kagablog

«The solipsist » est un des films les plus personnels de Ian Kerkhof. Il a été réalisé en 1991 et dure 7 minutes. C’est un court métrage subversif à interpréter librement et à imaginer encore plus librement ! C’est un film qui donne matière à penser et à recréer. C’est une vidéo de contre-culture improvisée et poétique– «organique », au sens où les organes du corps sont visés. Ainsi ces organes sont les générateurs d’une nouvelle forme de poésie. Les images de ce film court sont très fortes sur le plan émotionnel, pleines de symboles psychanalytiques d’un univers chargé, celui de son jeune auteur. Dix ans après, en 2001, Aryan Kaganof reprend quelques images de ce film pour nous offrir sa suite «What is metaphysics ? », une suite qui est loin d’être close. C’est une suite «tracée » par les obsessions poétiques et politiques de ses artistes de chevet qui ont été inspirés par le seppuku japonais, comme Yukio Mishima ou Masami Akita.
« Le solipsiste » est une bonne leçon de morale corporelle et sociale à la «sauce piquante » japonaise, peu connue en Europe. On y voit Ian Kerkhof en train de regarder calmement au début plusieurs moniteurs de télé qui sont placés l’un au-dessus de l’autre et qui passent des programmes variés : films X, reportages polémiques, etc. Ses yeux sont vite remplis d’étonnement et de questions pas faciles à formuler à travers ses lèvres fermées. Irrité par les images pornographiques et par la voix haineuse de la personne qui crie, il prend un couteau énorme et il finit par se taillader le pénis et les seins dans un bain de sang. Les images retravaillées de ce film «Solipsiste » sont remontées dix ans plus tard dans le nouveau «C’est quoi la métaphysique ?» avec comme accompagnement une musique de bruits composée par Kaganof lui-même. Pour essayer de donner une interprétation approximative de ces deux films, nous dirions que Kaganof balance entre deux courants d’activisme artistique : le seppuku japonais ,courant extrémiste, qui consiste à «attribuer au corps une dimension métaphysique et la possibilité de connaître le secret de la vie en ouvrant le corps » ( Henk Oosterling in SMS Sanctuary, le catalogue de l’exposition éponyme du Centraal Museum d’Utrecht, 2003, p.8) et deuxièmement l’activisme corporel autrichien qui consistait à faire des « actions se voulant une réponse violente et radicale à la répression morale, intellectuelle et artistique infligée par un gouvernement qui ne parvenait pas à rougir de son passé aux cotés de la Wehrmarcht » (dans le catalogue du 5e LUFF, Lausanne, p.15). Nous avons voulu faire allusion non seulement au gouvernement autrichien des années 60 mais également à tous les européens de nos jours qui sont tentés par la réanimation fasciste. Ainsi on arrive à interpréter d’une manière ambiguë les propositions de ce diptyque Kaganof, ambiguïté chère au Maître de cette forme d’expression. La première interprétation serait légèrement nationaliste, comme Mishima l’aurait préférée, et la deuxième un peu «anarchiste » comme le contexte de tout le cinéma alternatif moderne ou contemporain.
Kaganof nous présente son univers pervers et narcissique qui consiste à «démontrer la violence par laquelle les identités sont intérieurement médiatisées (inmediated). Ce que nous voyons n’est pas une vidéo d’art réalisé à l’intérieur d’un engagement politique mais un zapping - reflet (zapreflection) radical de l’esprit humain » (in Henk Oosterling, op.cit, p.9). L’auteur parvient à réaliser sa mutilation et son suicide (qui n’est pas montré mais suggéré) motivé par la vision quotidienne des téléviseurs et de leurs images insignifiantes, porteuses d’une frustration psychologique et pas seulement sexuelle. Son regard n’a pas pu rester stable devant ce flux télévisuel anti–artistique. Son zapping suicidaire suggéré a été effectué sans contrôle télé mais en architecture électronique, un décor semblable à celui des grandes entreprises.
Charles Manson pourrait être présent aussi dans ce diptyque, comme il l’a été dans deux autres films de l’auteur : « Dix monologues de la vie des tueurs en série » et «Composition suprématiste numéro 7 » où sa voix et ses écrits ont jalonné la créativité Kaganovienne. Dans ce diptyque et dans la plupart des films de Kaganof, Manson hante le comportement des personnages. La mise en scène les affranchit du côté prémédité des «crimes » afin d’organiser une performance d’art «criminel » sophistiqué. C’est un art qui n’est pas pratiqué par les vrais criminels mais par des gens libres et complètement affranchis des règles du polar télévisuel commercial. Un art essentiel loin des règles de la bonne morale chrétienne (ou autre) mais basé sur l’esprit révolutionnaire qui résonne aux échos de ses contraires. « En voyant les litres de sang, la chair maltraitée, les intestins coulants et en écoutant les discours machistes, frustrés et messianiques des tueurs en série, celui qui penserait que Aryan Kaganof est cinglé, il ne serait pas loin de la vérité » (Henk Oosterling, op.cit, p.8).

