Public Works continue working in ‘PolyVision’ format

Matter, “expanded cinema” by Public Works

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sample clips
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DISCOGRAPHY FILMOGRAPHY
Audio • Minneapolis Summit (MiniCD) • Numbers (9-inch EP) • Good Times • Matter • The Grand Delusion • Music with Sound • A subtle buoyancy of pulse
Video • Minneapolis Summit (Mini VideoCD) • Matter (video) • The Grand Delusion (video)

Taking its cue from our previous ‘expanded cinema’ work The Grand Delusion, Matter, too, uses a three-screen tryptych arrangement in the live presentation. Matter, however, uses the flanking loops a bit differently. Where the previous work created widescreed collage spectacles braced with symmetries and compositional nuance, Matter’s loops superimpose visual rhyhtms on top of the musical ones, emphasizing first then downbeat, the the accent, then perhaps falling between beats. Something like jazz, the effect is not lock-step, but rather a looser relationship between rhythm and melody, and in this case, the visuals are included in that formula.

Mike Tanner, writing for Wired News, said:

The result is an incredibly rhythmic and kinetic whole that suggests split-screen video or digital multimedia without the grainy electronic coldness of either, and with image and sound building on each other. The band stands out from other politically motivated multimedia collagists like EBN, says Peter Conheim, a programmer for Free Radio Berkeley and member of Wet Gate, another musique concrète band. The difference is in ‘the way Public Works meld the visual with the audio so well that the two are completely inseparable.’ And though many artists have addressed the subjects that Matter and Delusion deal with — the commodification of culture and militarization of society — Public Works does it with a rare depth, adds Conheim.

Again, the cinematic presentation has been adapted for video, but this time we take it further, taking advantage of the possibilities of digital video production to introduce not just three moving images at once, but frequently as many as a dozen!