Video and Related Work

c-Tube (2009 – )
Recent, media-based experiments.

Intrajection (2003 – )
In pre-production. Comprises (1) a unique digital print, Intraject Certificate, which was sold at the Dallas Contemporary Wish! auction on March 11, 2006, and which evidenced the rights of the winning bidder to (2) a unique performance art piece to be performed at a time and place of the winning bidder's choosing, which performance will be videotaped to produce (3) a limited edition of five video DVD's, one of which will be reserved for the winning bidder. The performance will involve, among other things, six performers standing in a circle facing the center, speaking without much emotion and out of sync a script edited from three year's-worth of spam or other electronic detritus, with the winning bidder (or her/his designee) occupying the center of the circle. Written, directed, and produced by Carolyn Sortor; approximate running time 10 min.

The Cressida Project (2005 – )
In pre-production; possibly abandoned. Originally planned to involve two main story lines tenuously derived from Shakespeare, Homer, and other sources. Scenes or images involving confinement, power, control and sadism, interpretation, transmission of knowledge, reproduction, and escape, will be used to implicate questions about identity formation, trauma, safety, and transformation – if not within a single lifetime, sometimes through succeeding generations. This experimental video would employ vivid imagery, metaphor, special effects, and original sound art and music. Written, directed, and produced by Carolyn Sortor; approximate running time 25 min. The project would also include related prints, paintings and sculptures. See the project website at www.cressidaproject.com.

Creamistress 6: “The Centered Polenta” (2003)
A dryly humorous, Wind Done Gone-type response to Matthew Barney's art world blockbuster, the Cremaster Cycle. Like Barney’s epic, meaning-packed, but only 7 minutes long and completed on a budget of $400. For the online catalogue including video stills, see www.creamistress.com. The video was screened at the 2003 Edgeworks Film Festival, exhibited in a solo show with related prints and sculptures at Conduit Gallery in Dallas, Texas (www.conduitgallery.com) in 2004, shown at Ballroom Marfa in 2004, selected for inclusion in the Texas Show at the Dallas Video Festival in 2004 (the current Festival site is at www.videofest.org), and exhibited with related prints and sculptures in 2006 at Jack the Pelican Presents in Brooklyn, NY and at BoCA at in San Francisco, CA. Written, directed, and produced by Carolyn Sortor; computer animation by Ben Britt; art-direction, computer graphics, and still photography by Carolyn Sortor. Reviews and notices at The New Yorker, Tom Moody, James Wagner, and The Dallas Observer here and here.

Kitty Karaoke Macbeth (2007)
In the tradition of Marcel Broodthaers' Interview With A Cat (1970) and Bill Davenport's Art with Cats (1997), the eponymous role in this scene from Macbeth is played by Atticus the Cat, with the director as Lady Macbeth. Previously created as a Virtual Art project (see Virtual Art, idea # 84), this piece was set, shot, edited et al. inside three hours, which may or may not be all the concept deserves. Conceived and directed by Carolyn Sortor; videography by Ben Britt; text from the Moby Shakespeare, as edited by Carolyn Sortor. 1 min., 34 sec.

Grace at Camp Casey (2005)
Short documentary on the protest that helped turned the tide of U.S. opinion against the Iraq war, with interviews of Cindy Sheehan and other key figures at her camp outside President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas on Day 5, when there were 100 protesters, and again on Day 22, when there were thousands. Selected by Current TV for national broadcast in a six-month rotation beginning in September, 2005 and selected for the 2006 Dallas Video Festival and the 2006 ChickFlicks. Written and directed by Carolyn Sortor; videography by Ben Britt and Carolyn Sortor. 8 min., 54 sec.

Looking Glasses (2000)
An eight-line poem concerning perception, containment, and escape is visualized using still imagery and computer animation. Written, directed, and art-directed by Carolyn Sortor. Selected for SXSW and for the Texas Show in the 2000 Dallas Video Festival. Written, directed, and storyboarded by Carolyn Sortor; computer animation and effects by Ben Britt; photography by Carolyn Sortor and Ben Britt. 38 seconds.