MTV Buzz: avant-garde television
"Buzz is a long forgotten MTV experiment from 1990. In 1988, Mark Pellington developed an idea for a non-linear collage program he called "Buzz". Created in partnership with MTV Europe producer/director Jon Klein, Buzz was an ambitious 13-part global series commissioned by MTV and channel 4 (UK). It was hailed by critics as ground-breaking, adventurous television. This is episode 1 of the 4 episodes that have managed to survive on an old VHS tape to be digitized for your edification in this modern, digital age."
(Black Flag Party, YouTube Channel)
Fig.1 Buzz Episode 01 Segment 01
Fig.2 Buzz Episode 01 Segment 02
Fig.3 Buzz Episode 01 Segment 03
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
The UK Soundmap project: mapping Britain's sonic environment
"The SoundMap is a partnership project of the British Library and the Noise Futures Network. It uses widely available mobile technology in a novel way to capture and aggregate research-quality audio samples. Your recordings will be studied by experts from the Noise Futures Network and we shall post an overview of the research results once sufficient data has been collected and analysed.
Britain's sonic environment is ever changing. Urbanisation, transport developments, climate change and even everyday lifestyles all affect our built and natural soundscapes. The sounds around us have an impact on our well being. Some sounds have a positive or calming influence. Others can be intrusive and disturbing or even affect our health. By capturing sounds of today and contributing to the British Library's digital collections you can help build a permanent researchable resource."
(The British Library Board)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Sister Midnight: metamorphosis, alienation and collapse played out in the border town of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico
"The ongoing femicides in the border town of Ciudad Juarez, a real and socially relevant and current, ongoing news story is something that I will attempt to present using comic art, adapting Kafka's story to use as a foundation for visual treatments of real horror. The themes of metamorphosis, alienation and the collapse of a family unit are shared in Kafka's text and the news coverage of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The comics medium will be used to communicate with the audience and have them interact with the issue.
I first heard of the situation in Juarez from my Spanish teacher while in Guadalajara, Mexico and the story stayed with me. A very different Mexico was depicted closer to the border than what I had seen in my experiences of travelling around the country. The ugliness of the murders is heightened by the ongoing corruption that surrounds them. I feel confident that I can now give the story a worthy visual treatment, something that has been lacking in recent film treatments of the situation. For years, young women have been preyed on by rapists and murderers while commuting to factories on the outskirts of the city. The killings continue and, to use imagery from Kafka, the men who commit these crimes are like vermin or cockroaches."
(David Valente, 2010)
Fig.1 Valente, D. (2010). Sister Midnight. Nottingham, Issuu.
Fig.2 Screen-shots from the music video for The Drive In (2001). 'Invalid Litter Dept'. USA, Grand Royal / Virgin: 6:07.
['Sister Midnight' is a comic book created by David Valente as part of his MA in Illustration at Nottingham Trent University (UK). The comic book was developed through a process of experimentation and discovery where Franz Kafka's 'Metamorphosis' was used as a study for exposing contemporary social issues in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.]
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Drawing study: Head of a Girl
"The eminent art expert Bernhard Berenson called this sheet 'the most beautiful drawing in the world.' It is thought to be a study for the angel in the Virgin of the Rocks in the Musée du Louvre, Paris."
(Web Gallery of Art)
Fig.1 Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1483. Silverpoint and white highlights on prepared paper, 181 x 159 mm, Biblioteca Reale, Turin.
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Hundred Pacer: a contemporary origin myth of a native Taiwanese superhero
"This is my final project for motion graphic design, which is a Flash animation that depicts an 'origin myth' of the self-created hero, Hundred Pacer.
The name Hundred Pacer derived from a kind of very venomous snake that exists in mountain areas of Taiwan called Hundred Pacer snake, and the protagonist, Hundred Pacer, was an ordinary Paiwanese Indigenous girl until her and her father were killed by the mudslide, and the snake God chooses her to revive in passing down the power...
The story was inspired by the Typhoon Morakot happened in August 2009, which killed nearly 500 people and destroyed half of Taiwan at that time."
(Jonghsiang Kwan, 2010)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