Dionysos ANDRONIS

Dionysos ANDRONIS on Kaganof’s three hour long epic.

With this feature-length film made in 2002, Aryan Kaganof comes back to the same path of poetic and personal reconstitution of History, a path already traced in films such as “Western 4.33” the same year. In this long film there is first of all a popular genre “road-movie” aspect, and then the aspect of an experimental documentary based on the energy of the music. This is why we have two guides for our trip; Djeff Babcock, Kaganof’s fetish actor (Kyodai, The Sequence of the Parallel Bars, Ghost Sonata, Funeral, etc.) and Bill Canell, the famous musical impresario – which is why the musical editing is very powerful, as in all Kaganof’s films.

The film opens on a big motorway strewn with signs for the cars. A sign informs us that we are on the way to Groningen, the town in Northern Germany. Babcock is alone at the beginning and we listen to his monologue as he introduces himself. He plays Friedrich Nietzsche in the film, or rather his contemporary alter ego. This monologue comes back to us later to confuse our leads as to his motivations and actual intentions.
His first visit is to an art gallery in the same town and just afterwards he comes across Bill Canell who lets him get into his Jeep. In parallel action Babcock is travelling by bike in a dreamlike atmosphere which belongs to the second level of the film, that of a slow backward march to the opposite extreme of the first journey. This second level is intentionally very highly-coloured and full of memories, and the central character is Elisabeth, Nietzsche’s old heroine. Other monologues in German begin with quotations about the personality of the philosopher portrayed here. The two main characters get into a lorry to go towards Berlin. On the way they stop at a recording studio to listen to Blixa Bargeld, the famous German musician who already worked with Kaganof in the documentary “Crossing Border Tapes” in 1996. In the 46th minute of the film the second credits appear, with the Funeral March as a sonic accompaniment. The subtitle reads “A Film About Forgiveness and Despair”. It is the triumphant arrival at Berlin, to the sound of the German National Anthem. First they meet Elisabeth, an old woman and Nietzsche’s former lover. A voice-off telephone conversation informs us of this meeting. In the protagonists’ memories she was young and beautiful and naked. They take the lift together, which stops in between storeys as the image freezes. Is this symbolic? Of course it is! It’s a confirmation that Nietzsche’s imaginary resurrection does not really work today.

Nietzsche sets off towards the central train station. A subtitle says “Nietzsche’s Last Journey”. He is alone in front of the signs showing the route to Poland, notably to Treblinka and Auschwitz. Reports with faded images begin, with the deported people from the distant past. A new subtitle reads “Nietzsche and the Jews”. As we all know, the philosopher was slightly anti-Semitic in his time, but is it important to bring that up today? In parallel, the impresario wanders around a deserted factory.

That evening they meet in a hotel room where Nietzsche kills the impresario with an enormous hammer, raising questions with no answers; “why this murder, for what motive, exactly, which person close to Nietzsche does Bill Canell represent?” We saw a few images anticipating this murder on the screen at the recording studio. The main character from the beginning then finds himself alone walking through Berlin at night, as another inscription reads “Nietzsche in Berlin in the Year 3000”. It is worth noting that Djeff Babcock is also the author of a novel entitled “The Corpse Grinders of Berlin”, brought out by the publishing house that Kaganof runs.

