Beautiful, thought provoking, or horrifying; there are many way to describe Lief Hall’s work. However, boring will never be among them, unless perhaps a negating term is also included. Lief Hall’s film combines intermedia effects including rainbow light, mirrored and merged images that call to mind everything from peaceful ocean sunrises to skeletal faces to intimate female body parts. Backed by synthesized electro-pop music Leif Hall spins an artistic cyclone of lyrics that range from softly chanted to screeching. This effect is further enhanced by Hall’s skillful use of mixed media incorporating: light, sound, and computer enhanced graphics.
Dick Higgens observes, “Much of the best work being produced today seems to fall between media.” . This is definitely true of the work produced by Lief Hall. Her artistic efforts begin with the preproduction lighting, costumes, masques, choreography and music score. They continue through the actual dance and music production along with the lighting and camera work needed to bring it to life and capture it in digital format. Forty years ago, that would have been enough to satisfy Mr. Higgins’s observations. With today’s resources, Lief Hall is able to go beyond that. Modern technology allows her to go far beyond the artistic multi-media efforts of the 60s and manipulate the final product to further capture her passion and our senses.
Christine Paul plays out her art in a world of “virtual reality.” Unlike Dick Higgens, she came of age along with today’s technological art revolution. Hers is a 3D virtual environment where the artist attempts create the reality needed to fully immerse the patron in the creator’s perceptions of truth and emotion. In her article entitled “Digital Art”, she observes, “Full immersion into a simulated world that allows users to interact with every aspect of it is still more of a dream than a reality, although the technology has made considerable advances.” Like Lief Hall, she will settle for nothing less than totality and uses artistic intensity to draw the patron’s focus without the distraction of headsets and glasses. Both stay on the cutting edge waiting for technology to catch up on their visions.
Lines of code help David Rokeby bring his artistic visions to life. His is a different type of interactive media experience. In his display, the gallery patron chooses some of the elements and the program manipulates them to create a new experience for each viewer based upon their choices and his creations. His exhibit incorporates pages and pages of code, written with open source software. . That allows him to share the foundation of his creation with other artists. Leif Hall’s Myths is performance art its ability to draw the audience to participate relies upon their passionate delivery.
Individuals come to art in their own ways. Lief Hall’s Myths fits the Witch House movement’s synthesizers, acid-vision symbolism, and pounding drums, but it evolved independently. . It replaces the syrupy cooing of the Witch House movement with shrieks and screams and a rigidity that goes beyond the pounding drumbeat. Self-described as “electronic opera” Myths uses yesterday’s art foundations with today’s technology to create art for the future. Myths drew me in surrounded by sound and carried along into its dark vision. Prism Portraits, available on line, incorporates digital imagery to heighten the effect.
Works Cited
Higgens, Dick. Intermedia. Winter 2003. 29 3 2013
—. "Synesthesia and Intersenses: Intermedia." 1965. Vysoke Uceni Tichnicke V Brne. 30 3 2012
Interactive Media. 20 7 2011. 29 3 2012
Kotz, Liz. Post-Cagean Aesthestics and the "Event" Score. 10 1960. 29 3 2012
Paul, Christine. Digital Technologies as a Medium.
