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| Trophies 2023 |
Missed (see sample video) Use
headphones. Video and Sound by Dan Senn duration 10:00 |
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| Trophies Missed (2023)
was filmed at Studio FMEra on December 21, 2020 in Watertown, Wisconsin, USA. The sound track was completed on July 3, 2023 also at FMEra. The title of the work came in response to reports that a recent US president had for his entire life collected trophies, things that belonged to others, a characteristic of sociopaths and those with a narcissistic personality disorder. This work captures trophies of another sort. Mementos. Memories as yet unstolen by others. Other recent videos by Dan Senn are Habitat,
U Garáží, Three Panes, Banana Telegraph and Danger Alley. |
The
video seeks to imitate the eye movement of a child observing objects in a safe place, unobserved. The video was made at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The sound track is a recording of a single cat's eye shooting marble pushed lightly into motion while atop a rough, unglazed underside of a high-fire dinner plate thrown by the composer in February, 1973. The slightest push would cause the glass marble to move energetically, inexplicably, popping about in erratic directions for as much as 12 seconds before suddenly resting. This activity was close-miked, recorded, stretched and sonically finessed for Trophies Missed. The hardwood window frames holding these mementos and the wrinkly-bubbly glass panes just above that obscure the outdoor images were put in place in 1883, one hundred and forty years ago. DS 070423 |
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). An inventory of window contents include a pavement stone from Prague, a cut piece of Watertown brick and various objects found while gardening outback this old house, bits of a plastic recorder, small sculptural instruments, awards, the last remaining jar of black cap jam from my mother's fruit cellar, a klinker from a 19th Century cinder driveway that once circled this house, etc. Trophies in the best sense from good long lives. |