Ulysses in the Subway
Ulysses in the Subway by Marc Downie, Paul Kaiser, Flo Jacobs, Ken Jacobs
USA 2016, Forum Expanded
© Marc Downie, Paul Kaiser, Ken Jacobs, Flo Jacobs
Ulysses in the Subway by Marc Downie, Paul Kaiser, Flo Jacobs, Ken Jacobs
USA 2016, Forum Expanded
© Marc Downie, Paul Kaiser, Ken Jacobs, Flo Jacobs
Ulysses in the Subway by Marc Downie, Paul Kaiser, Flo Jacobs, Ken Jacobs
USA 2016, Forum Expanded
© Marc Downie, Paul Kaiser, Ken Jacobs, Flo Jacobs
We hear a recording of Ken’s subway ride up to 42nd Street, his wanderings in the Times Square station, his ride downtown on the A train, and his return to street-level on Chambers Street. Finally, his climb to the 5th floor loft where Flo (Penelope) awaits him.
Sound-as-image turns fleeting presences (voices, footsteps, a steel-drum performance) into epic visual events. A still image may linger, allowing our gaze to wander through the complex particularities of a moment of ordinary noise. This richness of imagery reflects the fact that for every 1/24th of a second, there are 2000 audio samples recorded. Each frame, then, is built from these 2000 sources; constructed, that is, in 3D from more than 21 different ways of algorithmically analyzing and visualizing sound. So while the sound is always pictured accurately, the way it’s pictured can change dramatically.
Past intrudes on present as Edison’s 1905 film of this very path through the NY subway appears, also rendered in 3D. Long-gone passengers on the Grand Central platform connect to sounds of passengers today. Near the end, Betty Boop also puts in an appearance.
Crew
| Director | Marc Downie, Paul Kaiser, Flo Jacobs, Ken Jacobs |
| Producer | Paul Kaiser |
Produced by
OpenEndedGroup
Additional information
Screen
Ulysses in the Subway · Forum Expanded · Feb 12, 2017
Marc Downie
One of the directors of the US-American film.
Ulysses in the Subway · Forum Expanded · Feb 12, 2017
Marc Downie
Marc Downie, born in 1977 in Aberdeen, Scotland, is a digital artist, filmmaker, and programmer based in Chicago whose pioneering approach to digital art frequently combines three signature elements: non-photorealistic 3D rendering, the incorporation of body movement by motion-capture and other means, and the autonomy of artworks directed or assisted by artificial intelligence. He has enjoyed a long-standing artistic collaboration with Paul Kaiser as part of OpenEndedGroup. Since receiving his PhD from the MIT Media Lab in 2005, he has expanded his thesis work into the open source software Field, which the group relies upon to this day in creating works of cinema, dance, installation, music, public art, and virtual reality.
Filmography (selection)
1999 Ghostcatching; film installation 2007 Forest; video installation 2009 Point A —> B; film installation 2010 Upending; 60 min. · Stairwell; film installation · After Ghostcatching 2011 Loops; 14 min. 2012 Plant; 16 min. 2013 All Sides of the Road; 12 min. · Knight’s Rest; 6 min. · All Day; film installation, 5 min. 2014 12 Stabs at Blade Runner; 21 min. · Saccades; 36 min. · Detroit Transect 2016 Ulysses in the Subway
Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2017
Paul Kaiser
Paul Kaiser, born in 1956 in Munich, Germany, is a digital artist, filmmaker, and writer based in New York who frequently practices the art of collaboration. Together with his OpenEndedGroup colleague Marc Downie he has created works that span a wide range of forms and disciplines, including 3D film, dance, installation, music, and public art. Outside collaborators in the performing arts have included Robert Wilson, Merce Cunningham, Bill T. Jones, and Trisha Brown.
Filmography (selection)
1999 Ghostcatching; film installation 2007 Forest; video installation 2009 Point A —> B; film installation 2010 Upending; 60 min. · Stairwell; film installation · After Ghostcatching 2011 Loops 2012 Plant; 16 min. 2013 All Sides of the Road; 12 min. · Knight’s Rest; 6 min. · All Day; film installation, 5 min. 2014 12 Stabs at Blade Runner; 21 min. · Saccades; 36 min. · Detroit Transect 2016 Ulysses in the Subway
Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2017
Flo Jacobs
Flo Jacobs, born in 1941 in New York, USA, is a New York-based painter. She has been working with Ken Jacobs since leaving art school in the very early 1960s. She is a performer in his films and shadowplays and mother to two artists (see her in MOMMA’S MAN by Azazel Jacobs). Still a painter, she has effectively pulled Ken’s art away from narrative and into essence, that which exists.
