Ptarmigan

Absurdity, part 16

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:30:15 +0000

It's LEAP DAY! Only every four years do we get to enjoy the pleasure of the 29th of February. Let's celebrate by watching some similar odd films. Tonight, Liminal Images will screen films/videos that employ elements of absurdity, humour and randomness.

Associations
Directed by John Smith
UK, 1975
7 minutes. (imdb)

Images from magazines and colour supplements accompany a spoken text taken from ‘Word Associations and Linguistic Theory’ by Herbert H Clark. By using the ambiguities inherent in the English language, Associations sets language against itself. Image and word work together/against each other to destroy/create meaning. -- johnsmithfilms.com

Complexe
Directed by Nobuhiko Ohbayashi
Japan, 1964
14 minutes.

An experimental arthouse short that manages to be thoroughly entertaining while simultaneously poking fun at the pretentiousness of the stereotypical experimental arthouse short. -- KG

Bleu Shut
Directed by Robert Nelson
USA, 1971
33 minutes. (imdb)

Probably the most absurd thing ever created; I've watched this countless times and still find myself struck with amazement at the "fuck it" attitude throughout, the most brilliant use of found footage ever (sorry, Bruce Connor), and the never-ending amusement of the boat game at the centre. Bleu Shut, for me, is not just a product of the (wonderful, iconic, and no longer possible) era, but an artistic call-to-arms. -- Ptarmigan

** intermission **

En Dag i Staden (A Day in Town)
Directed by Pontus Hultén & Hans Nordenström
Sweden, 1956
18 minutes. (link)

A dadaist explosion that starts as a typical Hollywood travelogue of Stockholm and ends in the city's total destruction by fire and dynamite. This is a hilarious anarchist film; made by the then unknown Hulten now director of Stockholm's Museum of Modern Art. In a particularly subversive scene, the fire engine, arriving at a fire, goes up in flames. -- Amos Vogel, Film as a Subversive Art

Runs Good
Directed by Pat O'Neill
USA, 1971
15 minutes. (imdb)

As seen in this film, the surrealist cinema of the 1970s works with tools the original surrealists never dreamed of: solarization, multiple exposures, "artificial" contrast, varying image size, negative color, three-dimensional effects. -- Amos Vogel, Film as a Subversive Art

Teaching a Plant the Alphabet
Directed by John Baldessari
USA, 1974
18 minutes. (link)

“[A] rather perverse exercise in futility,” this tape documents Baldessari’s response to Joseph Beuys’s influential performance, How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare. Baldessari’s approach here is characteristically subtle and ironic, involving ordinary objects and a seemingly banal task. The philosophical underpinnings of Baldessari’s exercise are structuralist theories about the opaque and artificial nature of language as a system of signs. Using a common houseplant to represent nature and instructional flashcards to represent the alphabet, Baldessari ironically illustrates this theorem. That language is the structuring element of the tape—the length of the tape was determined by the number of letters in the alphabet—enforces the connection between language and art, a recurrent theme in Baldessari’s work. -- VDB

Fermented foods club - February 2012

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:59:17 +0000

Fermented foods club returns! This is intended to be a monthly event where people will bring fermented foods that they have made to share with each other. Foods can be traditional or nontraditional, but will all involve zymurgy in some form. Just bring something that you have made: sourdough bread, kefir, kim chi, sauerkraut, beer, wine, natto ...

This is purely a social gathering but we can discuss techniques, tips, and most importantly eat eat eat. We will treat Sandor Ellix Katz's WIld Fermentation book as our bible.

Please register and let us know what you'll be bringing!

'Fast and Raw' - sushi õpituba

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:43:45 +0000

Fast and Raw is a workshop on sushi making, knife sharpening and sushi eating. During the workshop participants will learn to make Hosomaki, Temaki, Nigiri, and Gunkanmaki sushi with a variety of different traditional (and untraditional) fillings. Those in the class will also learn how to sharpen a knife (bring a knife from home) by using a sharpening stone (because a sharp knife makes your sushi more delicious). For the finale of the class, we will have a large sushi banquet (which you should invite your friends/family to).

