[as octopusa 175 WW asked him about, fs relationshi | sett ae lationship to surface: Cineratie research of diferent ont fixated on seizures very aera atc dolly emporain hat intage atly on with medical kinematography. This carly medical Gotha the ee nefits 8 ries, hte ai image making practice can be situated alongside pseudo- | degraded by my action uni ileyble) or audios eet oe sciences such as phrenology and physiognomy. These sciences \) language and ceased to have meaning and be nate Grined action in the Enlightenment period, and to some irae we, ath ee ge Brent hngeree on int the nineteenth century because of & | tothe nuface of thebody ee yee en es longing to decipher and categorize internal, inherent depicted ino the vcene of depen, em lors eee Chaactertcs from the body’s surface. Early twentieth century a pretagonis anbyiferene, azn the specs Se neurologists similarly desired to use the body's surface as a are against the fim isd Ae mach de cipher of internal characteristics, specifically, pathology. It was Bie was compo ety in camer cd af my hoped that motion pictures would provide # miore accurate tool tape as a cams ora 4 surlce of which the eect to analyze the body’s exterior. However, “disorders” such as aniculated, raserlel oo epilepsy proved to thwart fruitful etiological research. ” 54 Lisa Cartwright, For instance, in 1905, Dr Walter Chase, with the help of the | Stsenng ne Seay: neuologst William Sprating, gathered 125 male epileptic, | (atcunue paked except forblankets, ouside a New York hospital, inorder | wionespi to film seizures, This film studied motion in a similar manner to | Usivenity of Ma fis , 1m gomied ion = a Sima eer Th chee an ey see ma bi and‘ eta boomer of ora Ba Minnesota ress 22 Personal communication with the auto, May 2008, 33 James Leo Cahil, “The Cineseizue "in ‘Martin Amoi: The iesezurevienns Ide ane Yaris Revo, 2006 210 tuted wth he DVD Manin ‘Amol: the OJ volume + surface fa 2008 pleco Ot wry ime congo incom ene Eps seine Mcgee aa iat arsthetics. Particularly in the overwhelming—almost vi J lent—emphasis upon surface, flat space and volug woes Soa ican pal enero cr ea weer lgh Se erSan aaa ‘ii eee i experience of monumental exeraling32 ee Mary Billyou: 1-9 (2008, 8 mins.) Ginema and seizures have had a signiicant relationship within the history of cinema. This link has been particularly prominent within experimental films (as the warning that recedes Jacob’sfilm attests to). “The flicker of cinema,” James Leo Cahill suggests, : — is premiued upon te rapid saceesion of mages bei ‘Red gt nay inde seiaresin plone ple TB oven 6 ake hold and plysicaly move spectators was Bt Psd iar ee ce of thir reach ino the onologiealproperies of the ‘edu inthe 1960s and 19708. Though fers Per Kabel, Kure Kien, Tony Conrad, Lary Joram, asl Shar and others made the secre Kinship Bees inane eck venary nedums frm concer arate ining tic experimen dein wo arthat nderaundng thecpleptc Et ara eating igi or umes and = ve bodily movements, pert sates and seaation®? Eadweard Muybridge’s proto-cinematic serial photographs. Chasc’s films the recording and analysis of the involuntary motion of the seizure was hoped to shed light on the organic origin of the illness. As one of the epileptics would siart convulsing, an assistant nurses or physician would quickl remove the patients blanket and carry or drag them directly in front of the stationary camera. The background of the shot was 2 grid-outline that was intended to quantify and master the disorderly movements. Periodically the spasms would thrust the patents out of frame and the nurses would have to carry them pack into the shot. The abhorrence of the naked, convulsive body is accentuated by the clinical insouciance with which the nurses reframe the patients. As Lisa Gartwright points out, in her book Screning the Bedy, “A review of Spratiing’s writings and institutional policies suggest that in fact the films were part of a larger multifaceted program of surveillance—a program that included monitoring of every aspect of the” patients’ lives5S Billyou's film, 1-9, approaches the link between cinema and seizures from a different trajectory than the flicker films of the 60's and 70's. Using Chase's medical films as her source material, Billyou extracted the patients from the scene, leaving, dh white void in their place. This void marks a present absence that rests the appropriations of the objectifying camera. The ‘extraction grants the patients some belated dignity. It further turns the positivist gaze onto the kinematographers and theit varrhcal aedstants, ‘The void, empty of all depth cues, alse foreground: the celluloid surface. This shift to the fat Topegraphy of the celluloid further reveals that ic was already Iantn reach birt joctopesi |56 totind Bathe, Camera twee: refctons on Phorogaphy, vars. Richa Howard New York il nd Wn 298, ‘s 57 ales onthis secenisitos relationship see Bruce Fosrer, “The Grand Lxperiven,” The Ballet canoe ae 208) iipwiewantel roses hat accessed October 15, 2000) 58 carright Screening te Body, 18 P wid. a © wid, 4 1 id, os 8 wan Tecan, ‘voted