Filmography
1991 Keaton’s Cops; 23 min. 2013 The Guests; 73 min., Forum 2014 2016 Ulysses in the Subway
Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2017
Ken Jacobs
Ken Jacobs was born in 1933 in New York, USA. He studied painting with Hans Hofmann from 1956 to 1957. He started making films in 1955. In 1966, Jacobs founded the Millennium Film Workshop, of which he was the director until 1968. A year later he started the Department of Cinema at the State University of New York in Binghamton. He taught there from 1974 until his retirement in 2000. Along with teaching cinema, he has made a number of experimental films and videos, which have been shown worldwide. In addition, he has presented a series of film performances under the names “The Nervous System” since the mid 1970s and “The Nervous Magic Lantern” since 2000.
The Whole Shebang continues his series of Eternalisms: indefinitely moving screen-images that not only appear in three-dimensional depth on 2D monitors but are also available to even a single eye – no glasses needed.
Filmography (selection)
1955 Orchard Street · Orchard Street; 12 min., Forum Expanded 2015 1959 Star Spangled to Death 1963 The Whirled · The Whirled; 27 min. 1960 Little Stabs at Happiness · Little Stabs at Happiness; 18 min. 1963 Blonde Cobra · Blonde Cobra; 30 min. · Baud’larian Capers · Baud’larian Capers; 25 min. 1964 Window · Window; 12 min. · The Winter Footage; 50 min. · The Winter Footage 1967 Air Shaft; 4 min. · Air Shaft 1968 Soft Rain · Soft Rain; 12 min. · Nissan Ariana Window; 15 min. · Nissan Ariana Window 1969 Tom, Tom the Piper’s Son; 115 min. · Tom, Tom the Piper’s Son · Globe · Globe; 22 min. 1975 Urban Peasants; 50 min. · Urban Peasants 1978 The Doctor’s Dream · The Doctor’s Dream; 27 min. 1985 Perfect Film; 27 min. · Perfect Film · The Winter Footage; 50 min. · The Winter Footage 1990 Opening the Nineteenth Century: 1896; 11 min. · Opening the Nineteenth Century: 1896 1991 Keaton’s Cops; 23 min. · Keaton’s Cops 1995 The Georgetown Loop · The Georgetown Loop; 11 min. · Disorient Express; 30 min. · Disorient Express 1999 Flo Rounds a Corner 2002 A Tom Tom Chaser 1999 Flo Rounds a Corner; 6 min. 2002 A Tom Tom Chaser; 10 min. · Circling Zero: Part One, We See Absence · Circling Zero: Part One, We See Absence; 114 min. 2003 Keeping an Eye on Stan · Capitalism: Slavery · Keeping an Eye on Stan; 117 min. · Capitalism: Slavery; 3 min. 2004 Celestial Subway Lines/Salvaging Noise · Mountaineer Spinning · Celestial Subway Lines/Salvaging Noise; 108 min. · Mountaineer Spinning; 26 min. · Star Spangled to Death 2006 New York Ghetto Fishmarket 1903 2004 Star Spangled to Death; 420 min. 2005 Spiral Nebula; 45 min., Forum 2006 2007 Let There Be Whistleblowers 2006 New York Ghetto Fishmarket 1903; 132 min. 2007 Razzle Dazzle (The Lost World) · Capitalism: Child Labor · Let There Be Whistleblowers; 18 min., Forum Expanded 2007 · Razzle Dazzle (The Lost World); 92 min. · Anaglyph Tom (Tom with Puffy Cheeks) · Capitalism: Child Labor; 14 min. · Anaglyph Tom (Tom with Puffy Cheeks); 108 min. 2009 What Happened on 23rd Street in 1901 · What Happened on 23rd Street in 1901; 14 min. 2011 Seeking the Monkey King 2012 Street Vendor · Cyclopean 3D Life with a Beautiful Woman 2011 Seeking the Monkey King; 39 min., Forum Expanded 2012 2012 Street Vendor; 6 min. · Blankets for Indians 3D 2013 A Primer in Sky Socialism 2012 Cyclopean 3D Life with a Beautiful Woman; 47 min. · Blankets for Indians 3D; 57 min. 2013 Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus · The Guests · A Primer in Sky Socialism; 58 min., Forum Expanded 2014 · Joys of Waiting for the Broadway Bus; 180 min. 2014 Pygmalion Cubed 2013 The Guests; 73 min., Forum 2014 2014 Canopy · Pygmalion Cubed; 100 min. · Cyclops Observes the Celestial Bodies · Canopy; 4 min. 2016 Popeye Sees 3D · Ulysses in the Subway; 59 Min., Forum Expanded 2017, with Flo Jacobs, Marc Downie, and Paul Kaiser 2014 Cyclops Observes the Celestial Bodies; 15 min., Forum Expanded 2015 2017 Shelley Duvall is Olive Oyl 2016 Popeye Sees 3D; 21 min., Forum Expanded 2017 · Ulysses in the Subway; 59 Min., Forum Expanded 2017, with Flo Jacobs, Marc Downie, and Paul Kaiser 2017 Shelley Duvall is Olive Oyl 2019 The Whole Shebang; 6 min.
Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2020