Leading the course is Justin Tyler Tate who has a Bachelors degree in Fine Art, a Doctorate in electronics and no qualifications in the field of sushi. He has never been to Japan but people, who have also never been to Japan, regard his sushi as “the best”.

Fake It Til You Make It: February 2012

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:35:32 +0000

This month's meeting of Fake It Til You Make It will, of course, be a surprise as to what we will make. Last month, cutout animations were made, the result of which is viewable here.

All are welcome! As always, please register to let Justin know you're coming so he can prepare accordingly.

Contact Improvisation workshop

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:02:13 +0000

What Is Contact Improvisation?

It is a dance technique in which points of physical contact provide the starting point for exploration through movement improvisation.
Contact Improvisation develop your creativity, movement imagination, sensitivity to partner or yourself your individual dance and movement expression and brings joy of moving.

It is a form of dance improvisation and is one of the best-known and most characteristic forms of postmodern dance.

Contact Improvisation was initiated by Steve Paxton in 1972. It was influenced by original martial arts (aikido)/yoga/release work, but also incorporations from BMC, Alexander, T'ai chi chuan etc. In contact the point of touch is envisioned as a roving window on the surface of both bodies through which actions are communicated. It is very sensitive and accurate communication. Weight may be taken by either party, or needs to
be known and accommodated. No contact improvisation should be muscularised, it relies on momentum. It needs a study of the sense of gravity, inertia, the concentration on the body's masses and their movements. It is improvisation, so it is unpredictable, which relies upon the reflexes.

Contact Impro jamms: Jamms are free open dance meetings where everybody finds they own dance expression, based on the emotion, creativity, experience in harmony with partner or partners or in solo. After the warmup and some contact excercise will be the free jamm. It is always possible to finish or interrupt the dance and watch the other dancers from the side and join any time either with touching them or without it. Each jam is different, in which everybody is responsible for themselves.

This meetings are for everybody regardless of age or experience. The meetings are open so it is possible to join any time.

Labyrinths and Rings: William "Bilwa" Costa and Martín Lanz Landázuri

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:06:28 +0000

This month, William 'Bilwa' Costa (USA), formerly at Ptarmigan Tallinn last September where he led the Resonance workshop, returns with his collaborator, Martin Lanz Landázuri (MEX). Bilwa and Martin created the Resonance collaboration together and tonight will screen a performance they did in The Kitchen (NYC) last December. The screening is approximately 20 minutes and will be followed by a talk/presentation. Afterwards we'll have an open discussion about their collaboration and the nature of collaboration in general.

We'll have some snacks (and you are encouraged to bring your own to share) and some music in-between activities.

Ö+R+E, As artistas plásticos, Re:partisan

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:16:53 +0000

Ptarmigan presents a night of mixed sound and performance at Kodu Baar, featuring Helsinki's genre-bending Ö orchestra, in a night combining music, dance and performance.

Ö+R+E is a performance group from Helsinki consisting of three parts: orchestra Ö, media artist Roberto Pugliese, and dancer Emmi Venna. The performance will be a joint interaction of these parts. Venna and the orchestra guide and follow each other while Pugliese generates his visualizations live through dance movement and music. In addition, each orchestra musician will play their own individual rhythm making the performance a multirhythmic multifaceted multimedia spectacle.

As artistas plásticos - 'Espresito'
The most electrifying and sensual fashion dance of 2011 makes its 2012 comeback in Estonian venues. The show will be a combined corporal spectacle and an entertaining dance teaching session led by the Portugese creators of this world wide phenomena. We recommend you to study some basic Portugese before attending the show, unless you trust in your skills of reading South European body language.

Re:partisan
Tallinn's newest drone-pulse.

