New Television Workshop Collection

New Television Workshop Collection Program MaterialsNew Television



Phenomenology (Parts A, B, C)

Copyright Date:
1987

Program Number:
506

Artist:
Neumann, Andrew

Extent:
See the record for "New Television, Episode 506 (1989)" for descriptions of videos containing this work.

Background:
Broadcast as part of Episode 506 of the 1989 season of "New Television."

Scope:
"Phenomenology (Parts A, B, C)" is a triple score of language, image, and sound. Divided into three sections (the parts A, B, and C referenced in the title), the work boasts an abstract electronic score that often incorporates and simulates the sound of an airplane take-off. Images of airplanes dominate the visual score. In part A, a ladder is filmed from different angles and perspectives. In part C, slowly spinning objects are filmed in close-up, lending them an ironically powerful presence. A head of broccoli, an artichoke, an apple, a can of Budweiser -- all loom somehow larger than life. Visual text drops in and out of the picture frame, moving subtitles that serve to question and shift the meanings of the images that appear before us. Obliquely addressing ethics and commodity, the text is personal and political at the same time. A doormat fills the visual frame and the text asks the viewer to consider the object's manufacturer. The text maintains a certain levity and at times evokes the double meanings and appropriations of Jenny Holzer's "truisms." "I'm in love with a constructivist," the voiceless words tell us. As the work draws to a close, the text focuses on a future vision of a world inhabited by floating people. The imagery of airplanes and a disembodied camera technique capturing movement through city streets serve as illustration to this concept of flight. This work w as created at the Boston Film and Video Foundation as a New England Film Video Fellowship. It is 17 minutes long.



Editor:
Hartnett, Daniel (Online Editor)

Funders:
New England Film Video Fellowship
National Endowment for the Arts
American Film Institute

Subjects:
Airplanes


Genre:
Animation

See Also:
New Television, Episode 506 (1989)


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