October 12, 2006

translated from the french by lucy lyall grant

“The Solipsist” is one of Ian Kerkhof’s most personal films. It was made in 1991 and lasts 7 minutes. It is a subversive short film, to be interpreted freely, and imagined even more freely! This film provides food for thought and recreation. It’s a counter-culture video, improvised and poetic, “organic” in the sense that all the body’s organs are targeted. Thus these organs are the generators of a new form of poetry. The images of this short film are very strong from an emotional point of view, full of the psychoanalytical symbols of a loaded universe, according to its young author. Ten years later, in 2001, Aryan Kaganof reworks some of the images of this film in order to offer us its sequel, “What is Metaphysics?”, a sequel that is far from definitive. It’s a sequel “sketched” according to the poetic and political obsessions of artists who were inspired by Japanese Seppuku, such as Yukio Mishima and Masami Akita.
“The Solipsist” is a good lesson of bodily and social morals with a spicy Japanese sauce, little known in Europe. At the beginning we see Ian Kerkhof calmly watching several TV screens which are placed one on top of the other, showing various programmes; X-rated films, polemic commentaries and so on. His eyes quickly fill with astonishment and questions which are not easily formulated through his closed lips. Irritated by the pornographic images and the hate-filled voice of the person shouting, he takes an enormous knife and ends up slashing his penis and chest in a blood bathed scene. These reworked images of the film “Solipsist” are shown again ten years later in the new “What Is Metaphysics?” accompanied by Noise music composed by Kaganof himself. In order to try and give a rough interpretation of these two films, it could be said that Kaganof swings between two branches of artistic activism: Japanese Seppuku, an extremist branch which states that “to gain a meta-physical view on the secret of life, the body has to be opened up”. (Henk Oosterling, in SMS Sanctuary, the catalogue from the eponymous exhibition at the Centraal Museum of Utrecht, 2003, p.8), and secondly, the Austrian body activism which consists of carrying actions “intended as a fierce response to the moral, intellectual and artistic repression imposed by the government which was very reluctant to look at the nation’s recent past in a straightforward way”. (from the 5th LUFF Lausanne catalogue, p.15). We wanted to make an allusion not only to the Austrian government of the 60s, but also to all those Europeans today who are tempted by the reanimation of fascism. In this way the propositions of Kaganof’s diptych can be interpreted in an ambiguous way, an ambiguity which is dear to the Master of this form of expression. The first interpretation would be slightly nationalist, as Mishima would have preferred, and the second a bit “anarchist”, like the context of the whole of modern or contemporary alternative cinema.
Kaganof presents us his perverted and narcissistic universe – “His work exposes the violence by which identities are inmediated. What we see is not an art video made fro within a political ENGAGEMENT, but a radically inmediated zapreflection OF THE HUMAN MIND”. (Henk Oosterling, op.cit., p.9). The author manages to carry out his mutilation and suicide (which is suggested rather than shown), motivated by the daily spectacle of televisions and their insignificant images, creating frustration which is psychological and not simply sexual. He was unable to watch unmoved this anti-artistic televisual flux. His suggested suicidal zapping was done without televisual control, but with electronic architecture, a décor similar to that of big businesses.
Charles Manson could also have been present in this diptych, as he was in two of the author’s other films, “Ten Monologues From the Lives of he Serial Killers” and “Supremacist Composition Number 7”, whose voice and writings prepared the ground for Kaganovian creativity. In this diptych and in most of Kaganof’s films, Manson influences the behaviour of the characters. The setting of the scene of these “crimes” liberates them from their premeditated side, in order to organise a sophisticated performance of “criminal” art. It is an art that is not practised by real criminals, but by people who are free and completely liberated from the rules of commercial police-drama television, an essential art far from the regulations of good Christian (or other) morals, based on the revolutionary spirit which resounds to the echoes of its contrasts. “Anyone who – after beholding the litres of blood, the quivering flesh and the dripping intestines accompanied by the sighing, panting, moaning and screaming which, together with the frustrated macho talk and messianic claptrap of serial killers result in the blur of noise – reaches the conclusion that Aryan Kaganof is completely hung up, is not far from the truth”. (Henk Oosterling, op.cit., p.8).

