Steve Bird's Videos (The Visual Music Village) - The Visual Music Village

Eve's Solace by Steve Bird

2008-09-29T10:51:54.000Z

We’ve all had those times in life when each day drags on in an endless, relentless sameness. Those times when the end of the tunnel is way out of sight. When the only way to survive is to leave the body on auto-pilot and release the soul into a brighter, more beautiful place.

We’ve all had those times.

But just imagine for one moment a situation where that was all there was. Every day of your life – unremitting – for ever – sleep – work – sleep – work – sleep – work - - -

This was Eve’s life – this was the life of everyone she knew – this was how it was – and for many in dark, dirty, factories the world over this is how it still is.

TO SEE THIS VIDEO IN 720P STREAMING HD FORMAT CLICK ON THE BLUE HD BUTTON ONCE THE VIDEO IS PLAYING.

For further information on my work, visit my website at www.soundmangler.co.uk

White Out by Steve Bird

2008-09-29T10:43:16.000Z

In the late 1980s I moved to live on a smallholding high in the Derbyshire Peak District. It was quite a shock for a townie like me to witness the sheer force of the extreme weather that is the norm for this desolate place. When it snowed, as it did every winter without fail, the world turned whiter than the whitest white that I could ever have imagined.

THE WHITE OUT. When all familiarity disappears, the feeling of disorientation is overwhelming. This video is my attempt to capture some of the intensity of these moments. Other worldly moments when the unreal goes into head on combat with the real, when all the senses go out of synchronisation, moments at once frightening and intensely magical.

How much you will see in this video will depend on a number of factors including: the type of monitor that you view it on; the ambient light in the room and, of course, your eyes. Remember there is almost always something happenning on the screen - how much you see will depend on you.

TO SEE THIS VIDEO IN 720P STREAMING HD FORMAT CLICK ON THE BLUE HD BUTTON ONCE THE VIDEO IS PLAYING.

For further information on my work, visit my website at www.soundmangler.co.uk

Beyond The Varnish: Turner (A Private View) by Steve Bird

2008-09-29T10:39:01.000Z

t must be stressed that, as the subtitle suggests, this is a “private view” of Turner’s world. To have attempted some kind of literal depiction would have been pointless. There was and can ever be only one Turner. These three and a half minutes are merely an individual response to the passion and intensity of Turner’s paintings. Although small segments of the original paintings have been utilised as pure colour material, no one painting has been depicted, in a deliberate attempt to use the tools of twenty-first century computer animation, to generate an emotional response to the whole of Turner’s output.

More than thirty years prior to the official birth of Impressionism, one extraordinary man was hanging indistinct explosions of light and colour on the walls of no less a bastion of the art establishment than The Royal Academy in London. Joseph Mallord William Turner was born within sight of the River Thames on the 23rd April 1775 and throughout his long and productive life, he developed a vision that, by the time of his death (in another room overlooking the same river) on the 19th December 1851, would see him bequeathing to the nation some 350 paintings, and nearly 20,000 watercolours and drawings. This video is an attempt to encapsulate a little of the essence of his vast oeuvre.

TO SEE THIS VIDEO IN 720P STREAMING HD FORMAT CLICK ON THE BLUE HD BUTTON ONCE THE VIDEO IS PLAYING.

For further information on my work, visit my website at www.soundmangler.co.uk

Café Concrète by Steve Bird

2008-09-29T10:34:13.000Z

I have always loved cafés. Sit me in a quiet room and I will probably fall asleep, but in a café, surrounded by strangers going about their lives, meeting with their friends, maybe their lovers, I can drift away into a world of ideas and possibilities. I have had most of my best ideas in cafes.

Most of this video was shot with a mobile phone, in a number of different cafés, over a period of a few months. The sound is a mixture of the lo-fi video soundtracks and live manipulations that I have made using max/msp on my laptop computer, while sitting with a cappuccino and a cake.

Join me in my world for a few minutes as the crowd blurs into the distance and thoughts are free to develop as they please. Oh and don’t forget to leave a tip.

TO SEE THIS VIDEO IN 720P STREAMING HD FORMAT CLICK ON THE BLUE HD BUTTON ONCE THE VIDEO IS PLAYING.

For further information on my work, visit my website at www.soundmangler.co.uk

Border Unrest by Steve Bird

2008-09-29T10:27:47.000Z

This video was one of my early works, before they became more narrative in content. It was made almost exclusively in "Artmatic" on a Mac using as its starting point three still photographs of flowers.

Here is the original programme note:

“Where have all the flowers gone?”

In 2005 we still justify wholesale slaughter in the name of our favourite cause. In 2005 savages, whether they wear linen robes or grey flannel suits, still murder the innocent in the name of various gods. In 2005 as democracy is enforced in far off lands by men with guns more and more citizens of so-called free countries are incarcerated without trial. In 2005 eighty percent of violence is perpetuated upon civilians.

“When will they ever learn”

TO SEE THIS VIDEO IN 720P STREAMING HD FORMAT CLICK ON THE BLUE HD BUTTON ONCE THE VIDEO IS PLAYING.

For further information on my work, visit my website at www.soundmangler.co.uk