The Mirror Commissions

Our project The Mirror consists of an a/v performance (and sometimes stand alone movie), an album release, a film for improvisers, and 3 new artist commissions where they to respond to The Mirror with a new piece of work. All three artist responses by Dina Kelberman, Porest (Mark Gergis) and Hearty White are now available, so we’re putting them all together online here:

Reflects by Dina Kelberman (December 2018)
Media link:  https://dinakelberman.com/reflects

Description:  When I thought about the word “reflections” this is what my brain showed me.  Something about reflects, reflex, reflection symmetry, shapes, walls, and now that i think about it it’s probably a lot to do with sitting in a tiny room full of corners all day every day.  Also laptop symmetry.  These might all just be portraits of my laptop.

Bio:  Dina Kelberman is an interdisciplinary artist recently transplanted from Baltimore, MD to Los Angeles CA.  Kelberman has created original web-based pieces for the New Museum and The Marina Abramovic Institute and has participated in numerous design and photography biennials.  Her work has been written about in The New York Times, Art21, NPR, Known and Strange Things (Cole, 2016) and most recently The Focal Press Companion to the Constructed Image in Contemporary Photography (Routledge, 2018) and Olia Liliana’s “An Infinite Seance 3”.  In 2018 she was invited to speak at the UbuWeb conference in Athens and the Post-Photography Prototyping Biennial in London.  She is currently ranked 5th in the world for Most Lines in Tetris for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

POREST Reflects Upon The Mirror

Above is the trailer for the second of our 3 artist commissions made in response to The Mirror. The first was by Dina Kelberman, and now we’re presenting you this 50-minute new audio piece by POREST (Mark Gergis).

Available January 7, 2019 (free download)
https://porest.bandcamp.com/album/abject-mirror-2

POREST • ABJECT MIRROR 
Porest is dragged through an inconvenient network of paranormal subterfuge after exposing something significant that may have happened 33 days from now. 
Audio-drama with advertisements and musical accompaniment.

Porest, etc: Mark Gergis 
Dr. Lumen / Mr. Fleckt, etc: Jake Rodriguez 
Acoustic guitar on THROUGH YOU: Robert Millis 
Recorded and produced by Porest until 2019
Thank you: Vicki Bennett  
Published by Porestsound – 2019 
(Porestsound 010-DI)




Dina Kelberman: Reflects

In Spring 2018 we completed creation of and started touring the a/v performance The Mirror, which in Autumn 2018 was accompanied by the release of an OST of the same name.  Now it’s time to start publishing three artist commissions we have made in relation to this.  The first work is an a/v piece by Dina Kelberman.  The title is “Reflects”.

Click on the Media Link to view the work and please enable pop-ups and turn your device sound on since they form an essential part of the piece.

The other two artists (Porest & Hearty White) new works will be revealed in the coming weeks. 

Title:  Reflects

Description:  When I thought about the word “reflections” this is what my brain showed me.  Something about reflects, reflex, reflection symmetry, shapes, walls, and now that i think about it it’s probably a lot to do with sitting in a tiny room full of corners all day every day.  Also laptop symmetry.  These might all just be portraits of my laptop.

Bio:  Dina Kelberman is an interdisciplinary artist recently transplanted from Baltimore, MD to Los Angeles CA.  Kelberman has created original web-based pieces for the New Museum and The Marina Abramovic Institute and has participated in numerous design and photography biennials.  Her work has been written about in The New York Times, Art21, NPR, Known and Strange Things (Cole, 2016) and most recently The Focal Press Companion to the Constructed Image in Contemporary Photography (Routledge, 2018) and Olia Liliana’s “An Infinite Seance 3”.  In 2018 she was invited to speak at the UbuWeb conference in Athens and the Post-Photography Prototyping Biennial in London.  She is currently ranked 5th in the world for Most Lines in Tetris for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Media link:  https://dinakelberman.com/reflects

