Workaday absurdity in Berlin, deep patterns matched in Morocco, and meaning-making with Cornel West. A/V to expand your "me"
Our occasional videodrome of reality seen at an angle, fractal, aporia or quantum… choose your oddness.
Above is Paul Kalkbrenner’s Schwer video, directed by Serbian-American filmmaker Jovan Todorović. As Creative Review reports:
The sequencing of the video mirrors Kalkbrenner’s music production techniques, where tracks are different each time they’re played. Likewise, the video for Schwer presents everyday scenes which are subtly altered each time they’re shown. It builds an arc from normal life to complete absurdity…“The video is arranged like a series of paintings, fluctuating between the ordinary and the absurd. It prompts viewers to question the reality of what they see, distinguishing between the genuinely human and the deliberately human-like,” said Todorović, who describes the Schwer as “less of a story-based film and more of a commentary on society”.
From Vimeo (Staff Picks), in the words of the maker, Waref Abu Quba:
TAKRAR (or Repetition) is an experimental film that celebrates the timeless and intricate beauty of ancient craftsmanship. Filmed in Istanbul, the film takes us on a mesmerizing journey into the past, paying homage to Islamic, Ottoman, Greek, and Byzantine art forms.
It's hard to believe that I have finished working on this film, which occupied most of my free time over the past two years. When I first visited Istanbul in 2021, I was captivated by its timeless beauty and decided to capture it through my lens. I shot about 2,900 photos, and after editing and animating them, I created about 270 video scenes. Creating each frame of this film was an utter joy, and every new scene brought unexpected and beautiful surprises.
Finally, the great Cornel West, currently trying to be US president, musing on the search for meaning in the back of a car in NY. From Aeon:
For her feature-length documentary Examined Life (2008), the director, writer and activist Astra Taylor filmed some of the most eminent contemporary philosophers – including Peter Singer, Slavoj Žižek, Martha Nussbaum and Judith Butler – in urban settings, discussing how their ideas can be applied practically in the modern world.
In this brief yet wide-ranging clip, the philosopher, professor and recently announced US presidential candidate Cornel West seamlessly weaves between the blues, Christianity, lovemaking, Beckett and Beethoven in his distinctive, pulpit-powered rhetorical style, while weaving through New York City traffic in a car driven by Taylor.
The resulting clip is a rousing dive into the precarious, enduring human project of meaning-making. You can learn more about Examined Life, including how to watch the film in its entirety, here.