4 min 35 sec | single channel video
The “tiny red dot” in this film is represented by a ladybug, a universal symbol of transformation and “good luck”. Referencing a quote from Carl Sagan, the film invites viewers to pause, make correlations, and observe our planet from the vast distance of outer space, as well as a close-up perspective—underneath the rocks, leaves, sand, and soil. The film collages 4K video, manipulated analog footage, audio sample clips from NASA, and other imagery to poetically reflect on time and space intersections.
Audio by Sherman Finch.
3-min | single channel video | collaboration with Meg Cook
Originally created for a Houston city public art project, collaborators Steinke and Cook merge the micro with the cosmic in their film U-SCOPIC. Drawing inspiration from microscopic creatures that live among us and source material from the NASA archives, the artists animate new forms using various experimental techniques. In this piece, circular orbs morph in and out of focus, resembling specimens in a petri dish, a starry galaxy, or bubbly particles floating in space.
“Sun Mapping” is an experimental video that animates the pathway of the sun juxtaposed with imagery of natural specimens collected along a coastal setting. The project, a unique merging of analog and digital processes, is a poetic exploration of the symbiotic relationship between the oceanfront landscape, its ecosystem, and the greater cosmos. Musical score created by Sherman Finch.
Originally commissioned for the Port of Authority Building in Corpus Cristi, TX, the project was curated by Mary Magsamen and sponsored by The Aurora Picture Show and The Weingarten Art Group. photo credit: Mary Magsamen
Production Artists: Annie Sungkajun, Eman Zubeidi, and Drew Gillie
5-min. | single channel video
“Lifeline” is an abstract visualization of the flow of water. In this piece, samples (represented as lines in the video) were extracted from footage of various bodies of water. Similar, in a way, to a doctor drawing blood or a scientist collecting water specimens to test the health of a lake. In the resulting work, the layered audio of a heartbeat draws parallels to the human body as lines move across the composition like veins or air passages.
Audio by Sherman Finch
9-min. | analog film collaged into HD single channel film
10 min. and 16 min. version | single channel video
“Sun Notations” is an experimental video that animates over 50 still photographs – a work that merges a primitive photographic process (pinhole) with new media. The original photographs capture the pathway of the sun rising and setting over time, with exposures that last one day up to an entire year. Here time and space expand, overlap, and then dissipate as clusters of dust appear like stars, the landscape morphs into abstraction, and the sun traces across the screen like a drawing in motion. Throughout the work, references to creation and destruction call attention to our immediate present but also to the grim possibility that our planet may not have a forever.
Audio by Matt Steinke
Production Assistant: Ashley Lane and Annie Sungkajun
Asia Culture Center, Gwangju, Republic of Korea
Public outdoor screening during the 2019 ISEA conference, Asia Culture Center Media Wall, Gwangju, Republic of Korea, June 22-28, 2019. 16 min. video created from animated still solargraphs of the sun's pathway. Special modified format to accommodate dimensions of the media wall.
4 min. | super 8mm film transferred to HD video
Emmett Street is based on a poem about a female ghost who lives in an old house with two women. In this piece, the ghost becomes a metaphor for the fading analog film medium and an homage to the women who worked in the film industry in the early 20th century. Sample clip is from a re-edit of a 2005 film shot on Super8mm. The new version includes a re-working of the original content.
Poem by Rene Steinke
Audio by Sherman Finch
4 min. | single channel video
The Earth is Not a Spaceship is an experimental film that remixes vintage educational source footage collected by the Texas Archive of the Moving Image. A woman’s voice narrates the film, functioning as a type of mother nature character. The narration becomes haunting and robotic when coupled with glitchy film footage that has been re-recorded off of various electronic devices. The reworking of the footage presents new meaning at the intersection of abstraction, the digital sublime, and a potential dystopian future.
Created for “Mess With Texas”, co-presented by the Texas Archive of the Moving Image, Aurora Picture Show, Houston, TX
I have an hour drive to my teaching job. Sometimes, I feel like the only chance to appreciate nature is when I am witnessing an astonishing sunset amidst an afternoon traffic jam or being blinded by sun glare on a morning drive to work. Over the past six years while commuting, I have been photographing the morning and late afternoon sun from my car window with my cell phone. “Our closest star shot from my car” explores the desire to connect with the natural world within the chaos of our busy contemporary life.
6:27 min. | single channel video
Created for “Mess With Texas”, co-presented by the Texas Archive of the Moving Image and the Aurora Picture Show, Houston, TX.
Eyes On Texas remixes vintage film footage, highlighting common stereotypes about Texas and its history. Audio is used as the main source for this film, as a way to emphasize how these characterizations are deeply rooted in our cultural imagination.
Guest curator Peter Lucas invited a number of Texas artists to create new video works using vintage source footage collected by the Texas Archive of the Moving Image. The re-workings are creative intersections of past and present, bringing new life and new perspectives to regional media memory.
4:35 min. | single-channel video, credits: the aka collective
349 Utopia Drive is an ironic portrayal of suburbia and the conquest for the American dream home. The suburbs were created as a type of refuge from the hustle and bustle of city-life; affordable living that was safe, clean, and aesthetically pleasing. Just like anywhere/ anyplace, darker, more complicated realities lie hidden beneath the surface.