59 Seconds Festival
Date: May 22nd, 2006, 11.30 p.m.
Location: Top Kino
About 59 Seconds Festival
Launched by Project 59 last spring in Tribeca, the 59 Seconds Festival presents a wide ranging collection of 59 videos and animations, 59 seconds each by artists from around the world that were selected through three international open calls.
59 Seconds Festival is a play off as well as a metaphor for the short video format. The restricted time frame gives an opportunity to introduce 59 international artists and a wide range of video works - mini documentary, political satire, metaphorical, narrative, experimental, edgy, controversial, including a unique collection of videos that integrate number 59. 59 Seconds Festival is a video storm of a variety of techniques, ideas and visions within relatively short period of time.
“Maximum entertainment in minimum time”
– San Francisco Bay Guardian 12/7/05.
59 Seconds Festival is developing a network and popularization of participating artists while introducing as broad an international audience as possible to unique collection of works, providing exchange of the ideas and information.
59 Seconds Festival is sampling an emerging contemporary international video art scene. Audience feedback is an important part of the process of developing of the final collection.
After completing first tour in December, 2005 at 911 Media Art Center in Seattle, ATA in San Francisco, EZTV in Los Angeles and Media Art Center San Diego, 59 Seconds Festival was screened at the Plugged In Fest III biennial at the Center for Contemporary Art in Rockport, Maine and at Duke University in Durham, NC. 59 Seconds Festival was presented at Videominuto (Italy) and Contemporary Art Exhibition Transformation in Bishkek, Kirgizstan.
A collection of selected 59 videos, 59 seconds each by 59 international artists, shown 59 times around the globe is an ultimate goal of 59 Seconds Festival.
Films
1. 2006 Irina Danilova / Project 59 (USA) 2006, 59”
Just watch while wish comes true.
2. Run Hervé Constant (UK) 2005, 59”
Rushing all the time, for whatever the reason. Very often for none. Looking very busy. Are we lost?
3. 59 languages Petri Ala-Maunus (Finland) 2005, 59”
59 languages in 59 seconds.
4. The stuntmenCarine Doerflinger (Germany) 2004, 59”
An incident in Paris.
5. Blind SpotsJenny Vogel (USA) 2005, 59”
A close-up of an eye with the reflection of a TV continuously switching channels. The reflection of the TV replaces the pupil as the eye is scanning the images.
6. Me to tango Lucia Warck Meister (Argentina/USA) 2005, 59”
A mirrored image of a woman dancing in front of a window depicts her loneliness.
7. Vienna in the desert Wago Kreider (USA) 59”
8. PirtsFranz Wanner (Germany) 2000, 59”
Occurrence in the summer in the fields, a hommage.
9. If you don’t call me back…Alain K (France) 2004, 59” camera: Sophie Pigeron
“Each separation related to our emotional life sends us back to separations which we experienced in our early childhood starting from separating from the mother’s breast.” Necessary Renunciations by Judith Viorst
10. VibratoJessie Stead (USA) 2005, sound by Jessie Stead
This allegorical narrative video demonstrates how you can make party confetti for the masses with killer bass using tools found in your own home.
11. A Little Meditation Myriam Thyes (Germany), 2002, Voice, Myriam Thyes
The animation of the Yin&Yang symbol shows in a playful way: Polarities/opposites complete and influence each other – the balance of both parts is only one moment within the changes of growing and fading away.
12. Gas Em'Ianthe Jackson (USA) 2005, 59”
Animated drawn paper cut outs explore the intersection of contemporary social constructs and attempt to walk through social boundaries.
13. Rituali urbani Massimo Lovisco (Italy) 2005, 59”
Song of Milan supporters - Inspiration from asphalt football field where somebody wrote 59 Potenza Calcio.
14. hey, sweetheart Craig Downing (USA) 2005, 59”
Two people [Tim Brown and Ryan Davis] rebel against their parents' wishes. File under book club.
15. LIXDubi Kaufmann (USA) 2005, 59”
LIX is 59 in Roman numerals and it all started from there…
16. bah bahAre Hauffen (Norway) 2005, 59”
With an imbecile attitude towards life in rural areas, the sheep came to equal a something with four legs from a child's play in the garden.
17. Bee PettingDavid Lachman (USA) 2005, 59”
Bee Petting explores a childhood memory of petting bees...
