praxis in brief presentations and contextualises them. Apart from being a guide in the historical sense, this new volume provides theoretical approaches to understanding and making visual music. (Fluctuating Images)

Audiovisuology: See this sound (2010) - An Interdisciplinary Compendium of Audiovisual Culture. This all-embracing compendium brings together texts on various art forms in which the relationship between sound and image plays a significant role and the techniques used in linking the two. The entire spectrum of audiovisual art and phenomena is presented in 35 dictionary entries. (Cornerhouse)

The Art of Projectionism (2007) by Frederick Baker (in German) sets out the principles behind his use of projectors in the film making process. He defines a projectionist school of filmmaking and media art. In this publication he also presented Ambient film, a surround experience that can be shown in specially developed cinemas. (Wikipedia)

 

SEE ALSO

Rewind, Play, Fast Forward (2010) – The Past, Present and Future of the Music Video by Henry Keazor, Thorsten Wübbena (eds.) brings together different disciplines as well as journalists, museum curators and gallery owners in order to take a discussion of the past and present of the music video as an opportunity to reflect upon suited methodological approaches to this genre and to allow a glimpse into its future. (transcript Verlag)

© Center for Visual Music

 

Composition in Blue (1935) - original title: Komposition in Blau. Surfaces dominate in the abstract animated film Composition in Blue by Oskar Fischinger. Colorful geometric figures are set in rhythmic motion. The music from Otto Nicolai's The Merry Women of Windsor is impressively visualized through a blending of form and color. (William Moritz: "Oskar Fischinger", in: Deutsches Filmmuseum Frankfurt am Main, Optische Poesie. Oskar Fischinger Leben und Werk, Kinematograph Nr. 9, 1993, p. 42)

Michel Gondry (*1963) is a French film, commercial and music video director and an Academy Award-winning screenwriter. He is noted for his inventive visual style and manipulation of mise en scène. Michel Gondry's career as a filmmaker began with creating music videos for the French rock band Oui Oui, in which he also served as a drummer. The style of his videos for Oui Oui caught the attention of music artist Björk, who asked him to direct the video for her song Human Behaviour. The collaboration proved long-lasting, with Michel Gondry directing a total of seven music videos for Björk. Other artists who have collaborated with Michel Gondry on more than one occasion include Daft Punk, The White Stripes, The Chemical Brothers, The Vines, Steriogram, Radiohead, and Beck. Gondry has also created numerous television commercials. (Wikipedia)

Richard Wagner: Siegfried (2008) - In the world of opera, La Fura dels Baus has defined its personal style through its exploitation of large-screen projections, the extraordinary mobility of the performers, and the magical use of human beings to create organic structures that evoke objects such as Valhalla (in this Der Ring des Nibelungen production). Indeed, La Fura dels Baus was predestined for Richard Wagner's visionary world: his dream of a Gesamtkunstwerk becomes reality as a shape-shifting sequence of tableaux unfolds before our eyes with all the elements that constitute the lenguaje furero or Fura idiom. (Unitel Classica)

Franc Aleu (1966) is a visual artist resident in Girona, Spain specialized in video for opera-theatre and special events. He is the director of URANO, production company in Barcelona and a frequent colaborator of the theater group La Fura dels Baus. (Franc Aleu on Vimeo)