Still from Reflects by Dina Kelberman
Still from Reflects by Dina Kelberman

The Mirror

ABOUT

The Mirror is created by first navigating hundreds of preexisting feature length movies, searching for conceptual/actual subject matter pertaining to reflection and projection. The initial idea was to depict the camera as a torch that shines light down dark corridors and as an eye that watches people when they are alone, and then through navigating all the footage to see what new stories emerge. The selected source material was then edited into thousands of snippets which are labelled and the descriptions examined to find similarities and crossovers that might be emerging in descriptions/storylines.  A conceptually related soundtrack was then composed in relation to edits on the movie timeline, also created by editing and recombining from sections of hundreds of preexisting songs, as well as sounds from the movies. This is an exercise in editing and juxtaposition, also an investigation, an “operation” working with the premise that if you cut into something and isolate it from its “finished” guise you discover new stories and information relevant to the present and future. Published material is often seen as “finished”, the end of the story, not available for comment, a sealed up museum-like product, isolated on an island, away from ideas and reflections. By use of collage, one can unthread, rewind and redirect content to discover what other stories may be hidden, allowing an active dialogue both with the external content, and also challenge the routine ways in which we may be limiting our own creativity by our own fixed (isolated) ways of thinking. Recombining these hundreds of movie storylines into new combinations can create results that are more than the sum of the parts and beyond our usual pattern of creating stories alone, we are carving new pathways for our minds to (re)explore. — Vicki Bennett

For more information on the working methods and philosophical approach of People Like Us please read:
++ This conversation between Vicki Bennett and Peter Jaeger conducted over the course of Summer 2015. It was published in filling Station Issue 63.  Download as a pdf.
++ This conversation between Vicki Bennett and Kenneth Goldsmith in Found Footage Magazine. Buy your copy here.
++ The Mirror can be considered a sister project to our 360 a/v Cinechamber installation “Gone, Gone Beyond”, which you can read about here.
++ Read an interview about “Gone, Gone Beyond” conducted by Hearty White here.

We are pleased to announce a new audiovisual immersive cinema performance by People Like Us called The Mirror, performed (and screened in Theatrical form if in the US) from March 2018 worldwide.  

“A feat of research and craft, this new work is a spellbinding inquiry into editing and juxtaposition; a collage one can unthread allowing the viewer to discover hidden stories through familiar images. The soundtrack is performed live, made up from hundreds of preexisting songs, as well as particular sounds from the original film clips.” — Flatpack Film Festival

”With The Mirror Bennett has proven herself an alchemist of popular music, able to push her source material into fresh and engaging places.” — The Wire

”Because of the use of familiar pop sounds, “The Mirror” is often grandiose. Like an epic film only with highs, never letting the listener down or letting him doubt the power of pop. Even, of course, when the coordinates are twisted, mixed, over or underrepresented. Each moment feels like something that could only happen in a parallel universe. Although that may sound naïve, it’s just a lost thought of reaction to the beautiful collages of People Like Us in “The Mirror”. This mirror doesn’t reflect an image of ourselves or an image of pop. But an image on the way memories drift and are being constant rebuilt. An unfinished collage.” — Boomkat

“Bennett celebrates the song stylists, the crooners, the sirens and interpreters of melody, and all the psychedelic in-between. The songs she pulls from seem to stem between 30’s ballroom and 70’s soft disco, here presented like being in a deep REM-state, dreaming of being at the drive-in, in warped Panavision. Essential.” toneshift.net

