Experiencing Interruptions?

JOKES

JOKES
Prologue: a man opens the door, sees the devil and closes the door. He opens the door, sees the devil and closes the door.
Chapter 1: JIM. Jim receives a note under the door, he is intrigued, especially because it's the door of the closet. A man opens the door, sees the devil and closes the door. He opens the door, sees the devil and closes the door.
Chapter 2: KEVIN. Goodbye Kevin, I could look the other way with the boozing and the skirt-chasing but I did not sign-up for Bicycle clothes. A man opens the door, sees the devil and closes the door. He opens the door, sees the devil and closes the door.
Chapter 3: THE CAGE. Well, I checked again and we are definitely the ones inside the cage. A man opens the door, sees the devil and closes the door. He opens the door, sees the devil and closes the door.
Chapter 4: ?. A Police helicopter is searching for a car on the road at night.
THE END
This video is based on a series of paintings that have been scanned and processed digitally through a particular process in order to create this motion video. The content of the paintings shows abstract patterns created through different analog techniques. Words can also be found. They are taken from the quotes of cartoons found in the New Yorker magazine.

  • Jean-Baptiste Maitre
    Director
  • Mondriaan Fonds, NL
    Producer
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Experimental, Short
  • Runtime:
    6 minutes 50 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 1, 2016
  • Country of Origin:
    Netherlands
  • Country of Filming:
    Netherlands
  • Shooting Format:
    Scans of paintings
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • IDFA 2016
    Amsterdam
    Netherlands
    November 26, 2016
  • Gallery Rita Urso
    Milano
    Italy
    April 13, 2016
Director Biography - Jean-Baptiste Maitre

Director's biography Jean-Baptiste Maitre (1978, France) studied Art History and Fine Art in Paris (ENSB-A; Université Paris-Sorbonne) and Amsterdam (Rijksakademie v. B. K.). Maitre produces paintings that are scanned and processed into silent video animations. Recent shows include: FLUID CARRYING THE HOPE OF SHIPS IN DISTRESS at Rita Urso, Milan; MANDALA RÉPUBLIQUE at Martin van Zomeren, Amsterdam; CODEX, Wattis Institute for contemporary Arts, San Francisco; IT AIN’T WATCHA WRITE, IT’S THE WAY ATCHA WRITE IT, Manifesta Foundation, Amsterdam; STRIPE PAINTINGS, La Salle De Bains art center, Lyon; THIS IS WHAT I MEANT at P/////AKT, Amsterdam; and POST-SCULPTURE with Bruce McClean, Galerie 1m3, Lausanne. Maitre is represented by Martin van Zomeren, Amsterdam, and Rita Urso, Milan
Filmography
JOKES (2016)
DOTS CHANCE POTS DANCE (2015)
LE POETE, LA CITE, LA MACHINE (2014)
THE MAGIC VASE (2014)
MANDALA REPUBLIQUE (2013)
RAIN CUHZASRK DIEWICZ (2012)
FILM DE JOUR (2012)
THREE L (2011)
SHAPED CINEMA (2010)
UNTITLED SCULPTURES AT THE BONNEFANTENMUSEUM (2009)
AN INTERVIEW WITH JAYSON BLAIR (2008)
AIRLUX (2003)
COSMOLOGIE TOMATOLOGIQUE (2000)

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Director Statement

I make moving images that focuses on the mechanics and properties of cinema rather then its narrative.

Reviving this focus gives space to the critical and poetic qualities of an earlier cinema that was essentially driven by the elemental idea of motion, at a time when filmmaking was an experiment.

I am experimenting with hand made cinema where Paintings replace the traditional celluloid. With this method, analog paintings are scanned and processed into a digital workflow to produce motion videos .

In my own work I place the mechanical and the phantasmagoric depiction of the world in visual resonnance and find correlations between the two.

The idea is to investigate how vision and imagination sneak inside the space of depiction.