About 10 days ago, multidisciplinary artist Kate Lain started a simple Google spreadsheet called “Cabin Fever” in the hopes of gathering links to experimental films she could send to her students once classes were moved online due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Lain divided her “playlist” into sections, such as “For when you need to laugh or smile,” “For when you wanna sing & dance,” and even “For when you just want to scream or break something.” As she explained to Hyperallergic, these categories are “based on moods one might be experiencing while being cooped up.”
In less than two weeks, Lain’s spreadsheet has grown to include hundreds of experimental films and artists’ moving image works from around the world, complete with content warnings where appropriate and a password option for artists who prefer some layer of security.
Likewise, many artists and filmmakers have taken it upon themselves to remove passwords from their collections of work on Vimeo and elsewhere. From Beatriz Santiago Muñoz to Sky Hopinka to Alexandra Cuesta, it’s been heartening to me as a moving image curator to see a range of experimental filmmakers make their work publicly available. And while worrying in the long term, the fact that even some festivals have moved entirely online has offered a little glimmer of light at the end of a tunnel of bad TV, especially as many arthouse cinemas have closed for the immediate future.
by Dessane Lopez Cassell
[read full article]
(2020-03-26)
hyperallergic.com

|||