OtherZine Issue 27: FRAME LINES is Out!

story © Michael Betancourt | published September 14, 2014 | permalink |  |  

OtherZine 27 is now out!. I have an article in this issue, Motion Pictures- An Expanded Framework, that is a discussion of "formal" approaches to motion pictures.

story © Michael Betancourt | published August 27, 2014 | permalink |  |  

In September Artists' Television Access in San Francisco celebrates its 30th birthday!

They are currently having a fund-raising campaign: ATA needs a new projector and some improvements. They have launched an Indiegogo campaign to reach their goal of $15,000. This will help them with long term sustainability in terms of facilities and technology. They have a challenge grant from the San Francisco’s Voluntary Arts Contribution Fund (VACF) but it requires they raise matching funds to get it.

You can donate here.

story © Michael Betancourt | published July 20, 2014 | permalink |  |  

Since today is the 45th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, here is my Moon Landing movie:

Contact Light is made from 19th and 20th century depictions of the Moon, Georges Méliès’ famous fantasy film from 1902, and the reality of Apollo 11 in 1969. The title comes from Buzz Aldrin saying, “Contact light. A very smooth touchdown.” heard at the end of my movie.

read more (401 words)

story © Michael Betancourt | published July 17, 2014 | permalink |  |  

My article that I started writing in 2007, begun before we had good confirmation of the NSA surveillance programs, could only be finished because of what we now know: The Demands of Agnotology::Surveillance addresses the complex links between surveillance, agnotology, and security:

Surveillance is the logical antithesis of agnotology: it acts to produce certainty rather than uncertainty. 'Security' provides a far-reaching, nebulous justification for a range of actions, from expansions of surveillance (immaterial production) to war and imperialism (primitive accumulation). The periodic crashes of capitalism are a symptom of the overextension inherent in capitalism itself, however, moments of 'systemic failure' are not indicators that capitalism will implode; instead, what occurs is a retrenching that results in an expansion of capitalist processes into new domains.

read more (251 words)

story © Michael Betancourt | published July 16, 2014 | permalink |  |  

My article discussing the political economy of glitch art came out on Hz Journal today. It's a discussion of how we identify a glitch as being critical, and what this means for media art makers.