Cultural Event # 3: Andrew Kieper

The first thing Andrew Kieper showed us was his work. His piece was interesting. The thing is that it was different every time you play it. He had loops that were unsynced, causing them to be different every time you play it, which means each time is a different experience. The peice was supposed to create a sense of atmosphere and space. He used different audio techniques to create space. He created different textures on the video that were meant to be ambiguous. He used a curtain, natural textures like tree bark and plants, and had a random blue square that periodically would appear in the middle. He said he was trying to defy the viewer's expectations of a narrative. It was interesting but got boring after a few minutes because it felt like you were just watching the same thing over and over.

He then talked with us about three different artists. The first artist was Nam Junpike. He said he was the first artist to use a camcorder. He is most famous for instillations that use televisions such as models that look like robots. The second artis he discussed was Bill Viola. He is one of the most famous video artists. This guy is interested in birth and death and elemental things. His projects work on hude screens in dark rooms. He liked to slow things down or speed things up and use a lot of imagery. The third artist he discussed was Matthew Barney. Apparently he is controversial because he has a lot of money to spend on his videos and art he makes. We watched Cremaster 3 and I could not beleive that this guy is actually a well known artist. It seemed like a joke to me. He was prancing around in a pink kilt, fighting with a half naked tiger woman, while a man melted vaseline and chucked it into a corner. It was just bizarre to me and I didn't get it at all.

I liked Andrew, he was nice. He showed us around the 3rd floor of the library. I feel like he is underappreciated... hiding up there.