When I started working on this project, I had no idea precisely how little I  actually knew in specifics about the Civil War. My prior knowledge can basically be summed up as follows: North v. South, slavery, Lincoln, Lee, Gettysburg, Gettysburg address &c.

So once I was thrust neck-deep into this specific battle, I was in awe of the wealth of history and depth of narrative that was available. The Civil War was the first nation-wide event in U.S. History to have first-person narratives paired with rich photographic imagery. We took full advantage of that while putting this together, and it was fascinating to do so.

This is the first of several ‘episodes’ we’ll be putting together on Minnesota’s involvement with the war, so I’ll have a lot more learning and discovering to do… 

Here it is! The video I directed for local band Wild Cathedral has now been released to the world.

Luckily for us, it got featured on the City Pages ‘Local Frames’ blog post yesterday. It was a hug pleasure to work with these guys and everyone who turned out onset to dance for us were absolutely fantastic and ready for anything.

This past weekend was an overwhelming experience to say the least. We had a marathon shoot for the Wild Cathedral music video that has now resulted in some of the most exciting, intriguing and out-there footage I’ve ever concocted or directed. A huge part of that is due to the gangbuster crew I had assembled, who were willing to provide and encourage a multitude of weird and wonderful ideas to feed into the project.

Even more thanks are in order to all the band members, extras and dancers who donated their time to be in front of the camera. They were energetic and willing to try anything. I was totally astounded by all their hard work.

Above you’ll see some photos from Saturday, taken by AC Jacob Gulliver, that give a little glimpse into what exactly we were up to.

For the past few days, Minneapolis has been host to the American Association of Museums’ Annual Meeting 2012. Some of the Minnesota Historical Society’s work has been honored by AAM in the past and this year was no exception.

The 1968 Exhibit’s Huey Helicopter Vietnam Combat Stories, of which I edited the majority of the video pieces presented within, was honored with a MUSE Award this year by the Association. I’m really proud to have the hard work of myself and my colleagues recognized and showcased.

The 1968 Exhibit is now on view at the Oakland Museum of California, until August 19th.

Still reeling from the Keys screening at the Sonoma International Film Festival, but I’m happy to return home, where three films that I had a hand in editing were selected for the shorts programs in this year’s Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival.

Top left: Chris, directed by Ethan Holbrook, right: Little Wolf, directed by Christopher Peck and bottom: The Well, directed by Christopher Jopp. A trio of Chris.

Ethan’s film played last Monday to a very warm reception and Messrs. Peck and Jopp’s films will be screening tomorrow night at the St. Anthony Main theatre.

I am tremendously excited to see these movies on the big screen and was really privileged to work on all three of them. 

The Sports Show opens tonight at the MIA. It’s been a lot of fun to work on, being the first major install I’ve worked on at the Institute. It’s also proving to be one of the most media-heavy shows they’ve ever exhibited.

Although the bulk of the pieces on display are photographs, there are some really astounding media works that it has been a privilege to work around and with. From Buster Keaton to Zinedine Zidane, the range of work selected by curator David Little really touches on pretty much every aspect dealing with the intersection of sport and art culture.

Above are stills from some of the featured media pieces:

1. Clips from the Buster Keaton film College.
2. Kota Ezawa’s Brawl, a cut-out animation re-contextualizing of the 2004 Pistons-Pacers brawl. Shown on a 16mm film looper.
3. The O. J. Simpson Project by Roger Welch, a multiple projection and monitor setup featuring an interview with the Juice on two synched monitors, along with projections of him on the football field and a double projection of fans in the stands.
4. Paul Pfeiffer’s The Saints, mainly a massive audio installation featuring the sounds of the 1966 World Cup crowd, recreated and pumped through large speakers to fill a mostly empty gallery. Three video elements are also a part of the piece. One, featured above, is focused on a single player of the World Cup game by editing out every other player on the field.
5. Filz-TV by Joseph Beuys. We all love a little Beuys — here he boxes with himself in front of a small television set, among other things.
6. Tim Davis’ triple monitor piece The Upstate New York Olympics, which feature him conceiving and carrying out various fake Olympic events he builds around what he can find driving around the northern part of his state.
7. Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, a dual screen documentary film about the controversial French soccer player, featuring a soundtrack by Mogwai. This piece really works well as a closer, as it ties together so many aspects of the Welch, Ezawa and Pfeiffer pieces. Also the projections are massive and daunting.

This exhibition has been one of the most exciting and challenging events I’ve ever worked on and I’m really looking forward to seeing what visitors make of it. So if you’re in the MSP area in the near future, make sure to swing by and see The Sports Show. I promise you won’t be disappointed.