Mike Hall Video

documentation of fine art works, performance, and critical historic events of the third millennium

works

A portfolio of video productions, visual imagery and writings that challenge convention and explore alternative forms of perception

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this really happened  a study in conventional video feedback By connecting a video camera to a large LCD television and aiming the camera almost directly at the center of the screen, patterns emerge that to some extent can be shaped and molded with the hands. This is due to a tendency for the video stream to achieve equilibrium of overall brightness when the camera´s auto-exposure feature is enabled. The color variations were brought about by maximizing the color saturation and balance controls on the television screen. When the highest level of stability has been achieved, a gelatinous entity takes form, which exhibits life-like qualities. The colors that undulate over what appears to be a three-dimensional surface shimmer as if composed of some liquid substance.  (more) Pattern Formation Syndrome  on the recombinant behavior of disparate video electronic devices This sequence shows how two distinctly separate pieces of video electronics equipment can be combined to produce a result that is remarkably lifelike. It is theoretically possible for "edge-enhancing" algorithms commonly found in both video cameras and video projectors to combine forces to create stable patterns when connected together to produce a video feedback sequence. What was not expected was that the behavior of the worm-like shapes that are generated would actually be worm-like. No software was written to generate this video, and except for some minor jostling of the camera, there was no input from the environment whatsoever. In other words, once the equipment was adjusted to create a stable feedback pattern, the newly created system was allowed to run its course.  (more) Unmarked Package  a case for feeling insecure Over a weekend in May 2007, the Institute for Infinitely Small Things set out to research insecurity in Chicago´s public spaces. They ceremoniously carried over a hundred white packages (each marked "UNMARKED PACKAGE") to different locations in Chicago and set them up in various locations to poll the public about security and fear. The reactions tended to reflect the area where the questions were asked; for example, urban respondents cited crime rather than terrorism as being a primary concern. Most residents of the city expressed a greater suspicion of strangers overall since 9/11.  (more) After the Fall  in performance with Inter Alia On December 9 2006, the members of an improvisational performance group called Inter Alia performed at the CasaNia dance studio in Cambridge, Mass. The mission statement of Inter Alia reads: "Each piece we perform is created in a completely collaborative manner. We try, as musicians, dancers, visual artists and performance artists, to open ourselves to the unique vocabularies of each other´s particular traditions, and to challenge and be challenged by the borders between them. In the process, we hope to create pieces which are innovative and thought-provoking while remaining emotionally accessible and at times downright fun."   (more) Inertia  an urban manifestation The streets of New York City are never calm, but during the final days of August in 2004, there was an unrest of such proportions that, at times, traffic was stalled by masses of people who took to the street without obtaining permits to march. On August 30th, one day before the widely anticipated events of "A31" which would result in 1200 arrests throughout the city, a march beginning at the United Nations and ending at Madison Square Garden was inexplicably sanctioned by the police, even though it was one of the largest acts of civil disobedience that had ever occurred in the city. My camera was placed on a stone wall as they passed.   (more) homage to sisyphus  a journey of absurd proportions In May of 2005, hundreds of performance artists from around the world converged on Providence, Rhode Island to participate in "Provflux," a weekend-long event dedicated to artistic and social investigations in psychogeography. Anna Shapiro, an artist who lives in the Providence area, performed her version of the mythical tale of Sisyphus. Empty cardboard boxes lined with reflective mylar, the burden of her journey across the city, continually broke from their leashes of twine and became tangled in the sharp angles of city spaces.  (more) Union Square  the downfall of an uprising Although the local mainstream press reported the harsh treatment that protesters endured from the last day in August until the end of the Republican convention, very little of that reporting made its way outside of New York or continued beyond the time it took for the physical and psychological scars of those events to heal. The issues are obscured by the fact that some of the individuals arrested that day were performing acts of civil disobedience for the expressed purpose of being arrested. What is not widely recognized is that many others were curious bystanders or local residents coincidentally on the street while these acts were being performed. This film is a first-hand account from an independent documentary producer who spent five days in New York, two of them behind bars. Before you decide who was right and who was wrong, you should first see this story.  (more)