Dionysos ANDRONIS
November 17th, 2006

(translated from the french by lucy lyall grant)

gabrielle provaas in la sequence des barres paralleles

Filmographie complète

signés Ian Kerkhof

1.Kyodai makes the big time – 1992- 85min – 16mm
primé avec le Golden Calf du Meilleur Film au Festival d’Utrecht et
le prix Joseph von Sternberg au Festival de Mannheim

2. La séquence des barres parallèles – 1992 – 7min –16mm ,
avec Theo VAN GOGH (assassiné depuis par un islamiste à Amsterdam)
musique originale : Merzbow

3. The Mozart Bird -1993- 75min –35mm
mention spéciale au Festival de Mannheim

4. De enge Knijperman en de onderstebovenvrouw (The creepy peg man and the upside down woman) –1993 –14min – 16mm

5. 10 monologues from the lives of the serial killers 1994 –55min-16mm
-prix spécial du jury au festival de Rimini (Italie), en 1994
-prix du meilleur documentaire au European Film Salon de Berlin
-premier prix au festival SEMANA DE CINE 1995 de Madrid

6. Dead man 2, the return of the dead man –1994 –25min –16mm
d’après “Madame Edwarda” et “Le Mort” de Georges Bataille , avec Jaap Hoogstra, musique originale : Merzbow

7. Nice to meet you, please don’t rape me! (alias “Confession of a Yeoville rapist”)-1994 - 71 min – 16mm
avec Eric Miyeni

8.Reflections on dead weight –1994 – 11min – 16mm
écrit et interprété par Kain

9. The Turner revelation –1995 –85min –16mm
d’après la pièce de Kain

10. Minnamanna –1995 –7min - 35mm
musique de Galina Ostvolskaya

11. Naar de klote! (Wasted!) –1996 –85min –35mm
Le premier long métrage tourné en numérique et puis gonflé en 35mm
Diffusé sur ARTE le 21-07-1998

12. Shabondama Elegy- 1999 –90min –35mm
avec Thom Hoffman, musique originale : Otomo Yoshihide

13. Shabondama Elegy Trailer - 1999 - 3min - 35mm
musique Fred Eaglesmith

signés Aryan Kaganof:

14.Western 4.33 – 2002 – 32min – 35mm
-premier prix documentaire au Festival du film de La Réunion
-premier prix au Festival du film africain de Milan
-participation officielle dans plusieurs festivals internationaux dont la Berlinale en 2004

15. SMS SUGAR MAN – 2007 – 90 min. – 35mm
le premier long métrage mondialement à être filmé entièrement avec des téléphones portables et puis gonflé en 35mm

Vidéographie Incomplète *

1. Stations of the cross -1990- 11min- Beta
musique originale : John Zorn
2. Crash – 1990, 8 min.
3. The solipsist – 1991, 7 min.
musique originale : Henry Rollins
4. Egmont ghost poem – 1991, 3 min
5. Bloodbath - 1991 – 2 min
6. Carnage in the charnel house – 1991 , 4 min
7. The boy who masturbated himself to a climax – 1991, 13 min.
8. Requiem – 1991, 7 min
9. Men are pigs – 1991 , 2 min
texte écrit par Henry Rollins
10. Ein zwei drei - 1991, 7 min
11. Fort Penningsveer – 1994, 11 min

7. Baby Kain – 1994- 16mm, 25 min.

12. “Mathew Barney in The emperor’s new clothes”
avec Helena Christensen, 1995, 23 min.

13. Crossing border tapes –1996, 45min.
avec Peter Hammill, Blixa Bargeld et Henry Rollins

14. Come to the point, 1995, 5 min. avec Blixa Bargeld

15. techno:space and flow in the radical frame, 1996, 50min
16. Lift your hands up – 1997 –4min-Beta

17. Ron Athey, it’s scripted (alias “So many ways to say Hallelujah”)
1997 –25min-Beta , musique : Nick Cave

18. Signal to noise, 1997, 9 min
musique originale de Merzbow

19. mondo roxy: no other drugs required - 1998 - 58min - DV
20. Ron Athey is the Trojan Whore – 1998 –14 min
musique : Bob Dylan
21. Beyond ultra violence, uneasy listening by Merzbow –1998 -68min
musique originale : Merzbow
22. Digital Popcorn –1998 –8min-beta
23. Ghost sonata –1998 -52min
musique de Tuxedomoon et Kraftwerk

