[Frameworks] Channels

[Bernard Roddy]

Friends, I got out and saw some work. It feels like it's been a very long
time. Mabe and Nixon programmed a show for the Block this evening, part of
their Channels quarterly series, this time under the auspices of
Northwestern's media curator, Metzger.

Child's Surface Noise was like watching Eisenstein - both for the kinds of
images used and for the way in which they are used. It's a meaning derived
from shots taken from disparate sources. Only there is this addition of
sound, handled in the much the same way. I mean sound is also gathered and
inserted like shots. The film feels like a series of pairings and
juxtapositions, which can suddenly work for you but be over before you can
fix it in mind. As I watched the work that followed in the program and
thought back to the Child, it felt almost cynical. I mean, just listen to
it.

Anyway, after the Child film, there were three that I thought could have
just been the whole show, a profound and lasting experience. I have never
heard of Maïa Cybelle Carpenter or Chi Jang Yin. The two together, however,
I thought was brilliant. And so unwordy, so principled, mature and
uncompromising. Yes, someone does show the work you really want to make. It
is possible. Anyway, there followed a Geiser, the second senior American
artist, if I may call them that. Now Geiser is in a league of her own. It
calls for a new paragraph.

See, there is this competency or proficiency question. There is this
intensely beautiful work in the Carpenter, but it's of a different order.
Then you have Geiser . . almost a demonstration, not pedantic, but
virtuoso. But see that might give the impression that the work is just
about effects, and it's not. You can hear her think, and you can see it
take shape on screen, but really as an artistry like music.

I always expect a degree of clutzy when I'm watching the kind of film
Geiser has here. I like the simplicity of clutzy, authentic. But like I
said, I think Geiser is in her own league.

Bernie
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