18.RainstormAkiko Takada and Masako Takada (UK) 2004, 59”
A rainy urban city changing to a rainstorm. A tragic sense of narrative in the vanishing city, and yet the scene is at the end contained within a fictional space of a small glass.
19. Fly Gruppo Sinestetico (= Matteo Albertin, Antonio Sassu) (Italy)
20. Reception Alana Kakoyiannis (USA) 2005, 59”
Cell phone ring tones are used as a window into the identities of the people I encountered in Marrakech.
21. Pulp Circle 359° 59’ 59”John P. Maruszczak (USA) 2005, 59”
Pulping the city 359 degrees, 59 minutes and 59 seconds at a time.
22. Amnezac Fulana (= Cristina Ibarra, Marlène Ramírez-Cancio, Lisandra Ramos-Grullón and Andrea Thome) (USA) 2005, 59”
Block your historical memory and ask your doctor about Amnezac: The Most Powerful Anti-Historiamine on the Market.
23. Anche le parole uccidono Gruppo Sinestetico (= Matteo Albertin, Antonio Sassu, Gianluca Scordo) (Italy) 59”
24. Dream House Michele Beck (USA) and Jorge Calvo (Costa Rica) 2001/2005, 59”
Manipulated image and sound used to create a window into a conflict of memory and reparation through destruction of the past and present.
25. Order Sara Rajaei and Hadas Itzkovitch (Iran/Netherlands/Israel) 2005, 59”
Arrangement or disposition, relation and rhythm.
26. rock paper scissors Valerie Opielski (USA) 2005, 59”
A fractured, visceral study of texture, mood and shadow.
27. 59 Buddhas Alexandra Dementieva (Belgium) 2005
28. 59 names in 59 secondsHoria Cadariu (Romania) 2005, 59”
59 names, mostly made up, based on the Romanian language and its multiethnic influences, scrolling on the screen while read by myself.
29. I Love YouSzacsva y Pál (Hungary) 59”
The piece is about loving somebody.
30. AscensionMyriam Thyes, 2004, 59”
The glass elevator at the luxurious hotel Marriott Marquis in New York brings you to "heaven"... We are brought up and taught to strive for higher things – success, wealth, honor, and/or spiritual enlightenment.
31. The Gods Yan Chung-Hsien (Taiwan) 2005, 59”
The gods are playing in the playground. The gods play within the platform and the place with something behind. The gods are fabric. The gods are anonymous. The gods are amusingly powerful. The gods are oriental. The gods are sentimental.
32. 16 StonesRadim Labuda (Czech Republic) 2005, 59”
Text by Deleuze and Guattari from Anti-Oedipus, narrated by Martin C. Schmidt
33. Transit Franz Wassermann (Austria) 2001, 59”
A video in between ...
34. 59 Segundos | da imitação da vida Sofia Bustorff (Portugal) 2005, 59”
A memory taken to remember the night anticipating the dawn.
35. Chasing 59 Irina Danilova / Project 59 (USA) 2006
There are many 59’s around. Check them out.
36. cart-ographyLora Alaniz (USA) 2005, 59”
A real-time video documenting the mundane existence of a shopping cart’s wheel.
37. Go!Cinzia Cremona (UK) 2005, 59”
A curious glance at a woman on her own in her home, and at women going about their daily life that lingers in the eyes of a young girl on the threshold of becoming a woman.
38. Vrnitev: Sorisos Di Topolo (Smiles of Topolo) Katherine Liberovskaya (Canada) 59”
Based on the video-audio installation project of interviews with many of the 40 inhabitants that live in the Slovenian/Italian border viallage year-round.
39. German ProjectIrina Danilova / Project 59 (USA) 2006, 59”
A proposal for perfecting the German language.
40. Self PortraitYu-Chen Chiu (USA) 2005, 59”
An experimental video about the inner self-discovery through the reflection of a mirror.
41. Still Life: Lulla-byeRev C. Hite (USA) soundtrack by Rev C. Hite and Reiku Hiteruo
Surreal scenes of explosive light sources, toys, dishes, medicines and dwindling furnishings… as a baby wails and an insipid mother distractedly sings of her only source of provision; “teat’a pie”.
