Some days I think about myself and I think that I like the idea of things better than the reality. Like films. I love the idea of film, and occasionally I’ll enjoy a movie, but… I do much prefer the idea of movies, and the potential of moving images as more than a story-telling media. So for example, I much preferred experiencing Bruce Nauman’s Head, or Clown in an Art gallery than sitting watching Moulin Rouge. Which makes some people say I’m an over-intellectualising cultural snob. Which is maybe fair enough.

So, even though I’ve not seen the movie, Dis Burning Now seems to me to be a pretty good film IDEA. And this despite the fact that reading the synopsis for the film which describes it as ‘magic-realist’ leaves me cold. No, I like the idea of the film because the film has been made by the squatter / traveller community in Haringey and that, as a project, it takes film back from the large-scale producers and makes an independent statement about creative ownership and ownership of the production process, without making those things explicit in what the film is about. Or would seem to be about, judging from statements put out by the group, who call themselves Made In Tottenham (all aged between 18-25). I like the idea that this is indicative of the possibilities currently opening up in media, largely driven by the accessibility to creative technology, and to a lesser extent to the creation of more small-scale independent places of publication, like the Cube Cinema project in Bristol. It feels a bit like the ‘punk’ explosion at the end of the ‘70s, only being even more explicitly multi-media… individuals taking their creative impulses and having more control over the process; not being dictated to by multi-national corporations with an eye only on profit margins.

If you want to check out Dis Burning Now, you can catch it the ICA's UNCUT event for new young film-makers on November 17th, as part of Haringey Arts Council Open Studios event at the Chocolate Factory in Woodgreen on Dec 1st and at the NFT in March 2002.

As part of the UK tour, Dis burning now will also be screened in Poole Arts Centre and at the Watershed Media centre, Bristol.


posted by duke harringay at 11:01 AM

G was in my dream last night. She had a magical sketchbook with drawings that were like holograms. She sat close to me on a beach and showed them off, saying they were magic. I felt her breath on my cheek as she whispered the secret.


posted by duke harringay at 10:56 AM

Only three days back at school and already destroyed. Is this what the rest of life holds in store? What a prospect.

Most of last night spent in the Casualty at Exeter hospital, nursing an eye that was sore and for the most part felt like a boulder was caught under the eyelid. Typically, I had to wait for ages, which I wouldn’t have minded so much if the seating provided had been more comfortable than hard, flat, metal chairs. Thankfully I could just about see through the tears to read, and managed to get through most of Fante’s 1933 Was A Bad Year, and I suppose the pain in my backside deflected my attention from my eye, so maybe that’s the rationale behind making everyone uncomfortable… whatever.

Eye now fixed, but infected by something, most likely the grime and dust around the school, which is so filthy it’s depressing. I don’t expect my Art room to be pristine; I mean, it’s an Art room after all, but still: there’s places in the room that haven’t seen a cloth/duster in what looks like years, and before you say something, no I really DON’T have the time to clean it myself. Although maybe I should start. And in fact, the media talks about a crisis in teaching, about why people don’t want to come into the profession, well there’s part of the reason: The infrastructures of schools is so underfinanced, so archaic, that no-one in their right mind would really want to work in that environment. It’s got precious little to do with the kids…

Listening almost exclusively to Clem Snide these days; their second album Your Favourite Music is glorious, as is their third, The Ghost of Fashion. If I had more spare time, more energy and more gumption, I would write an extended rant about how wonderful they are, and how everyone ought to be listening to them, and… Well maybe one day. Oh, and if anyone knows where I can track down a copy of their first album You Were A Diamond, or indeed can do me a tape or something, I’d be grateful for life. Or at least for the rest of the year.



posted by duke harringay at 7:25 PM