How to tawk & dans rite

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:23:17 +0000

"How ta tawk & dans rite" on tantsu ja digitaalseid meediume kasutav kohaspetsiifiline osalusperformance. Kunstnikud Joey Chua Poh Yi, Rhys Turner, Anna Rouhu ja Guadalupe López (infot kunstnikest allpool) uurivad professionaalsuse mõistet ning eri kultuuride norme ning räägivad kultuuride rituaalidest ning sellest, kuidas asju õigesti teha seal, kus teada õige ei pruugi enam õige olla.
"How ta tawk & dans rite" performance läbivateks teemadeks on armastuse otsimine ning eri kultuuride kokkupõrkel tekkivad koomilised olukorrad.

Performance kestab umbes 45 minutit ning toimub kolmel päeval:

Neljapäeval (09.02) kell 19:00
Reedel (10.02) kell 19:00
Laupäeval (11.02) kell 16:00

Sissepääs on tasuta (ja annetused on väga teretulnud). Igale performance'ile mahub 15 inimest, osalemiseks palume registreeruda.

Tere tulemast!

How ta tawk & dans rite

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:18:12 +0000

How ta tawk & dans rite

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:05:50 +0000

American propaganda films part 2

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:49:41 +0000

This month's Clip Kino brings the return of American propaganda films, as curated by Viktor Lillemäe. Last May, Viktor put together our first Tallinn Clip Kino and tonight he will be showing some additional clips.

Clip Kino events are self-organised screening events of short video clips & documentaries found online. It aims to drag aspects of normalised 'private' activity - of viewing downloaded content on one's own computer - into public space for screening, appreciation and debate.

Svamp, Veebruar 2012

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:55:33 +0000

This month's Svamp (a free, open sound and music workshop for both musicians and non-musicians) will meet again at Ptarmigan on Sunday afternoon.

As always, we encourage both trained musicians and "non-musicians" to attend. Please bring something to make sound with - an instrument or other object. Amplification will be quite limited so please prepare accordingly (ie: don't bring a laptop).

See you there!

EstYES presents: Seminar Global/local!

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:05:13 +0000

A brief overview of the main non-profit organizations in Estonia working with educational subjects concerning environmental issues as well as globalization. We'll give some concrete examples how to be more active on the mentioned areas.

The seminar is connected with the termination of an international training program "Hemispheres" which tackled different international solidarity subjects.

The itenerary is as so:

14.00 Program introduction, What is Hemispheres?

15.00 Why to choose organic food? MTÜ Tagurpidi Lavka http://tagurpidilavka.wordpress.com/

15.30 Coffee break and tasty bites from Tagurpidi Lavka

16.00 Presentation of MTÜ Mondo http://mondo.org.ee/

16.30 Documentary film “You Deserve to Know” shot in 2009 in Kibera, one of the biggest African slums, tells its story unveiling the positive side of the slum, showing the power of information and people's grassroots initiatives.

17.00 Discussion

More info about Hemispheres.

The Consequences of a Dynamic Lifestyle

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:31:00 +0000

Veebruari alguses saab me oma Kodu baaris maailmast osa. Kanada mees ja USA mees on pannud pillid ühte kohvrisse ja tulnud Euroopasse kontsertmaratonile (vt http://ownness.org/2012dates.html). Dünaamilise eluviisi tagajärge, jah, seda saab näha. Kolmandal veebruaril on nad siin, saksofonis ja kopsudes veel Tampere tuuli. Niisiis:

Ownness Records presents:
The Consequences of a Dynamic Lifestyle featuring Zack Kouns (Death Jazz - U.S.A.) and Alpha Strategy (Manic Pop - Canada) live in concert.

The musicians perform new songs from 2011 vinyl releases - Muck by Alpha Strategy, and Zack Kouns' Concealed History of Coming Races. This January/February 2012 tour brings the pair of solo acts to concerts in 30 countries in 37 days.

Alpha Strategy

Utilizing primitive oscillating circuits, vintage synthesizers, shouted vocals, and loops lifted from 1960s schlager, Alpha Strategy delivers music which is volatile and convulsive, yet meticulously arranged. Through the use of elements of pop structure, Alpha Strategy's music tips a hat to the frantic energy of Patrick Miller's Minimal Man, the unusual compositional directions found on the early singles of SPK, and the dark humor conveyed in the recordings of The Birthday Party.
A musician, label operator, interviewer and deejay, Rory Hinchey of Alpha Strategy has been active in these and many other capacities for over a decade.

