What’s a DVD again?
a) “Another Useless Ironic Colourful Object In The Long List of Items Produced By The Falling Western Empire”
b) Plastic taking up room on shelves you wouldn’t need if you didn’t collect plastic
c) A great way to support independent visual artists and musicians
d) A snapfrozen piece of the internet, a medley of fragments and crosswired influences
e) All of the above, ie Faits Divers by Gangpol & Mit, published by Pictoplasma publishing, beautifully packaged and designed by Wiyumi.
“Sonic and Visual in Love”
Faits Divers finds my favourite French audiovisual duo heading off into a more narrative driven direction than previous animated efforts. Sure, the sugarbuzzy pop charm is still there, and they are still farming the possibilities of blending nostalgic sounds and visions with a caricatured cutting edge tech. Where this once presented itself as mutant rhythmic AV probably best suited to a live environment, we are now treated to extended explorations in their cartoon worlds – where deviant plots unfold over time and the music doesn’t try to fit so much in at all times.
“Many of the characters in the clips are easily read as extensions of the creators themselves, battling it out on the ping-pong table, aloof deities on a tiny cloud, lusty beings united in tantric embraces, or sailors stranded on a distant shore, on the verge of embracing cannibalism”
The DVD comes in 4 flavours: Clips/Stories (eg The Hatred Boat), Activities (eg Stand on Waste) and Art with Heart (Interviews with fake artists) and Archives. There is no option to play the soundtrack by itself, which is maybe deliberate, but there is available:
“A special free gift mp3 package delivering 4 new edits of its soundtrack, alternative versions especially reworked to animate your new years celebrations, wedding parties, mystic choirs, ethnic orchestras and goat skin percussions etc”.
“In times where digital media and low-cost travel shrink the globe to the size of a pixel, we are haunted by the computer generated nightmare version of this carnival. The man-eating feast is taken place just millimetres below your computer screen – slaughter on the motherboard.”
“Gangpol & Mit’s message is subliminal: Eat technology before technology eats you!”
Everything in quotation marks has been nabbed from the French horse’s mouth… ie the DVD liner notes*, “The Cannibalist Ethos of Techno Cannibalism,” by Lars Denicke and Peter Thaler, or the G+M website, where many treats await you.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by jean_poole, Pictoplasma. Pictoplasma said: Eat technology before technology eats you! Very nice review of our Gangpol + Mit DVD! http://bit.ly/cZgYXi […]