Event 3 - The Desert People

Scene form the road trip

I was actually a huge fan of the film I went to go see at the Hammer Museum. It is called The Desert People, and it was made by David Lamelas. To me, it was essentially one big anti-joke. It isn't exactly a satire, but it pokes holes and points out, as the Hammer Museum describes, "The deficiencies of narrative in documentary-style filmmaking" (Hammer, 2016). There were personal narratives from each of the 5 people in a car about their trip to an indian reservation, but none of the stories really lined up with one another. However, as Lamelas points out, "Because of the editing, the viewer will believe that a story is unfolding" (2006). The "anti-joke" element of the film is that all the passengers giving post-trip interviews die in a car crash during the very trip they are talking about. This makes the whole narrative impossible because they all are dead... which essentially makes zero sense. I love this. It is thought provoking and interesting, on top of being critical and purposeful. Similar to my blog discussion on Bio Tech and Art, I feel strongly for those going against the grain of society and not just accepting things for what they are presented to be at face value.

Impressionist painting by Claude Monet

Many Bio Tech artists like Marta De Menezes and Eduardo Katz are harshly criticized for there current work in Bio Tech art. Not to say Lamelas is similarly scrutinized, but his critique of documentary filmmaking reminds me of artists like Claude Moet and Alfred Sisley who pushed against society's creative walls, leading the Impressionist movement against traditionally detailed, religious, and historical French painting. They saw flaws in the status quo and wanted to test new waters. Spectrums of differences are the medium for innovation. The conflicts and resolutions between a traditionally accepted concept as standard practice, and the "new kid on the block" is what drives human thought forwards, and in this case, drives art forwards. With no Van Gogh there is no Duchamp or urinal, with no Duchamp there is no Katz or glowing bunny, with no predecessors pushing boundaries there are no successors standing on their shoulders. David Lamellas could easily make some generic, artsy, documentary, but he isn't scared to think outside of the box and kill all of the passengers in a film that is reliant upon such a crash not happening. He is messing with conventional thought and I greatly admire that. The film was a pleasure to see.

Three of the five passengers

Sources

 "Hammer Contemporary Collection: David Lamelas, The Desert People - Hammer Museum." The Hammer Museum. Web. 03 June 2016. <https://hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/2016/hammer-contemporary-collection-david-lamelas-the-desert-people/#>. 

 "David Lamelas, The Desert People." Janmot. June-July 2006. Web. 03 June 2016. <http://www.janmot.com/programme/desertpeople.php>. 

 "Impressionism." Art Movements. Web. 03 June 2016. <http://www.artmovements.co.uk/impressionism.htm>. 

Victoria, Vesna, narr. "BioTech Art Lectures I-V." N.p. web. 7 May 2016.

"Transgenic Bunny by Eduardo Kac." Transgenic Bunny by Eduardo Kac. Genome News Network, 29 Mar. 2002. Web. 07 May 2016 <http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/03_02/bunny_art.shtml>. 

Images

https://hammer.ucla.edu/fileadmin/media/exhibitions/2016/David_Lamelas/DLA_A_Fiction_1975_Still_04.jpg

https://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/monet/first/impression/impression.jpg

http://entertainmentvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/DavidLamelas-Hammer_Feature2.jpg