24. Sylvia Kristel, years later – 1998 – dv – 24 min.

25. Nostalgia for the future – 2000 – 24 min
musique originale de Rachels et Squarepusher
Projeté au CENTRE POMPIDOU le 26-11-2000

Signées Aryan Kaganof :

24. The seven last words of Jesus Christ – 2001- 7 min

25. The Man Who Mediated Himself To A Climax - 2001 - 4min

27. What is metaphysics ? 2001, 3 min.

30. It’s the children, 2001- 5 min.

31. Incest, 2001, 3 min.
musique originale de Tomoko Mukaiyama

32. Snuff , 2001, 3 min.
musique originale de Tomoko Mukaiyama
33. Merzbow beyond snuff, 2001, 25 min.

25. Kaganof and Feminism 2001 –7 min

26. Meditation on violence – 2001 – 4min
28. Hotel Ava – 2001 – 4min

29. Venus in furs – 2001, min. (avec Theo VAN GOGH, assassiné , depuis par un islamiste à Amsterdam)
musique de Velvet Underground
34. Western 4.33 - 2002- 50min -1ère version pour les galeries
Western 4.33 – 2002 – 32 min –2ème version en 35 mm pour les festivals

35. Casbah and back – 2002, 7 min.

36. Nicola’s first orgasm – 2002 – 6 min
avec Nicola Deane

37. primal scene - 2002 - 4min40sec
avec Nicola Deane

38. Alles Goed - 2002 - 20min
39. In Brooklyn - 2002, 15 min.
40. Pale blue eyes – 2002 – 7 min
41. Nietzsche Inna Babylon – 2002 – 2h15
avec Blixa Bargeld et Djeff Babcock
42-47.Suprematist Composition nos 1-6 / 2002
15. Gare Itshebeng – 2003 – 16mm, 6 min.

16.At last I am free – 2004 – 16mm, 5 min.

17. Imagine – 2005 – 10 min - 35mm
d‘après le court-métrage éponyme de Eran Tahor, musique : Frederic Rzewski

48.Suprematist Composition no 7 – 2003- 8 min
Première mondiale presentée par nous le 27-11-2003 à Paris

49. Sharp, sharp - 2003- 35 min
musique de Zola, TK Zee, Mzabiya

50. Arrested development – 2003 – 5 min..
musique de Nina Simone
51.Portraits of a young eastern european jewish orphan girl – 2003 – 4 min.
52. I am an African – 2003, 4 min.
53. A sun dance ecstasy – 2003, 5 min.

54. The Reserection - 2003 – dv, 11 min.
avec Djeff Babcock (acèphale)
55. Diabelli Variation 33 – 2003- dv, 5 min.
56. Abraxas Opus 1 – 2003 - dv, 5 min.
57.Bantu Continua Uhuru Nihilismus – 2004 – 25 min. , musique : Dick Tuinder, dédié à Steve BIKO (le militant anti-apartheid assassiné par la police raciste en 1977
58. Suprematist Composition nr.10, The Corridor – 2004. Dv, 4 min
59. A Sacrifice – 2004 – 1h35
musique originale de Jacques Casterede
60. Symbolic Exchange – 2004 - dv, 6 min.
61.A Funeral – 2004 – 37 min, musique: Dick Tuinder,
avec Djeff Babcock
62. Kraftmusichall (alias “Nique ta mère ”) 2004 - 10min (avec le groupe TEMPSION)
63. A Willing Suspension of Disbelief – 2004 – 3,5 min.
musique de James Webb
64. Nigga – 2004 - 4 min., co-réalisé avec Philipp Virus,
musique originale de Carl Hancock Rux
65. Isolation –2004, 5 min (d’après le film “ Corridor ” de Standish Lawder) musique originale de Cobi van Tonder
66. Seascape – 2004 – 8 min. (avec une musique originale de John Zorn)
67. Rêverie – 2004 – 10 min.
68. Reich dance redemption, 2004, 8 min., texte de Lesego Rampolokens, musique de Alec Empire
69. Kristallnacht – 2004 – dv, 8 min. avec Noa Nimberg et Djeff Babcock
70. Oasis – 2004 – dv, 6 min.
71. The Muses – 2004 – dv, 4 min.

