I just returned from the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. I traveled with the Graffiti Research Lab who were invited as part of the New Frontier on Main program. New Frontier on Main “showcases cinematic installations, multimedia performance events, microcinema screenings, new media technology, and the Rabbit Hole, a DJ installation lounge cafe.” This year, New Frontier included some really interesting artists like Cory Arcangel, DJ Spooky, Doug Aitken, and Jim Campbell.
Highlights of New Frontier exhibit include Home Movies 300 by Jim Campbell. Home Movies 300 is a curtain of high powered LEDs facing a wall. The light projecting from the LEDs creates low resolution moving images on the wall behind them. Jim Campbell took the imagery from found home movie footage.
I walked past Danny Rozin’s Wooden Mirror every day for 2 years in grad school. The Peg Mirror (pictured above) is a beautiful evolution of that mirror. The 650 wooden dowels have angled edges that rotate to create the visitor’s reflection. The angled edges cause shadows and highlights to form the low resolution image.
Stephanie Rothenburg & Jeff Crouse of the Invisible Threads project were some of the hardest working people at Sundance. They spent every day at New Frontier printing out and sewing jeans that were designed in a Second Life sweatshop. The Second Life sweatshop follows an indentured servant model where workers earn virtual land in exchange for their servitude. Sundance visitors could purchase these jeans fresh out of the printer to help pay for workers’ land.
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