Instantaneous Structuring

Before there was The Blair Witch Project, jerky-camera TV sitcoms like The Office, and yes, video blogs, there were the improvisational in-camera edits and "single frame filming" diaries of Jonas Mekas:

"I am sick and tired of the guardians of Cinema Art who accuse the new film-maker of shaky camera work and bad technique. In like manner, they accuse the modern composer, the modern sculptor, the modern painter of sloppiness and poor technique. They are hopeless. I would rather spend my time in heralding the new." (from his 1962 essay "Notes on the New American Cinema," in a section called "A Note on the 'Shaky Camera'")

And now, at age 83, there's this, Jonas' latest heralding of the new (tip of the hit to Cuechamp).

After viewing Jonas' frontline video blog entry, I think to myself: Moving visual art as an exercise in instantaneous structuring. That's my next project (2007-2008).

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Metadata: art, film, Mekas