“ Murder mystery ”, 2005 – contient les 4 films suivants :
72. Self portrait with nanny, 2004, 4 min . avec Aryan Kaganof
73. Prodigal sons , 2005, 5 min , avec l’artiste Kendell Geers lors d’un vernissage
74. Oedipus and punishment, 2005, 5 min.
75. To the Devil a bride , 2005, 6 min , avec Matthew Barney

76. “ Giant steps ” alias “ Blue notes for Bra Geoff ”, 2005, 52 min , co-réalisé avec Geoff Mphakati, poésie de Lesego Rampolekens et Lefifi Tladi
77. Mafatlha, 2005, 6 min , musique : African Noise Foundation
78. Totem, 2005, 11 min, musique ; Joel Assaizky
79. Two heads are better than one, 2005, 6 min , musique : Joel Assaizky
80. GEBOORTE WERD HEM ZIJN DOOD, 2005, 24 min, un documentaire sur l’acteur hollandais décédé Jaap Hoogstra (voir “ Dead Man 2 ”), musique : Rachels

81. Hermann Hesse Flying, 2005, 5 min. ,musique : William Bolcomb, Ce film a été projeté en première mondiale par nous pendant le Festival des Cinémas Différents de Paris en 2005.

82. Michael Blake untitled – 2005 – dv, 12 min.
83. Ringtones, 2006, un film-concert de 5 minutes, musique : Michael Blake

* Nous avons écrit “incomplète” parce que le nombre exact des vidéos réalisées par Aryan Kaganof est vraiment supérieur au chiffre ci-dessus !

Dionysos Andronis

This short film made in 1991 by Aryan Kaganof, still called Ian Kerkhof at the time, is a great film, gentle and provocative at the same time. It lasts for only 3 minutes but is nevertheless very powerful. Its text could be the subject of a whole critique – it was written by Henry Rollins, the ex-rock star who has worked many times with Kaganof and Richard Kern. I had the honour of presenting this film the 27th November 2003 in Paris, in front of its director.
During an orgy implied by the soundtrack, (the first part of the film being a black screen), we hear the cries of satisfaction from men. There is no background music during this first part but the “drunken” voices are very melodic. We hear no sign of female voices among these satisfied cries. When these voices stop, another “hard” voice starts, shouting the words of a song without music, repeating the title of the film as the chorus; “Men Are Pigs”. This song tells girls to castrate their lovers after fellatio, as the singer shouts, “Rapists, we’ll get you!” The song seems to be against machismo. The screen remains black. This is the second part of the film. A few seconds later a painting of an armed young woman appears. We hear a pistol shot, and it’s over. The formal work of the filmmaker’s images is very strong and very inventive. What is the message that Kaganof is trying to convey? It is pure poetry with no need of woolly interpretations. What would be the point in interpreting this tender “provocation?” (in the best sense of the word). Furthermore, the film is not direct – it makes its suggestions indirectly. It is worth noting that Kaganof has already indirectly and metaphorically criticised machismo – a characteristic example would be his film “Kyodai Makes The Big Time”, made in the same year. The eponymous hero of the film sees lots of women all through the film but is killed in a motorbike accident. This scene has to be a reference to Kenneth Anger and his “Scorpio Rising” of 1963. MEN ARE PIGS is a poem of the streets and inner cities.

By Dionysos ANDRONIS
March 11, 2006

translated from the french by lucy lyall grant

“Stations Of The Cross”