Zack Kouns

Zack Kouns describes his music as Modern Liturgical, and Apocalyptic/Hermetic in its aesthetic. Recent work, including his Concealed History of Coming Races takes on a form of dark Appalachian bluegrass. Content to blur the lines between conventional genres, especially through the use of saxophone, harmonium, electronics, violin, vocals and many other tools, the unifying principle of Kouns' work is undoubtedly found in the soulful and passionate delivery of the songs themselves.
Undoubtedly one of the busiest and most insightful individuals in the realm of contemporary outsider art, Zack Kouns carries out activities as bandleader, performer, author, visual artist, researcher, prankster, and composer.

Toorete helide süntesaatorisalong

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 14:15:44 +0000

Hobilabori töötoas ehitatud sündid oma täies hiilguses!

Jaanuaris toimus Hobilaboris (www.hobilabor.ee) kaks lihtsa süntesaatori valmistamise töötuba. Reedel, 27. jaanuaril kell 19 on ülevaatus(-lühifestival). “Tõmbame otsad kokku, näitame masinaid ning väljutame tooreid helisid”, ütleb Toomas. Nii on.

Õhtu esimeses pooles saab näha tegijaid ja tehtut. Oma verivärskete elektrooniliste laste ja sõpradega mängivad heli- ja ringmänge töötoas osalenud

Rene Rebane!
Tanel Külaots!
Eerik Kändler!
Marko Pütsep!
Allan Pilter!
Vootele Vaher!
SS Fabrique!
Hannes Mets!
Sven-Erik Viira!
Lauri Võsandi!
Tõnis Malkov!
Juhan Vihterpal!
Henri Hütt!

Seejärel saavad ka autsaiderid masinaid näppida ja vaadata, kui hästi ossilaatorid siis lõppeks ühendatud on.

Ning viimasena lajatab töötoa juhendaja Mr. Toomas Savi oma kohvri lauale ja näitab esimest korda üldse, mis juhtub siis kui Toomas pole enam Toomas vaid on peaaegu juba transhuman-küborg Motobor.

Toomas Savi on lõpetanud EKA graafilise disaini erilala. Hobilabori üks asutajatest ja vedajatest. Viimasel kolmel aastal on süvenenult tegelenud elektroonikaga ja süntesaatorite ehitamisega, juhtinud töötubasid Plektrumi festivalil ja Uue Maailma festivalil.
Erinevat stiili muusikaga on ta tegelenud ja sahtlisse kirjutanud juba 8 aastat, viimaseid suurimaid muusikaprojekte on Savidivas (vennad Toomas ja Tõnis Savi), mis mängitab Toomase ehitatud masinaid.
Aga juba on kujunemas ka Motobor, Toomase sooloprojekt, mis näitab end sel õhtul esimest korda.

Elu on nagu ikka päris mõnus, baarist saab drinki, radika juures on soe, akna vahelt puhub külm jää, aga see on ka okei, sest meil on talv ja neli aastaaega on parem kui sopp.

Olete kõik teretulnud!

ART IST KUKU NU UT tuleb üheks õhtuks Tallinna

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:32:23 +0000

ART IST KUKU NU UT teatab ja kutsub:

Kaasaegse kunsti festivali ART IST KUKU NU UT tiimil on suur heameel teatada, et tänavuse festivali külaliskuraator on CHRIS FITZPATRICK.

ART IST KUKU NU UT korraldajad paluvad kunstihuvilisi selle aasta festivali tutvustavale koosviibimisele ning väikesele dringile esmaspäeval, 23. jaanuaril kl 19.00 projektiruumis Ptarmigan.

