Response 10: Mario & Kelly

It was nice to see pieces that were recognizable before they were edited. Both pieces took something from recent years and changed it in such a way that the original source is nonexistant. In Michael Bell-Smith's, Trapped in the Closet All at Once, the well-known chapters 1-5 of R. Kelly are all stacked on top of each other. By doing so, Bell-Smith creates a very confusing piece that accumulates both the video on top of each other, but also the voices. It is interesting how this process of overlapping the different chapters that are meant to be placed in sequential order, the notion of time is nonexistant. All the chapters are placed in the now as the past and present are combined. Even with the unorganized video, the lyrics still seem to possess an interesting harmony that still shares many characteristics of hip-hop, in which many different sound effects and voice-overs are normal.

Although Cory Arcangel's see Super Mario Clouds, was not as interesting as the edit of R. Kelly, I can appreciate it for the art is possesses. Since I am familiar with concepts of computer science, I know how hard it is to do what Arcangel was able to accomplish. His artwork takes the original mario brothers video images and uses code to get rid of any characters or colors that appear other than the floating clouds that drift by. It is a great example of video art using new technologies. It is also interesting how Arcangel states that anyone can use this code to manipulate the image seen on the screen. Art is there for everyone with this new technology.