Hannah Hoch

One of the original dadaists, she struggled most of her life to gain respect for her work. This struggle was due mostly to her sex. In a male/machismo world a woman artist always had to fight against the hidden  unacknowledged prejudices of her male colleaques. Her work is very interesting. And I think it suggests that she had a better eye for visual ideas and wasn’t handcuffed to intellectual frameworks. I sound like I write for Wikepedia. I like this woman. There is something… contemporary about her work.

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A trailer for a film about this artist

and a short film about her work

Stobe Harju

Sometimes not being ‘with it’ has its advantages. This video for example came out in 2008. Once again I have watched it with and without sound. And I found that watching it without sound made me more aware of how terrific the visuals were. It is sung by a group called Poets of the Fall. They have a nice sound. This video was directed by Stobe Harju. I have to check out some of the other videos by this group.

This is an interview with Harju. How is your Finnish? There are sub-titles.

This is the video that they are referring to in the interview. I like the music. Reminds me of Pearls Before Swine. The piece is somewhat choppy so I’m not sure what state of the final video this appears to be.

Gideon Kiefer

I’m not really kean on this artist. Gideon Kiefer. His pieces are somewhat interesting. He likes humorist titles. The importance of good titles cannot be underestimated. If someone doesn’t ‘get’ your work they can always discuss your title.“Blasted Holmes. What the devil do you think he had in mind when he called this… whatever it is whatever he called it?” But maybe I liked his work because he had an exhibition in Knokke, Belgium. And I stayed there one time at my in-laws apartment. And could have walked by the exhibition. And looked in. And said something like, ‘I don’t care much for that.’

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