Õhtu programm on järgmine:

19.00 Kogunemine ja vein
19.15 Festivali kunstilise juhi Rael Arteli tervitussõnad, festivali tutvustus ja noore kunstniku stipendiumi KUKU NUNNU väljakuulutamine
19.30 Festivali külaliskuraatori Chris Fitzpatricku (San Francisco / Antwerpen) ettekanne oma praktikast

Külaliskuraatorist:
Chris Fitzpatrick (b. New York, 1978) has been working as an independent curator in San Francisco, California. He has organized various exhibitions and events for venues including Palazzo Ducale, Genova; Proyectos Monclova, Mexico City; Oakland Museum of California; the Exploratorium, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, amongst others. Fitzpatrick has been awarded residencies by Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, the Banff Centre, Alberta, and FIAC/Fondation d’enterprise Ricard, Paris.

Fitzpatrick’s writing and interviews have been featured in a variety of publications, including Rite Editions, Pazmaker, Mousse Magazine, The Baltic Notebooks of Anthony Blunt, as well as exhibition catalogs and books. Most recently, Fitzpatrick has been on the curatorial board for the Present Future section of Artissima 18, Turin. From February 2012 on he starts working as an artistic director of Objectif Exhibitions in Antwerp, Belgium.

_____

Kaasaegse kunsti festivali ART IST KUKU NU UT esitlus ja Chris Fitzpatricku loeng ning uurimisreis Eestisse saavad teoks tänu CEC ArtsLinki, Eesti Kultuurkapitali, Eesti Kunstiakadeemia ja projektiruumi Ptarmigan toetusele.

Tere tulemast!

Mona De Bo, +1 TBA

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 13:51:26 +0000

Mona De Bo is band playing experimental rock music from Riga, Latvia. Established in 2005 by Edgars Rubenis and Edgars Eihmanis as a drums and guitar duo it gradually evolved in a full band consisting of four to six musicians.

Mona De Bo has recorded three albums, the latest of which 'Pag Pag' will be released on January 9th, 2012 on the Latvian I Love You Records.

The material on the new record shows Mona De Bo's continuing interest in slow rhythms and dense sounds, music that could be characterized by such tags as drone, slow-core, doom. Likely to it's predecessor 'Nekavējies, šīs ir spēles ar tevi' the new record incorporates also the sound of keyboards and a horn section.

www.facebook.com/monadebo

monadebo.bandcamp.com

Fast and Raw - intermediate sushi workshop

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 10:40:40 +0000

Fake It Til You Make It: January 2012

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 10:14:00 +0000

Fake It Til You Make It is a workshop/working group for those curious individuals looking to broaden their experience and skill-set. Each session of FITYMI will be on a different subject which could fall under areas of expertise such as construction, making, baking, electronics, mechanics, cooking, jewelry, physics, plants, and whatever else can be imagined. It is the purpose of the workshop to learn new things for the sake of learning and it is for this reason that participants will only discover the subject of each session upon arriving to the workshop. During the class there will be a short talk about the subject and how to accomplish the objective of the FITYMI session followed by participants choosing how to proceed (experimenting with materials, accomplishing a project, discussion and/or playing) with food available at some point during the workshop.

Last month, we made inflatable items from plastic and fans. This month, who knows what will happen?

To cover the expenses of materials and food for the workshop participants are asked to ‘pay what you can’. We'll have food to share at the end while we reflect on what we made.

Running/organizing the workshop is Justin Tyler Tate who instructs other workshops such as 'Fast and Raw' - Intermediate sushi and Under Your Skin (Tattooing Workshop). Tate has a Bachelors degree in Fine Art, a Doctorate in electronics and has an insatiable curiosity for new materials, techniques and ways of making.

Please register here to let Justin have some idea of how many people are coming so he can prepare materials, etc.

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 13:34:12 +0000

Vaevuhoomatav tali. Filmiõhtu.

Ptarmigan alustab jälle algusest nagu me kõik. Aasta algusest. Jaanuari kinoõhtu sarjast Liminal Images (vaevuhoomatavad kujutised) räägib talvest, aastaaegade vaheldumisest, pimedusest, industrialiseerimisest. Nagu jaanuari Tallinn kui kuulata viitsiks. Programm allpool.

