It’s been a long time since my previous selection of videos [Video Input I] and believe me, my plan was to keep a continuous flow of curated video selections. But I realize I spend far less time digging in Vimeo as I did before, on the other hand I select much more where I spent my time and which videos I watch. If a video doesn’t keep my attention longer than 30 seconds I start skipping and if nothing triggers my mind or soul, I move on.
So here is a compilation of 10 videos, carefully selected and that I consider worth watching / spending time on. Most of them are a reflection of my aesthetic obsessions (diffraction of light, liquids, abstract experiments, psychedelic adventures and visual installations), a few others are selected because they are amazing due to its simplicity like the Laser Dance experiment from Olafur Eliasson’s studio, or a few other times could be a music videos that caught my attention with what I understand as a proper and simple narrative for a music video, like Doomed from director Allie Avital.
Thanks for reading and watching, I hope you enjoy this video session and find some great inspiration:
1. Laser Dance Lumetri Level 02 from Studio Olafur Eliasson
The concept is nothing new, I have seen already other dancers playing with lasers, but what make this video beautiful is the whole combination of music, slow movements and black and white. Sometimes you don’t have to invent the wheel to still do something interesting. This makes me want to collaborate again with a dancer…
2. Max Cooper – Unbounded from Morgan Beringer
I admire and respect Max Cooper mainly due to the great respect and support he offers to all those visual artists collaborating with him, and this is something a lot of musicians should learn from… Beside that, I have to recognize that I don’t like all the collaborations he does, I would say I like a 50% of them, and this one with Morgan Beringer is without a doubt my favorite in a long time. Clever use of digital resources, trippy but not too obvious, good color palette, and audio synchronization.
3. Yves de Mey – Xylo from Malo
Now you can notice here (+ the one before and the one after) my obsession for abstract, liquid, diffraction experiments. This work from Malo for Yves de Mey also fulfill a good combination of audio and visual resources. Those are the strange few cases where I see it working as a music video without a concrete narrative, just because the aesthetic experience is interesting by itself. Most certainly you will enjoy this if you dig abstract art.
4. ARP 299 from Arnaud Laffond
There is some artists like Arnaud Laffond or Yoshi Sodeoka (later in this selection) that even though I know their work from a long time, they keep on surprising and inspiring me. On one hand because I feel quite identified with their aesthetic, like if they would be me in a parallel reality. It’s a pleasure to follow them and check their current work. So this is one of the last great experiments from Laffond.
5. Moses Sumney – Doomed from Allie Avital
Here is a different kind of aesthetic, pure music video, footage with amazing photography… what a classic music video is like. In this case I like this video because the small narrative, simple enough not to distract you from the song, but still hooking up your attention, so you want to see it all until the end. Sometimes you can tell big stories in few scenes. This is one good example.
6. Intimate Cities from JM-B
We continue under water… This is more a kind of 3D exercise, but it’s beautiful enough to stand alone, maybe as an art piece, maybe a music video, maybe just a demo of 3D skills, whatever! It’s damn beautiful to see our world under water. There is not much more to reflect on, just enjoy the view…
7. MYMK – Hidebound from Yoshi Sodeoka
As we said before, Sodeoka is always a reference, if you like glitch, analog vs. digital aesthetics, psychedelic visual trips. Yoshi knows best, he have done so much work that is impossible to say what’s best. He recently did various collaborations with MYMK, among them all this one is my favorite.
8. String Figures – I. Sabotage Story from Alessandra Leone
I have the pleasure to know the people behind this great project, but if I included this video in my selection is not because of friendship but due to the great combination of arts: music, video, photography, performance, masks, etc. There is a part II coming soon. So if you enjoy the view I totally recommend to follow them.
9. Video Sculpture XII from Emmanuel Van der Auwera
This video is already a bit old but still interesting and also I already knew this technique but I still find it inspiring. It’s something I would love to explore in the near future, for sure, one day… Beside that, I like the cold aesthetic of the installation, that minimal, dark, cyber-spy feeling you get through it.
10. Teaser from Floating Spectrum
Last but not least another audio-reactive visual experiment. I guess I like this teaser because it reminds me somehow to my experiments with the Krake creatures I have been working on for the last two years. It’s curious to see similar results created with different tools, so it’s inspiring to find out how someone else develop a similar subject.
