Four Cousins 1993 by Dan Senn	On a Stump (see video) Use headphones for full sound spectrum. Video with 2009 Field Recording from Germany duration 4:39
"Four Cousins On a Stump" was filmed on October 19, 1993, a "percussive" mapping of four cousins standing on a stump outside Shy Anne Studio in Tacoma, WA. Half the video content of this short film had been forgotten, the rhythmic "tap-recording" of the Kreitzmann sisters. A work called "Two Kids On a Stump" of my oldest two children was prepared in 1993 with this footage put aside and forgotten. Now, 27 years later I discovered the original Hi8 footage and "Four Cousins..." is the result. The subjects in this work, in order of appearance, are Bree Kreitzmann (pictured above), Eliane Senn, Krystal Kreitzmann, and Nicholas Senn. The exact date of a recording is important as I have kept private journals since 1971 where I often write about my work in detail.	The field recording used in this film was initially chosen because it had the exact length of the video footage. Plopping down sound on a video conceived independently has long been part of my experimental process as I search for useful accidents, surprises, while thinking "Wonder how this might work?" and sometimes I learn from the result. Like other "percussive" video accompaniments, where I enhance the silent ryhythms of the video with the rhythmic texture of the sound track, this is achieved here through isolation and contrast to the sound. It also brings unintended insight to the otherwise clinical visual materials. I will leave interpretation of this combination to others. To learn more about my video methods from the 1990s, read the online program notes from "Jones Glass" or other videos of mine from this time. DS October 6, 2020	Biography Dan Senn (Prague-Watertown) is an intermedia artist working in music composition and production, kinetic sound sculpture, experimental and documentary film. He has been a professor of music and art in the United States and Australia and travels internationally as a lecturer, performer and installation artist. He lives in Prague where he directs the Echofluxx festivals, and Watertown, Wisconsin, the USA, with his partner-collaborator, Caroline Senn. Dan's work moves freely between expressive extremes and languages depending upon the aesthetic joust at hand. Dan is cofounder of Roulette Intermedium in New York City, Cascadia Composers of Portland Oregon, and the Echofluxx media festivals in Prague. (read more). A high resolution, full sized video is available for download by request from the artist. Listen to video with headphones or a full spectrum speaker system.