in “Video Nutans: Ryan Tecan steamotiows ito nlve Test, TOt [Nowhere Emotion Expanscn,” Pel sien (anuary 22, 2008) Ipc phan vioto00 cenoton.exparsiohtnl (seeessed Octeber 15, ignippocail h hine ht visa iii wheat tame Now ang 6 9 fanny he mors Test i i wounding and touching affect while also sv a thas oe were already points of resistance within, se ~All tt Blow expanded on.5"This hypothesis gains cred several patients appear to grasp for these spon agit samt on he aie” Cari claims thai unintelligibility of the movement: Be ‘nee he sna neg ees oe ea ch pa ee oe logic by preventing clear Tinie sural tence “org pmetagen, Hatin, ola intanan Conese mh dees fon “ae wrench in the signif jing practice ine subject Hen, Sod cer at iy ae pocned Oa onan observer" The disorderly bodies, by aa a thematiaon and Dréveting any closer to etolgi ara, alkeady created an opening on the su Chase's film that Billyou actual fees tn — tine te ey 9 rnd ge wey ee eae 7 ste surfaces of the body and cinema at the ‘ ie ventieth century. Cartwright highlights this gees “It seems that at the time that ‘Chase = ie e most heightened visual manifestations of seizu fe no lor nger regarded as the most etiologic the discase."6! st etiologically telling aspects of Ryan Tre Ryan, Trecartin: Tommy Chat Just E-mailed il “The limit between the virwal and the rea i ‘nando of ame array of technological devices, mediums aad ts ialogue (often altered into synthetic high Pi aa icals or low drones) jumps from a Google search bat te + thoogfal insight broadcast on speaker phone Sonversations wavel from inane text C ation, & message abbreviation, crac wae ee surface, to disturbing confessions peraein es ae bathroom. Repeated phrases oscillate between deep mantras and super ira memes, The tore of the vio proves no purchase fr dihotmai : Jed about his relationship with technol ae are simple boring easy ways out of evolution. a faces of characters and sets are offen covered with garish, painterly swaths of colors. These coatings precariously. juxtapose then collapse painterly nvases with a wide array | volume + surface fall 2000 sophisically employed low-fi video effects. Actors, inching “Teeartin himself, often appear in multiple roles, saperf ‘Rouming diferent genders, yt profoundly problematizing and toying with any notion of gender identity as a fxd given. “Teaneartin’s video productively imports a camp sensibility into TraneaMedia theory debates over the relationship of superficiality and depth. Leighton Pierce: Fall (2002, 12:20 mins.) soavmreent interview, Pierce was asked: “Is dhe idea of cactlty in fm of interest to you; do you wse itim a way <¢ are qudience participation response?” He answered “Yes 7 fie to make the experience haptic. Sound and movement and image size .. all contribute to this, While I don't autem iin w,1 do want my films to be closely pereeived and a conscious seem of touch isa very close sens.”6 Many of Perce ee te esonate with Marks’ conception of haptic vsuality 2nd “Rl, shot in southern France, i+ no exception. A small DY aavvera within Pierce's hand is pressed agsinet a translucent cate held in-bewween his fingers. ‘This essentially turns his Tad into the housing for a type of proxy camera, At once © tretoniymy for Hen, work ancl eye, the marble resembles, & vrrgwous wth, andl fansions as cach within the video, 1 als ‘habits the indeterminate, imposible third space between savehing and touched of Irigaray’s conception of mucosty, Fel je hapte insofar as it operated at a corporeal alfecive level w ther tan at the level of understanding, As be pus i "Ny goal is (0 allect emotion without engaging identification..." ewhere he suggests he wants the viewer “to blank out hough, at Teast until you really Took ana stew." sce, an accomplished musician (who initially only gor int» filmmaking to provide his audience with something t0 watch ‘hile stening) makes it impossible to establish a limit between vaio and visual 6 The temporal surface of the shot, the cut ane oded at points in dhe video. Pierce often ets his fms saree mould erix a song by layering and looping mulple "ike audio tracks, using Final Cut Pro like Pro Tools Of longer shutter speeds, ereates @ ive: wansitions between transitions images just This, along with the blur seemingly perpetual disso Tine ie eater works, such as 50 Fetof Song, where he shot she ane fla within 100 yards of his kitchen, Falls haptic in ches Tiere situates his films within the vernacular and diaristic.” Fal i all situated in the Local but inthis video there is ds 8 aun Coombs *50 Tot of Stig: nerview with Lethon Pere” leno Fe Jour 45146 all 2006) 64 sharon Kennedy, agency Time: AP Insallation by Leighon Presce Aa nteniow swith the Ait Sheldon Museum of ‘at halon ‘ryan orion phic! jpercegllenyguide pd (Gecessed Octber 15 2008, 65 scott NcDomald, -aenedicuensivew Fromien,” 9 he Garden nthe Machine: A Feld Cale Indopordot Fis abou Pace Besley: University of Calton Press 2002) © wis, 6 wa. rat om the domestic sper. in 50 Ft of Sing Pence see tance Peal razor thin depth of field wo viviseet survey al laskin breach birth octopus °