Dave Greber - We need this as much as food and water
4:00, 2010DirectorDave Greber
CountryUSASubtitlesEnglishEdition2010
< overview
Who is Dave Bradford Greber?
I am a video artist located in New Orleans, Louisiana. I make art to expose culturally degenerative memes overlooked by the general public.
Your film is about?
This piece was my response to the BP oil leak which dominated the the lives of everyone on the Gulf coast in 2010. The title,
How did you start with film? And do you have an educational background in art or film?
I went to a technical school to learn video in High School. I majored in film at Temple University. Recently, I started making installations for galleries and museums and I finally feel like I have found the right avenue to exhibit my work.
Could you explain how you work, what themes or concepts you use and what is important to you?
I make art to expose culturally degenerative memes overlooked by the general public. I create a skeleton commercials built from the tone, cadence, verbal and graphic illusions that comprise a corporate propaganda campaigns. I then fill the shell with my own agenda and reveal the form itself as hypnotically manipulative. I infuse them with my own contemporary style and present them as a seamless video loop, which translates them from a parasitic language to one of viewer empowerment.
How long do you usually work on one project?
It depends of course, but lately I have been spending about a month on my projects. I have found that when I stretch projects out longer than that, I am in a totally different psychological position than when I started. It’s easier for me to stay concise with my message.
Do you carefully plan the production process or do you work more intuitive?
I usually start with a concept and then it changes looks a few times before the final product.
How important is sound in film, and if you use sounds, do you create your own or use existing?
Sometimes extremely important, but as I have gotten deeper into the contemporary art world, I find it is hard to get sound to work the same way that it would at a screening in a theater. That has influenced my current work.
How would you describe contemporary videoart?
The best medium to assemble complicated ideas that currently exists.
What possibilities of the web are yet to be explored?
I’d be rich if I knew that.
Where would you place your work; cinema or art. And what is the difference between those according to you?
I my work is composed of elements of both art and cinema, but I consider it contemporary art. Cinema has many more rules than art which makes it less attractive to me these days.
How important is the reaction to your film by the audience?
I want viewers to understand my message without insulting their intelligence or by preaching. My art makes me laugh and it is intended to make the viewer laugh as a physical manifestation of deeper understanding.
What is your next project about?
I just finished a big 4-channel video installation for Prospect 1.5 New Orleans that uses tarot card imagery to interpret contemporary pop-culture. I am trying to pull the archetypes out of industrialized culture as a way of decoding the direction that our global existence is headed.
< overview
< Artists interviews
CountryUSASubtitlesEnglishEdition2010
< overview
Interview
I am a video artist located in New Orleans, Louisiana. I make art to expose culturally degenerative memes overlooked by the general public.
Your film is about?
This piece was my response to the BP oil leak which dominated the the lives of everyone on the Gulf coast in 2010. The title,
How did you start with film? And do you have an educational background in art or film?
I went to a technical school to learn video in High School. I majored in film at Temple University. Recently, I started making installations for galleries and museums and I finally feel like I have found the right avenue to exhibit my work.
Could you explain how you work, what themes or concepts you use and what is important to you?
I make art to expose culturally degenerative memes overlooked by the general public. I create a skeleton commercials built from the tone, cadence, verbal and graphic illusions that comprise a corporate propaganda campaigns. I then fill the shell with my own agenda and reveal the form itself as hypnotically manipulative. I infuse them with my own contemporary style and present them as a seamless video loop, which translates them from a parasitic language to one of viewer empowerment.
How long do you usually work on one project?
It depends of course, but lately I have been spending about a month on my projects. I have found that when I stretch projects out longer than that, I am in a totally different psychological position than when I started. It’s easier for me to stay concise with my message.
Do you carefully plan the production process or do you work more intuitive?
I usually start with a concept and then it changes looks a few times before the final product.
How important is sound in film, and if you use sounds, do you create your own or use existing?
Sometimes extremely important, but as I have gotten deeper into the contemporary art world, I find it is hard to get sound to work the same way that it would at a screening in a theater. That has influenced my current work.
How would you describe contemporary videoart?
The best medium to assemble complicated ideas that currently exists.
What possibilities of the web are yet to be explored?
I’d be rich if I knew that.
Where would you place your work; cinema or art. And what is the difference between those according to you?
I my work is composed of elements of both art and cinema, but I consider it contemporary art. Cinema has many more rules than art which makes it less attractive to me these days.
How important is the reaction to your film by the audience?
I want viewers to understand my message without insulting their intelligence or by preaching. My art makes me laugh and it is intended to make the viewer laugh as a physical manifestation of deeper understanding.
What is your next project about?
I just finished a big 4-channel video installation for Prospect 1.5 New Orleans that uses tarot card imagery to interpret contemporary pop-culture. I am trying to pull the archetypes out of industrialized culture as a way of decoding the direction that our global existence is headed.
< overview