42. Run From ItNorm Scott (USA) 2005, 59”
All the joy and horror of growing up, distilled into one 59 second jaunt down a steep cow pasture in Southwest Virginia.
43. CollaborationIrina Danilova / Project 59 (USA) 2006, 59”
Every video we managed to download from the 2nd One Second Video Festival.
44. 59 in TimeAntonio Della Marina (Italy), 59”
59 divisions of coloured time. Will something happen out of the blue?
45. Perfect FamilyIrina Danilova / Project 59 (USA) 2005, 59” with Sarah, Rosa and Yelena Lidsky, Ignat Ayzenberg and dog Laila.
Every family has mementos... Sometime you have to stop breakfast in order to catch one.
46. 59 PelletsDavid Lachman (USA) 59”
A short video about Zami, a cat with a will to eat. She loves her pellets and won't be distracted from them for too long.
47. The TwinsCarine Doerflinger (Germany) 2002, 59” Sound: Carine Doerflinger
Two mice run one after the other and try to catch up.
48. Perfect Family IIIrina Danilova / Project 59, concept Yelena Lidsky (USA) 2006, 59”
Kids count.
49. The BourgeoisCarine Doerflinger (Germany) 2004, 59”
The pigs are like the bourgeois, aren’t they?
50. Streetymades- ParisAndrew Eyman (USA) 2004, 59”
Photos taken in the streets of Paris as a sort of recycled tribute to Marcel Duchamp with Edith Piaf accompaniment.
51. ChakraBrooks Williams (USA) 2005, 59”
52. Twenty-SixRandall Wakerlin (USA) 59”
One self portrait every day for a year.
53. FreezeAkiko Takada and Masako Takada (UK) 2004, 59”
Plastic packages are transformed into a cityscape. Gradually it becomes frosted and frozen over. The scene captures the moment of natural transformation.
54. Colorant Josephine LiPuma (USA) 2005, 59”
Through image processing/colorization/visual effects/sound, tight editing of public domain footage, viewers are guided from pretty into their own internal voice to confront bias.
55. 59 Bad Words Andrew Eyman (USA) 2005, 59”
56. Hitler, the First SuperstarDarya Zhuk (Belarus) 2004, 59”
A study in deconstruction of Leni Refienstahl's Triumph des Willens famous sequence. Hitler's speech at Nuremberg rally is edited to leave him speechless on the podium.
57. BreathFranz Wassermann (Austria) 2003, 59''
A video with my father in his hour of death.
58. Both EndsDavid Lachman (USA) 2005, 59”
A meditation on burning the candle at both ends. Can we take the time to just enjoy the smoke? Interesting patterns are created in the swirls and wisps, such as the number 59.
59. The End Andrew Eyman (USA) 2000, 59”
Video montage of endings from films made during the Golden Era of 1950s Hollywood.
About Project 59
59 Seconds Festival is part of the Project 59, a ten year effort led by Irina Danilova, where number 59 is both a guide and a tool that injects just enough randomization into the creative process, helping to break free of subjective and cultural constraints, providing an arbitrary reason for penetrating into any issue or activity for artistic research.
Since 2003 Irina Danilova works in collaboration with Hiram Levy, a NOAA research scientist. 59 Seconds Festival was founded and runs by Irina Danilova and Hiram Levy
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About Irina Danilova
Visual and performance artist (born and raised in Ukraine, lived and worked in Moscow, now lives in New York, NY). Her installations were shown in Islip Art Museum (Islip, NY), Weisman Museum (Minneapolis), Spaces (Cleveland, Ohio), The Telephone Factory, Atlanta, Georgia. She has also exhibited in Germany, Bulgaria, Iceland, Russia and Ukraine. As a performance artist she appeared in Cleveland and Santiago international Performance festivals, and took part in Franklin Furnace program The Future of the Present.
Irina Danilova won an international art competition in Halle, Germany and was recognized by Bronx Consul for the Arts as BRIO Awardees. She completed sponsored by Arts Link project in Ural Mountains, and a Longwood Cyber Studio Residency, her cyber works were presented at Thundergulch and Smack Melon Gallery in New York; and took part in Prix Ars Electronica in Austria.
Irina’s video works were presented at Vienna Independent Short Video Festival, RedShift and X-Fest festivals in New York. Irina Danilova is presently teaching at Kingsborough College.
www.irinadanilova.net