film screening: Am I making art?

“Am I Making Art?”


At the PFA the film, “Am I Making Art” were four featured extremely awkward pieces of art. The film that first appeared was Thresa Cha’s “Mouth to Mouth”, which began with lots of fuzz or snow like in the old days when you would not get reception to your television. A mouth appears and it looks as if water is mixed in with the fuzz as the mouth opens and closes. The mouth makes “O” shapes and fades out as water continues to trickle about but with a blowing wind sound. As the film goes on the man and the mouth appears and re-appears displaying with loud sounds and disappearing with silence. At the end of the first film it looked like there were bats flying out of the “O” shape mouth, like a bat cave. The second film was by John Boldesary called “I Am Making Art,” it was the single most boring film I have ever scene. He starts in a standing position with his arms at his side and moves one part of his body at a time in one single motion and when he completes the movement says the words, “I am making art.” He looks as if he is doing the “Hokey Pokey” in slow motion, although he never does the same move twice in a row. I feel his movement could be related to Virilio’s character Trajectory because he begins in one place and through a series of robot like movements he ends up all over the screen as if he is painting something. The trajectory is with himself and the path he makes around the room along with the motions he makes. The third film was by Acconchi, called "Theme Song" and was as extremely odd like the others. The same guy made the film where he pointed at the screen for thirty minutes I noticed. He is laying on the ground and lights up a cigarette, throughout the film he smokes one after the other, and sings songs about a girl and that he is ready for her to come to him. What he would do for her by changing the music in the music box next to him and singing about her. The final film by Nancy Holt, “East Side West Side” takes place in a kitchen or dinning room. Two artists, Nancy Holt from New York and Robert Smithson from California converse about random topics and argue peacefully like we know they are acting. The two differ in many ways, the audience that was there laughed because of the drastic character difference. They each talk about different topics and have very obvious disagreements with one another. Holt has very easy going ideas while Robert thinks about what he is saying and says it in an intellectual manner.