10 April 2006

132 BPM--What a Beautiful World

a few weeks ago i went to ps1. i saw some incredible video installations that even if you generally don't like video installations (and i generally don't) you will enjoy these.

first i saw johanna billing's beautiful world which was comprised of a group of students (around ages 10-12, if i am estimating correctly) singing "oh, what a beautiful world"--but it included shots of croatia at its bleakest. the clips of photos interspersed with the singing children was captivating. the voices drew me into the room.

the other video installation i adored also featured music. torbjorn rodland's 132 bpm was phenomenal. i could not look at the other art on the floor as his piece drew me into the room--it called my name and i could not enjoy anything else until i sat through it three times. he takes music that is 132 bpm--standard techno--and includes videos in clips of the light playing through trees and other parts of nature, strangely, also shot entirely in croatia (although rodland is Norwegian). i highly recommend it! i adore it! i want to see it again!

artists are the true creators and saviors of society because it is us who inspires others, who draws them out of their everyday life and brings them into a lovely state of bliss, or otherwise creates emotion. there are disagreements on this, and not all artists are fabulous, and not all are saviors, but artists are very important.

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