The Trapart book Switching Mirrors by Vanessa Sinclair was officially released at a party at The Delancey in New York on November 28th, 2016. The evening was made even more special by a live performance by Vanessa and amazing musician Liza Beth Paap (on violin, loops). I have now made the recording available on SoundCloud. Enjoy it here or at SoundCloud! The book Switching Mirrors can be checked out HERE!
My film Sub Umbra Alarum Luna (2016) was dedicated to Derek Jarman’s influential work, specifically In the Shadow of the Sun (1975, with music by Throbbing Gristle 1980). The film has been screened in Stockholm, Copenhagen, London, New York, Porto and other places, and is available on DVD and Vimeo On Demand. My new project, LUNACY, will be the “follow-up” film to Sub Umbra, and is based around recorded cut-up texts about the moon by Vanessa Sinclair, with music by me. The film will be a miasmic, mind-expanding trip into the psycho-lunar orbit. Mixing new material with older super 8 footage and a truly cosmic soundtrack, I will aim to see what’s on the dark side of the moon – and hopefully come back. If you’d like, please support this project via Kickstarter. It’s an exciting project, so please join me in getting this rocket/cine-poem off the ground. Thanks!
In our post post modern culture, the definitions of what can be deemed “art” have become more and more flexible. Where gradually wider creative phenomena like fashion, design and architecture have approached and entered the arena of accepted art, art’s essence (instigating magical change through aestheticised personal expression, thereby enhancing the experience of life) has become more and more pushed away by superficialities and mass market adaptation – no doubt reflecting the overall contemporary culture as a whole. This constitutes a problem, and not only on the level of terminology. The problem consists of a demoting of an essential sphere or phenomenon into a commodified area that mainly uses the rational mind to evaluate even aesthetic or emotional spheres. To use an example closer to the core question: art is art, but the art world is not art. The rational handling of and trading with something stemming from the soul doesn’t make the actual handling or trading...
”Why hasn’t anyone made a proper monograph with Tom Benson’s amazing images?” That was a question that pestered me for many, many years. I first saw his trippy collages on record covers and in the phenomenal Radium Magazine back in the 80s. Surreal, majestic, totally unique in every way, evoking dark fantasies and strange sexual pathologies. Tom Benson became an enigma, and even more so after his death in 1999. No major shows, very few catalogs, rumours and ”Yeah, I’ve heard about him but that’s it…” That didn’t suffice. Not for me. In 2013, I traveled to Gothenburg and Varberg to go through prints and things together with Benson’s widow, Marja Sipola Cuss. I was amazed at how much great – and unseen – stuff there was. And that’s how Tom Benson: Visionary began as a project. Today, the book was sent to the printers and I opened up for ”pre-ordering” it on the Trapart site. A very satisfying feeling. Of course, I know I’m very partial but I would still like to recommend buying...