When the more dire elements of the way that this world is made to operate get stuck too tightly to my mind and thoughts need to be reset and renewed, I make muszak. That is, I string together bits and pieces of sounds made with musical instruments or machines until I like what I hear. It can be a hypnotic endeavor.
Sometimes I attach video images to the muszak track using video clips from the CDDF Productions archives. We manipulate time and disjoint image from reality. The goal is an alternate vision of what was seen with our eyes when the scenes were recorded. These are altered versions of what happened; of our personal history. In that way these clips mirror the narratives our more newsish, journalistique videos amplify and sustain. Both are alternate versions of the mainstream stories we are otherwise told. The works shared here have stripped away personal narration and individual human struggle and attempt to depict the same loss, anger, and dissent with sound and image.
Time Hike at Wolf Creek uses the hand-held mobile time lapse technique to generate frenetic, chaotic images of a path forward. The muszak points toward to ominous, but in a restrained way that can easily be mistaken for control. This is a mind at unrest. This is a panicky heart skipping beats. This is where we begin. Random islands of stability and an insistent robotic beat.
Wally the Wrasse is a collaboration with G. Oz the Seer. She shot the video using a now defunct underwater camera that I picked up online for $40 more than a few years ago. Wally comes to meet the scuba tours and play play with the guides. The muszak seems to evoke the viscous otherworldliness of the being submerged in the Great Barrier Reef. Moving out of one’s element towards discomfort where anything can happen. That is the space occupied by people marching in the streets. Long before we shut shit down, we occupied a larger manifestation of our own humanity, opened up space in our hearts, and stretched open our minds. Long before we built cities and spawned cultures, we moved with other animals in mutually beneficial ways. These are, I think, the same essential story. Watch Wally tell it.
The Stretch Zone is based on the meditation muszak track, Expand, painted by SpitBall. It is intended as a visual aid for quieting then reactivating a distracted mind in disarray. We think we are only one thing but by embracing a bit of easy discomfort we can begin to understand that we are so much more. Let the rock, water, and clouds recite the sounds in your heart. These reflect the messages in our News Feed. We are not the separated interests that media. money, and mainstream depict. Rather, we are one when we uphold the self evident truths spoken by those the oppressors wish to silence. The mountains will not be denied and neither the words of our people.
Chase the Dog is pure fun and play. Every effective ritual ends with a laugh. Laugh and send these incantations to right whatever wrong you intend to focus upon. Focus now and watch the series again.
Epilogue: Charcoal Cross. Enjoy and endure.