Intro to Vampirical Tapestry


Buried Alive Behind Enemy Lines, a fellow member of myspace turned me on to Don't Bother to Knock, Asia Argento's online video diary, which until recently was posted in short segments on the SHOWstudio website. I had a chance to view a good portion of these segments before SHOWstudio removed them from their site. I found the segments fascinating. They illustrated how video could be used in a completely unique fashion on the web. Intimate details revealed through a fine-tuned performance, captured in unedited snippets on a lightweight, handheld video camera. Physical presence transcended language. Asia Argento allowed herself to be consumed, as if the camera were a vampire. In one segment she looks at her own reflection in a mirror and espouses a philosophy of acting that can be described as vampirical, both in terms of film directors feeding off performers and performers feeding off film directors. Don't Bother to Knock answered a question I asked a couple of years ago: Why Asia Argento? I asked the question in the context of a set of 21 web animations I created and posted in 2004 under the title Why Asia Argento? These animations were a sort of sprawling meditation on Asia Argento. So, why Asia Argento? Because she possesses a vampirical spirit. Vampirical Tapestry attempts to tap into this spirit. It is a deeply textured web animation, composed of 323 frames. A high-speed Internet connection is absolutely required and I recommend using Firefox as your browser. Even with a high-speed connection, due to its density, the animation may initially run at a jagged rate, lasting longer than its intended duration of just under 3 minutes. What I have learned from posting other computer memory intensive animations is that they often need to play through once before running at their proper rate. I realize this is awkward, but I believe there is a positive side effect. For me as an artist working in a new medium, transparency and process are very much related. Showcasing the process is part of the art. That initial slower run-through of the animation brings the process of its creation into relief. I am presenting Vampirical Tapestry simultaneously on Illumination Gallery and my myspace page. I invite comments on the piece, which can be posted on myspace.


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