This weekend in Portland, Oregon SITO and Gracies hosted a screening of the film "Radio Free Steve". Before the main feature, we showed a few short films and teasers. Among them was Lenara Verle's recently completed "Gridcosm 000-500" video. I've seen that video in various incarnations, most recently on my trip to the East Coast in January. Seeing it with a big crowd of strangers is something strange and nerve-wracking and ultimately amazing. The video consists of a short "what is Gridcosm" infomatic with voice-overs by yours truly. After Gridcosm is explained, the video launches into one of the most intense things I've ever participated in or really even seen in my 29 years on this planet. Starting at level 500, the Gridcosm starts zooming at a medium pace toward level 000. Images fly by in a strange illusion of three dimensions. The soundtrack is made up of excerpts from Gridcosm readings by Kiyotei and Mark Sunshine. It's a beautiful and slightly nauseating thing. Weeks and months fly by. Current events become the past. Castles rise up and recede. Patterns bubble and fizz. Perversion gets lost in a tapestry of motion. We watched this spectacle projected 10 feet tall in the sanctuary of a church. The audience sat on pews and, after the dazzling undescribable thing video had run its course, cheered and clapped and said "holy fucking shit" a lot. Soon we'll be rendering the animation of levels 1000-0000. I think we'll have to get the Surgeon General's approval and have people sign waivers before viewing what is surely to be a film that will permenantly skew reality for the psychologically teetering. We want to tour with the film this summer. You can get small tastes of what this animation looks like by following links on the main Gridcosm page. Links: |