Ian Kerkhof’s short film made in 1990 is a great film, 11 minutes long. We’ve got into the habit of watching it every year during the Holy Week, in order to have a complete vision of the Passion of Christ: aesthetic, emotional and profane at the same time. Aryan Kaganof transforms the ritual of the crucifixion into an S&M performance, setting the scene with stills of him in the role of Christ. A black executioner and others inflict torture upon him. At times the photos reveal a few demythologising secrets as to the making of the film – some of the actors surrounding the hero (in other words, the director) are wearing contemporary clothes.
However, the most demythologising element is the presence of pins in the clothes the actor is wearing - they belong to our time, not Christ’s. They leave visible traces on his body – even his beard is full of pins, making us think of the Devil. It’s a very symbolic counter-argument because Kerkhof is playing Christ. And so in this film the two contradictory forces coexist symbolically, perfectly “reconciled and wedded” - the same forces that make all the author’s films so resonant.
A monologue in Polish completes the soundtrack, which opens with an Orthodox psalm. The film is dedicated to the memory of the Georgian film-maker Serguei Paradjanov, who was condemned to forced labour during Stalin’s occupation of his country because of his homosexuality.
Some of the films images have been reworked eleven years later to form “It’s The Children”, which we showed as a French premiere the 11/12/05 (see corresponding article), while the original film “Stations of the Cross” had its French premiere at the “Freakzone Festival” in Lille in 1997.

Dionysos ANDRONIS

(Sunday 9th April, 2006, the week before Easter)

translated from the french by lucy lyall grant

Den sydafrikanske filmaren Ian Kerkhof (som tydligen föredrar namnet Aryan Kaganof…?!) gjorde 1998 en film med/om Merzbow, som heter Beyond Ultraviolence: Uneasy Listening By Merzbow. samt en 9 minuters-kortis ngt år tidigare — Signal to Noise. Popcorn-festivalen i Stockholm visade tydligen dessa 1998… eftersom jag hade fullt upp med att vara hyfsat nybliven pappa hade jag inte möjlighet att gå på festivalen, men som tur är hade jag en polare som jobbade där, och som var vänlig nog att förse mig med en VHS-kopia direkt från Kerkhofs kassett… (jo, jag är laglydig, Kerkhof har tydligt skrivit “no copyright” etc i filmerna, så jag utgår från att han tycker det är OK att jag sitter på en kopia…). Det är absolut inte de bästa filmer jag någonsin sett, men helt klart intressanta. Visst hänfaller Kerkhof ibland till en störande storögd betraktare av det “exotiska”, men om man tar dem som en dryg timmes ögongodis med lite noisemusik, så funkar det fint. Jag fick inga nya insikter i Masami Akitas tänkande, men vad fan… det känns helt OK…

Jag lånade ut min VHS till en pervers finne, vi kan kalla honom Mikko, för drygt ett år sedan, eftersom han sade sig kunna föra över filmerna till DVDR. Min baktanke med detta var naturligtvis att det skulle bli lättare att dela med sig av filmerna till intresserade noisegökar. Hittills har finnen dock inte haft tid/möjlighet att ordna själva överföringen, men jag hoppas att han gör det snart… skall maila honom + påminna om det.

Läs mer om Beyond Ultraviolence HÄR.

Ians/Aryans filmografi är verkligen späckad med intressanta titlar… fan, jag vill se den där Sylvia Kristel: Years Later… och vad sägs om den här beskrivningen av en rulle?

THE RESERECTION

Netherlands-South Africa, 1997-2003, 11min, DV - a speech of Charles Manson, smuggled out of prison in 1986, is set to images of the Amsterdam-based performance artist acèphale while he masturbates his enormous member. Beautiful Cassandra watches while smoking a marijuana joint which she stubs out on his tumescent genital.

this article first appeared here

Krátkometrážní / Experimentální
Nizozemí, 1990, 13 min

Režie: Ian Kerkhof
dwi **

profil / všechny komentáře uživatele
Provokativní nizozemský solitér Ian Kerkhof již od studentských filmů ventiluje lehce zvrácené nitro do víceméně tabuizovaných témat, přičemž je obaluje omšelou intelektuální patinou. Boy Who Masturbated Himself To Climax na první pohled zdaleka není tak šokující fackou (jak by mohl název naznačovat), nýbrž ironickou výpovědí zahalenou do “artovějšího” stylu. V centru filmu sice vidíme masturbujícího muže, zároveň však i prostřihy na křesťanskou ikonografii a fotky svlečených malých holčiček. Stylizovaný kontrapunkt mezi tím “dobrým” a “zlým” je natolik suchopárný, že výše jít prostě nemohu.

this review first appeared here