Tuesday, August 7, 2012

The Hammer Redeemed by The Flux

Tonight I crawled back to the Hammer Museum like a wounded, abused puppy crawls back whimpering to its abusive owner. Okay, maybe my maltreatment by the venue wasn't as extreme as the puppy (who probably ended up on one of those depressing Sarah McLachlan ads). My situation was more akin to a father slapping his daughter on the wrist and sending her to her room with no dessert as punishment for rolling her eyes at him. The Hammer slapped my hand at the last free event, likely as punishment for rejecting to becoming a member. Yet faithful as I am, I returned tonight for the Flux screening series.

Decision well-made. Returning to the father-slapping-daughter's-wrist scenario, it would be like if the father, remorseful for punishing the apple of his eye, decided to throw her the most extravagant party the town had ever seen. This event ranked at the top of those I've attended- likely the best yet.

What is the Flux Screening Series? I thought you'd never ask! (Oh wait, you didn't, but I'm going to tell you anyways). They are quarterly short film screenings shown in the Hammer's Billy Wilder Theater. Tonight's theme? Spectacle: The Music Video. Since I couldn't describe it better than the flyer I was handed upon entry, I'm going to reiterate what it said:

Spectacle explores the music video as an art form through immersive installations, rare artifacts and of course screenings
Spectacle... what a fitting title! Every single video presented was just that- a spectacle. A feast for the eyes, each in a different way. The first film, a music video for the song Reham by This Thirst, thrust the viewer into a topsy-turvy world of mirror images and other special effects accompanying a catchy electronic tune. The second was an odd flashback to the 80s- a song called Grimes by Oblivion. The video featured an oddly-dressed teenage girl with pink hair. Not one of the best.

Cloudy, the video by FriendsWithYou brought to mind those old Zoloft commercials with the depressed little white blob who finally gets happy in the end. This video featured the happiest, jolliest clouds in the world bouncing along in the sky. Animation at its best, these creative characters could fill even the worst clinically depressed person with the unsurpressible desire to join a conga line through a field of daisies. Like licking your elbow, it must be a physical impossibility to watch this video without a smile stretching across your face.



Other videos included music videos for Outta My System by My Morning Jacket, It's Only Life by The Shins and Paradise by Coldplay. Nothing stood out so prominently as Cloudy, however; thus explaining its presence on the blog. Actually that's a blatant lie- the final film, Solipsist by Andrew Huang, stood out as extremely trippy- if anyone in the audience was on LSD they would have flipped out. But it was a little too out there for me.

The Hammer did decieve me at one point. As an audience, we were invited to the courtyard to mingle amongst ourselves and the directors and enjoy a snow cone. Now, an invitation like that suggests "free snow cones," does it not? Well, after waiting in a line that would give Disneyland a run for its money, we discovered the true price of an after party snow cone. That price is $4. Let me just say... four dollars well-spent. It happened to be a gourmet snow come, provided by snow amor (because in Los Angeles even snow cones can be snooty). I selected the coconut variety which springboarded me to cloud 9. It was one of those clouds from the video, I think. And there I remained for the rest of the night.

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