https://peoplelikeus-vickibennett.bandcamp.com/album/the-mirror

3/4 March 2023The Mirror at TUSK NORTH, Newcastle
18 February 2023 – The Mirror at Electric Spring Festival, University of Huddersfield
29 November 2022 – The Mirror at Ubu@50 at Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb
26 November 2022 – The Mirror at BBMix Festival, Paris
19 November 2022 – The Mirror at Keroxen, Santa Cruz, Tenerife, Spain
5 November 2022 – The Mirror at Intangible Festival, Lleida, Spain
20 October 2022 – The Mirror at Stimul Festival, Prague
9 July – 4 September 2022 – Theatrical screening at Cover Versions curated by Anthony and Graham Dolphin, Exeter Phoenix
3 June 2022Open Ears Festival, Kitchener, Canada
21 May 2022 – Live again! At Index Festival, Braga, Portugal
April – May 2022 – theatrical screening at Cover Versions curated by Anthony and Graham Dolphin, The Athenaeum, Sunderland
Feb – April 2022 – part of gallery exhibition MIND MAPS: The Art of Vicki Bennett – solo exhibition Walla Walla USA
4 December 2021Keroxen, Tenerife (postponed – pandemic)
29 April – 2 May 2021 – Online screening of The Mirror, Oscillation Festival, Brussels
21 November 2020BBMix Festival 2020, Paris (postponed – pandemic)
6 November 2020 – MAAT, Lisbon – virtual performance of The Mirror
28 July 2020 – 4 August 2020 – Virtual screening (pandemic rescheduling), Le Nouveau Musée National de Monaco 
5 March 2020 – Theatrical Screening (not a concert) WFMU Benefit, Monty Hall, Jersey City
28 September 2019 – Theatrical Screening (not a concert), Radius Gallery Santa Cruz, CA
15 September 2019 – Theatrical Screening (not a concert), 21C Museum Hotel, Lexington, KY (introduced by Hearty White)
22 June 2019 – Iklectik Art Lab, London
14 June 2019 – The Mirror and Objects in the Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear, Culture Lab, Newcastle
9 May 2019 – Venice Biennale at HILLARY: The Hillary Clinton Emails by Kenneth Goldsmith after the opening reception
23 – 28, April 2019 Theatrical Screening, AFO Olomouc, Czech Republic
6 April 2019 – Theatrical Screening (not live), Other Cinema, ATA, Valencia St, San Francisco
27 March 2019Musikbrauerei, Berlin
9 February 2019 – Theatrical Screening (not live) – The Voix de Ville 2019 / ARTxFM, Columbia Theatre, Louisville Kentucky
30 November 2018 – Theatrical Screening (not live, we do not perform in concerts in the US) Recombinant Festival, Gray Area, San Francisco
15 November 2018 Cinecity Film Festival, Fabrica, Brighton
10 November 2018 Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo Norway
2 November 2018 Spill Festival, Ipswich
20 October 2018 100 Years of Copyright Festival, HKW, Berlin
19 & 20 September 2018 – Theatrical Screening (not live) – Spectacle Theater, Brooklyn
17 September 2018 – Theatrical Screening (not live) – Bryce’s Show on WFMU
26 July 2018MACBA, Barcelona
19 July 2018 – LEV Festival, Arenas Movedizas, Gijón
11 July 2018 – Cafe OTO, London
12 May 2018Splice Festival, Rich Mix, London
21 April 2018 – Flatpack Festival, Birmingham
20 April 2018 – Cafe OTO, London
17 April 2018 – Belfast Film Festival, Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast
13 April 2018 – UK Premiere: FACT, Liverpool
18 March 2018 – World Premiere: Athens Greek Film Archive Foundation (as part of Shadow Libraries: UbuWeb in Athens, organised and produced by the Onassis Cultural Centre-Athens)

If you are a festival organiser with a budget and are interested in booking this or anything else, please get in touch by way of our Contact FormIf you are in a country requiring a work visa to perform we can in very special circumstances make this work into a theatrical screening, but generally this is only available as a performance with the artist present and you will need to gain necessary papers for us to agree.

