In just a few short years drones have gone from novelty to nuisance, swarming local events and crashing into apartment buildings. But don’t pull out your old Little League bat just yet– drones can also be great tools for filmmakers. As any Casey Neistat fan can tell you, you can get some jaw-dropping shots with even a low-priced model, a smart phone, and some spare time.
Actually, the future is still a few months away. But get ready anyway coz both of these fests are expected to sell out. Almost any fool with a smartphone and a computer can make a movie nowadays, and as the medium has grown more accessible, communities of niche filmmakers and cinema fans have flourished as well. As to be expected, the rewards for seekers of bizarre and innovative films are endless. While we haven’t yet been able to load cameras onto the Magic School Bus and capture photosynthesis or something, science and tech nerds can still rejoice at the nearly-as-rad achievements at these approaching film fests.
“All the drones were dead and gone by the end,” my friend laughed, filling me in on the last hour of opening night at First Person View, the Knockdown Center’s drone-centric art exhibition. The show lifted off last weekend after months of planning; unfortunately/fortunately, my friend’s account of all the mayhem I’d missed by leaving early wasn’t 100 percent accurate. “The show will go on!” Vanessa Thill, who co-curated the show, assured us. “Crashing is all part of the fun.”
Left to right: Alan Licht, Jung Hee Choi, La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela. (Photo: Jung Hee Choi. Copyright © Jung Hee Choi 2015.)
La Monte Young, the minimalist master whose trailblazing work with droning has influenced everyone from the Velvet Underground to Sonic Youth to Brian Eno, who once called him “the daddy of us all,” made a rare public appearance at Red Bull Studios on Thursday, dropping some tantalizing details about a new Dream House installment coming in June to Dia:Chelsea.
(Photos: Daniel Maurer)
As in, this portrait of Mark Zuckerberg — painted by Katsu using human feces — is part of the artist’s “Shithead” series.
So is this dog.
More →
The self-declared “graffiti vandal” known for his signature skull icon and for using paint-filled fire extinguishers to throw up giant versions of his ubiquitous KATSU tag is getting his first solo show at The Hole.
More →
If you caught John Oliver’s recent rant against drone strikes (above) and want to hear a more sober take on the matter, you’ll want to get to Bushwick’s Mayday Space next Thursday, when investigative reporter and war correspondent Jeremy Scahill will celebrate the paperback publication of Dirty Wars, his blistering indictment of the Obama administration’s ever expanding war on terror and its reliance on drones, targeted killings, and covert operations.
More →