Detournement is usually translated into English as "diversion" and was the method of artistic creation used by the situationists. It was, in effect, plagiarism where both the source and the meaning of the original work [were] subverted to create a new work. In the SI’s own words "there is no Situationist art, only Situationist uses of art." Detournement is distinct from "theft" plagiarism, which only subverts the source of the material and post-modern "ironic quotation" plagiarism which only subverts the meaning of the material, the source becoming the meaning.
Karen Elliot, from www.barbelith.com
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The following pieces are built completely with materials that have been appropriated -- or should I say stolen, for as soon as a film/video has been christened a commodity, its direction in life is dictated by its "owner;" who, more than likely, has a vested financial interest in its use. The only way to liberate the work from this situation -- to help it regain its organic and dynamic presence -- is to steal it and USE it. To view such works as untouchable pieces of property is simply unfair and shortsighted. Art wants to move -- to get into new situations and be re-contextualized -- to be pulled apart, dissected, and reassembled. The amount of information buried in its seams is always surprising (what a sad waste of raw materials and resources when a work is forced to hold a single pose for all eternity!). In turn, the thief's re-assemblages need to continue this tradition -- no copyrights, no profiteering, no rights reserved -- gifts, and not wares.
It is in this climate that I was motivated to resuscitate these rather banal, everyday moving images, culled from television, pornography, file sharing sites, free promotional videos, etc...
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Use the Bridge Between the Trees to Avoid Blindness is a four movement work for 2 organs and drums.
The musicians perform the piece using a click-track, thus giving rise to stringently synchronized visuals and music.
The work is designed within a just intonation schema which uses, exclusively, the prime integers 3 and 11.
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A Small Dog and a Cliff is a single movement work for 2 organs and drums.
The musicians perform the piece using a click-track, thus giving rise to stringently synchronized visuals and music.
This work is designed within a just intonation schema which uses, exclusively, the prime integers 5 and 7, within a 320-640 octave boundary. The fundamental, 1/1 (represented as 512 or 29), is not utilized in this work.
These short works are taken from a collection of pieces intended to function as video "graffiti." Rented VHS cassettes, which far more often than not begin with movie previews and advertisements, served as ideal canvases for these video "taggings." From 1997 until around 2000, under the pseudonym Jack DeMolay, I dubbed these works onto tapes rented from various stores in and around NYC's Lower East Side. Each tag included contact information in the form of an E-mail address.
These pieces serve various purposes, ranging from gallery installations to VJ-type projections. They were designed as video loops and a select few, because of their nature, do not have soundtracks.