Publicity photo for both the concert and the album – credit Joe Gerhardt

SUPPORTING WORKS AND ARTICLES

Download higher resolution images from The Mirror

3 artist commissions : we have commissioned new works by artists responding to The Mirror:
Reflects by Dina Kelberman (December 2018)
Abject Mirror by Porest (Mark Gergis) (January 2019)
The Mirror by Hearty White (January 2019)
(view all three on one url)

The Mirror CD/digital download contains music from The Mirror, and tracks from Gone, Gone Beyond

New Film for Improvising Musicians and Artists – titled Objects In The Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear.  This is not the first film we have made of this type. Previous to this was Notations (which included a national tour in the UK (followed by further dates internationally) with a fantastic roster of improvisers, supported by Sound and Music), as well as some collaborations where we have made the film then made sections available to other artists and musicians to respond (Gesture Piece and CCCitations). You can enquire about performing with this movie by way of our Contact Page. Our first performance will be in Newcastle, UK in June 2019, as part of a collaboration with Newcastle University Department of Music.

No.8 in The Wire Magazine’s releases of 2019
We have expanded 10 minutes of The Mirror to be a 360 surround sound and video work

Interview with Anne Hilde Neset on BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction, 8 January 2019
Listen to the interview
Interview with Robert Worby and full airy of performance of The Mirror (at Cafe Oto) on BBC Radio 3’s Hear and Now, 19 January 2019
Listen to the interview

Graham Duff – The Mirror a reflection upon the work and surrounding subject matter
Interview in The Wire Magazine in a phone conversation with Emily Bick of The Wire Magazine, Vicki Bennett reflects on The Mirror, Gone, Gone Beyond, and working with preexisting footage.

Info sheet / teaching pack – collected insights on the making of this work by Vicki Bennett.

Still from Reflects by Dina Kelberman
Still from Reflects by Dina Kelberman (click to view the work… please enable pop-ups)
The Mirror at Venice Biennale

Shortcut for this url is https://peoplelikeus.org/themirror.html

Continue reading “The Mirror”

OPTIMIZED! Expanded Radio Stream on WFMU!

OPTIMIZED! Expanded Radio Stream on WFMU 6-10 June 2016, Noon-3pm (EST)
Playlists & archives: http://wfmu.org/playlists/UP
Documentation: https://peoplelikeus.org/2016/optimized-wfmu/

From 6-10 June 2016 Vicki Bennett and John Kilduff were Artists in Residence at freeform radio station WFMU in Jersey City, NJ, USA.

NEW! Documentation Video:

This residency consisted of “Optimized!” – a week-long online a/v radio station which experimented with ideas of what radio might be in the world of high speed internet broadcasting.

The content included 26 new a/v artist commissions selected and programmed by Vicki Bennett, where people were invited to respond to the word “optimized”, John Kilduff’s live “Let’s Paint TV” daily video show which combines, painting, cooking and exercise, and an evening at the station with an in-house studio audience.

John Kilduff and Vicki Bennett Artist Residency – Expanded Radio at WFMU

optimized-schedule
Noon-2pm: 10 hours of new/exclusive recordings, radio & video by 26 participants. Programmed by Vicki Bennett / People Like Us
2pm-3pm: Daily video shows live from WFMU’s Monty Hall by John Kilduff / Let’s Paint TV – Mr Let’s Paint will take your calls! skype: letspaintwfmu
3pm-5pm: repeat of noon-2pm schedule
9 June 2016: A live expanded radio event at Monty Hall with Let’s Paint TV & People Like Us / DIFM (Do It For Me) with Pseu Braun

Pseu Braun DIFM (Do It For Me) at Monty Hall

Continue reading “OPTIMIZED! Expanded Radio Stream on WFMU!”

People Like Us at the WFMU Record Fair

Here’s some live video of a special concert People Like Us performed at the WFMU record fair. For those of you who have never been there, it’s the time of year, one of many that all DJs and volunteers do their best not only to raise money for the station but have a great time at the same time.

Live at the WFMU Record Fair (2003), shot by Corey Smith. The work has been carefully constructed using industrial and documentary film footage from 1940-1975.
live at fmu