Midwest Video Poetry Fest 2021 Day 2 | Arts + Literature Laboratory | Madison Contemporary Arts Center

Midwest Video Poetry Fest 2021 Day 2

For our second annual Midwest Video Poetry Fest, we're thrilled to present two nights of some of the best video poetry from the Midwest and around the world. These films include original poems, animation, translations, and more. This event was held live at ALL in Madison and at Woodland Pattern in Milwaukee. It was also streamed to our YouTube channel starting October 11 for two weeks.

The second program was Saturday, October 9, 2021 at 7:00pm CST

See Day One's program here.

 

man in blue coat and purple hat walks across a field of snow in front of tall wheat

1) Frozen Out (5m00s)
Directed by Hao Zhou
Written by Hao Zhou
China

An émigré retreats to frozen prairies and swamps, hoping to find a meaningful story and escape the anxieties of dislocation. Delivered as a film-letter to the protagonist’s sister in rural China, the film considers his queer self-exile and the vulnerable nature of his home, relationships, and self.

woman in the black dress with cotton clouds

2) Somewhere in the Sky (1m24s)
Directed by Aaron Kierbel
Written by Ellyn Maybe
California, United States

“Somewhere in the Sky” is a collaboration between a poet, a dancer, an accordionist and an animator. Written in the wake of the US Capitol riots in Jan 2021, it explores the absurdity of our present moment through a series of unanswerable questions.

Eddie Goines performing his poem "Overcome" smiling with upraised arms

3) Overcome (4m37s)
Directed by Eddie Goines
Written by Eddie Goines
United States

Powerful spoken word performance

4) Legacy (5m00s)
Directed by Jack Cochran, Pamela Falkenberg
Written by Fiona Tinwei Lam
Canada
Fiona Tinwei Lam Website

"Legacy," in collaboration with poet Fiona Tinwei Lam and based on her poem, creates a memory space using symbolic objects, evocative tableaux, and a variety of digital effects to concretize the wisdom that comes with temporal and emotional distance, creating a fanciful, wry, and occasionally bittersweet postmortem of a relationship that founders on the rocks of cross cultural differences.

paper mache fish in a tank

5) The Yes Yes Fish (6m00s)
Directed by Patrick Moser
Written by Patrick Moser
Florida, United States
Patrick Moser's Website

In this experimental short, a magic fish delivers a report reflecting on the fascist uprising in the US.

Baby Lazer poster with man looking through a white toy stove

6) Baby Lazer (1m27s)
Directed by Ryan Tynan
Written by Ryan Tynan
Minnesota, United States
Ryan Tynan's Website

Baby Lazer is a short experimental film accompanied by a spoken word piece that juxtaposes confessional poetry about insecurities and childhood trauma with light-hearted campy imagery.

widespread flames arcing up over water

7) Then Betelgeuse Reappears (1m40s)
Directed by Danika Stegeman LeMay
Written by Danike Stegeman LeMay
Minnesota, United States
Danika Stegeman LeMay's Website

A poem using the star Betelgeuse's strange behavior to reflect on matters both vast and intimate. 

sideways shot half under water with wood fence, green hill, and blue sky in the background

8) νερό, アリア, antaa potkut, землі 7hr0u6h 5e4s0n5 (3m00s)
Directed by Matteo Passerini
Written by
Italy

Water, air, fire and earth. Summer, autumn, winter, spring. In many languages a unique multiplicity.

black-and-white image of a man in profile with overlay of anatomy of teeth and throat

9) i swallow (4m22s)
Directed by Sarah Tremlett
Written by Caleb Parkin
United Kingdom
Sarah Tremlett's Website

Video poem that takes you on a Dadaist bike ride.

cladogram diagram with Haley Larson and Timothy David Orme

10) Cladogram (2m31s)
Directed by Haley Larson, Timothy David Orme
Written by Haley Larson
South Dakota, United States

This experimental collaboration translates a poem about structure into uncertain and distorting structures of new media. 

Noho Mai poster aerial shot of a shore with blue water

11) Noho Mai (Sit Here) (5m33s)
Directed by Peta-Maria Tunui, Waitahi Aniwaniwa McGee, Shania Bailey-Edmonds, Jesse-Ana Harris, Lilián Pallares, Charles Olsen
Written by Peta-Maria Tunui
New Zealand

"Symbolized in the bird’s flight, a group of Māori, Pākehā and Colombian creatives explore life’s journey, the longing to return to the nest, and the life-giving connection with our ancestors."

watercolor of swamp with black silhouettes of trees

12) Do You Hear Those Crows (3m49s)
Directed by Ryen Goebel
Written by
Florida, United States

Inspired by a poem from Dalton Day, "Do You Hear Those Crows" is a meditation on the cycles of life which shape the human experience. With a sense of wonder, the film explores the complex emotions revealed in natural forces: chaos and order, growth and decay.

The Mistake a poetry film by Pat Boran silhouette of a child inside a tent

13) The Mistake (2m49s)
Directed by Pat Boran
Written by Pat Boran
Ireland

A mistake in childhood may prove to be a lens through which the past is more clearly visible.

illustration of King Tutankhamen

14) When White Light Finds an Elephant Graveyard (1m49s)
Directed by Charles Edward Payne
Written by Charles Edward Payne
Wisconsin, United States

when white light finds an elephant graveyard is a hand-drawn lyric poetry video about a young boy encountering Tutankhamen—and the myths that surround him—in the Chicago Field Museum.

poet Neelam Saredia-Brayley against backdrop of white buildings

15) Rani Lakshmibai (2m57s)
Directed by Sven Stears
Written by Neelam Saredia-Brayley
United Kingdom

"Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi" is a poem inspired by a fierce and powerful Indian warrior queen in the 1850s. 

A white enlarged COVID germ in a bowl of vegetable soup with letters spelling out "In This Way"

16) In This Way (3m57s)
Directed by Marcus Fields
Written by Kevin Prufer
Michigan, United States

Playful yet powerful, this project features the poem "'In This Way'" written and narrated by Kevin Prufer from the anthology “Voices Amidst the Virus: Poets Respond to the Pandemic." 

poet Anne Waldman reading with yellow scarf and outstretched hand

17) Archive Litany / Archivo Letania (6m30s)
Directed by Natalia Gaia, Ambrose Bye
Written by Anne Waldman
Colorado, United States
Anne Waldman's Website

Anne Waldman is the author of more than 40 collections of poetry and poetics and founder of  the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado. "Archive Litany/Archivo Letania“ showcases Waldman's belief in "the magical efficacies of language as a political act.” 

transparent man lying on grass with unspooled tape measure

18) six feet (1m35s)
Directed by Peter Johnston
Written by Danielle Legros Georges
Massachusetts, United States
Danielle Legros Georges's Website

the ideal height of a man
what pertains to insects
what hangs in the air and the air

PLAN YOUR VISIT

Arts + Literature Laboratory is located at 111 S. Livingston Street #100, Madison, Wisconsin, 53703.

Our galleries are open Tuesday through Friday 10am-5pm and Saturday noon to 5pm, and other programs take place throughout the week. Please check the events calendar and education section for details.

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