‘Invading Present Time’ available now on Vimeo

Séminaire 2011 : Ken Hollings from erg on Vimeo.

As if to prove my point that visitors to this blog are regularly among the last to know about the online documentation of my talks, events and readings, footage of my ERG lecture ‘Invading Present Time’ has been available from Vimeo for the past three months – only nobody involved with the posting thought to inform me about it.I mention this not as a complaint but to illustrate a point: one of the biggest challenges facing us today is how to make best use of the vast amounts of data storage made available to us, either on the drives in our recording devices or online platforms. It is now incredibly rare for any event in which I participate not to be recorded in some form or other – if any of this material becomes available at all it is often mislabelled, tagged incorrectly, or those doing the documentation neglect to inform me of its presence online. All information is now a location – coordinates are required.

That said, this is a pretty good film. Presented here under the French title ‘Politiques de la Simulation’, ‘Invading Present Time’ looks at Jean Cocteau, William Burroughs, early sound recordings, zombies and videogame design; some of the broader lines of its argument will be found in the appropriate chapter of The Bright Labyrinth – this at least offers you a live rough draft and a feel for the event itself. The filming is also tight; they used a two-camera set up throughout, and the editing is fairly smooth and fluid. I also love the booming stadium sound system required to fill the large industrial space where the Corps/Machine conference took place – and who can resist a handheld mike? My thanks to everyone involved in the event and in the presentation of this video. Just remember to tell me where I am in future.

See also:
Dead Fingers Talking
‘Invading Present Time’ – A Lecture at ERG in Brussels
Invading Present Time – The Politics of Simulation