* * *

Winter Solstice

Directed by Hollis Frampton

USA, 1974

33 minutes

"Shot at U.S. Steel's Homestead Works in Pittsburgh,...WINTER SOLSTICE is full of outpourings of fire, of smoke, of sparks, of molten metal--all erupting against an otherwise black background in an activated pictorial space. The complex abstract compositions that flash upon the screen in full-scale explosions of white light or in the aftermath of effervescent sparks reflect Frampton's painterly handling of the camera (hand-held and fluid) and his rhythmic use of color (blue frames are used to mark each cut). While WINTER SOLSTICE pays homage to the work of a number of New York school painters, its steel mill setting represents, as Frampton noted, 'A pretextual locus dearly beloved by our Soviet predecessors.'" --Bruce Jenkin

Senkrecht/Waagrecht (Vertical/Horiztonal)

Directed by Peter Liechtie

Switzerland, 1985

5 minutes

"In their sequence of movements and events, Roman Signer’s actions are conceived as space/time sculptures. In keeping with the opposing directions taken in these documents, the film is simply called Senkrecht/Waagrecht (Vertical/Horizontal). This oppositional tendency is underlined by the locations: winter/ice/water/summer/clouds/air. The “commentary” to the story is provided by the abstract signs of the sign-language used by the hearing impaired and above all by the music of Möslang/Guhl."

Creation

Directed by Stan Brakhage

USA, 1979

15 minutes

"... almost like the Earth itself - the green ice-covered rocks, the slicing feeling, the compressive feeling of the glaciers. The whole time I was watching I kept thinking that you were a master of the North, the arctic landscape - the dark red flowers in the dusky light, the deep blue light, the tall trees with the running mists, and Jane looking ... the ice, the water, the moss, the golden light. A visual symphony ...." - Hollis Melton"

31/75: Asyl

Directed by Kurt Kren

Austria, 1975

9 minutes

"Asyl is one of Kren's most formally ambitious works, an experiment in time lapse photography, multiple exposures, and segmented images... Kren is here reconfiguring film as a medium in which time and space cease to be linear in any sense. The film is instead about totalities; it invites the viewer to think about the progress of time and the way it generally works in cinematic images, and by contrast to process the multiple layered times implicit in each frame of Asyl. This short is Kren's finest work, with a conceptual purity and inventiveness that are unmatched even in his consistently intriguing oeuvre."

** paus **

Capriccio

Directed by Zoltán Huszárik

Hungary, 1969

16 minutes

"Shreds and fragments of film poetry that make its own place on the edge of a document film. The film is a college of dialogue between nature, abandoned country, and human fancy. The director with sovereign poetry and a strong sense of grotesque introduces a myth of creation, human finality and continuousness of recovering nature. Huszárik's individual style of merry resignation appears here again with features of particular abstract sensibility. There is an inherent reflection of time, particularly the impossibility of coming back in the picture. Whereas a film by itself main idea is that its existence in the light makes present what can.t return, that film in the light and movement becomes something that can never be alone."

By Night with Torch and Spear

Directed by Joseph Cornell

USA, 1942

8 minutes

"This is the world made strange, an ultimate surrealist statement. Ordinary industrial machinery, seen through a bright pink filter, seems to glow with otherworldly energy, and the men tending to these strangely vibrant, effervescent industrial playgrounds are like sorcerers, conjuring inexplicable phenomena ... Cornell sees the cinema as a transmitter of poetic distortions, as a massive bank of images to be combed for magical moments, moments that can be amplified and reworked into something epic and unfamiliar. His was a totally original and remarkable cinema, and this short is perhaps one of the finest examples of his unparalleled ability to dig out the strange essence at the core of the ordinary." -- Only the Cinema

Makimono

Directed by Werner Nekes

West Germany, 1974

38 minutes

"Makimono is an Asian roll painting depicting a landscape. The subject of the film is the language of film itself, its mutability and its influence on the viewer's vision and thinking. While the film gradually progresses the viewer is gently invited to reflect on the development of the film in its expressive potential."