To Co-respond, or “respond” together, implies a match, which is (used) to light a flame or, in other words: to create light together, or to make light, to lighten, or to illuminate while at the same time unburdening, which suggests a vertical movement (a sort of anti- or counter-gravitational movement) and allowing the freedom to “move” more readily, and in this case interactively, one “note” in the correspondence opening a portal through which correspondent and correspondee can mosey, float, stride, jump, or ooze, and con- sider from both sides, the “outside” becoming an inside from within which other casements can be carved, other throughways considered, taken, burst apart and re-imagined. If there is an end point it’s formed/ found on the edge of the horizon of this hall of revolving mirrors, dissolving what seemed to be a clear illusion of singularity, exploding the personal while turning over, under, upward, sideward, onward.
THE ARTISTS:
Lori Felker www.felkercommalori.com
Lori chose Filmmaking as her official second language in 2003-ish, bumping German into third place. Eventual fluency is important to her, so she employs many forms/formats, practices frequently with others, and tries hard not to shy away from expressing her thoughts on human behavior, travel, inter-activity, frustration, failure and political irritants.
Robert Todd www.roberttoddfilms.com/
After a lifetime torn between music and drawing/painting, film sauntered into the picture in 1989 and offered Rob Todd’s maker-innards a truce that seems to have endured ever since. A lyrical filmmaker as well as a sound and visual artist, he continually produces short works that resist categorization.
The works in this program have been included in programs at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Boston Underground Film Festival, Migrating Forms, Chicago Underground Film Festival, Maryland Film Festival, Festival du Nouveau Cinema, Milwaukee Underground Film Festival, WNDX Festival, and the WiP Festival.
this is the program:
Co-respondents Recent work by Lori Felker & Robert Todd
70min program (1 HD video, the rest on 16mm)
This Is My Show HD, 15min, 2009, - a televisionary excursion by Lori Felker:
“Working with Nature” can be grueling and painful, but your hostess Adrienne is ready and willing to walk you through what it takes to perfect and control your surroundings. Adrienne brings you the very best in high quality, high definition gardening television, as she takes all of the necessary tools into her own hands for your edification and enjoyment.
Mere Mystery 16mm, 12min, 2010, Lori Felker - multiple pathways taken through a National Park's set of Trails of Tales. People we don’t know. People we’ve never met. Gift Shop ceremonies. Sky ride hustling. Pale limbs on a been-there tree.
Imperceptihole, 16mm, 14min 2010
A high contrast correspondence film, a science non-fiction fairy tale. Things are never as polarized as they appear -
Circling and searching, falling and landing, entering and exiting; actuality lies between seasons, states, planes and worlds.
Correspondents: Robert Todd (Boston) and Lori Felker (Chicago)
The correspondence:
- RT and LF shoot together, same location, two cameras.
- Retreating to their respective home bases, RT sends LF a roll of film, giving her no parameters for shooting.
- RT shoots while LF shoots.
- LF sends RT her film for processing.
- RT sends LF a copy of their processed film rolls.
- RT and LF watch the film copies simultaneously while on the phone.
- Repeat 4 times.
- Last round: each shoots a roll in his/her own city, then they meet in one location with these shot rolls in hand, which they swap and double-expose without revealing the contents of the original exposure.
- RT and LF meet to edit together three times, and within this timeframe they concoct a title for the project.
- RT and LF meet once more to create the soundtrack as a live performance.
Golden Hour 16mm, 16min, 2009 Robert Todd
What if the Looking Glass were, at the same time, a window and a mirror, if the window was the mirror, the mirror the window? And your projection through this transparent/reflective plane did bring you to a world that is as externally rich as the self, in its internal churnings shift- ing through dark and light, directs it to be – the self and the world open to each other, if but for a moment? And that window offers itself to you as a space in your life, held shimmering in your being and your vision throughout that sustaining moment, that golden hour.
Weapons Expert Demonstration 16mm, 3min, 2010 Robert Todd
Selected Articles 0015-0148, GC504667B/A15 (1) Program Objective: The objective of the Fast Reaction Weapons Demonstration (FRWD) program is to demonstrate technologies associated with high-speed miniature munitions dispensed within the context of the high speed dispensing event, performance, sub-pack stabilization and desired deceleration of the sub-munitions/sub-packs, and sub-munition secondary dispense event.
(2) Subject: Demonstrator Platform courtesy of Lucas Wheeler.
