Place In Time is the history of a valley through millions of years. The terrain is filmed in 24 takes, showing
its evolution since pre-historic times until a distant future.
The camera movement is always the same. An “L” shape, 25 seconds travelling, starting at ground level,
crossing a river, and ending with a panoramic view of the valley.
07′09”
2004,
audio: “saliut.retriever” by migso, 2004
made during a residency at Location One, New York, 2003/2004.
“H2O” is a humorous reportage both distant and ironic chronological view of man-made debris that end up underwater.
Are fish adapting themselves to these alien objects?”
Nathalie Angles, Location One
In 1994 I made a video for Negativland’s “Crosley Bendix discusses the copyright act” (The letter U and the Numeral Two, 1992).
This video was made without their notice. This was the first video work I ever presented.
By October 2002, Alexandre Estrela (artist and friend living in New York) meets Mark Hosler from Negativland during a presentation of some of their videos at the Anthology Film Archives in New York, and tells him about my old video.
Mark asks me to send the video.
A month later Negativland invites me to make a video from any audio work of my choice. I choose Time Zones.
Time Zones is about time and size, United States versus Soviet Union, the cold war, the use of media as a vehicle
for psychological warfare and the use of computers to control the “imperfections” of men.
transcription of Time Zones
The Autonomous Commie Republic, which is part of the Russian
Federation, is situated in the far northwest of Europe, and spreads up to
the Arctic part of the Ural Mountains. It’s crossed by 9 northern
parallels. Ten fair-sized European states could be placed on its
territory. Besides indigenous residents (that is, the Commie people), there
are also Russians, Ukranians, Nenetzes, Tchubashis, and Tartars.
And now, let’s go back into history a little bit. (CLICK)
A boy lying on skins behind our backs was turning the knobs of a
small transistor radio.
(”…..making efforts to use radios as vehicles of a
psychological warfare. And subversive….”)
And the tent was suddenly filled with an announcer’s voice speaking Commie.
(Jam….Jam…Jam…Jam..)
Then, with music from Moscow, followed by English and French speech.
(”The recording was made at the Moscow Theater of Musical Miniatures.”)
Now, back to modern times.
<BEEP>
YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE. AT THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL
TIME BUREAU, COMMENCING AT TWENTY-THREE (23) HOURS, FIFTY-NINE (59)
MINUTES, SIXTY (60) SECONDS UTC, AN EXTRA SECOND WILL BE INSERTED INTO THE
NVS TIME SCALE. THIS ADJUSTMENT IS REQUIRED TO MAINTAIN INTERNATIONALLY
COORDINATED UNIVERSAL TIME AS BROADCAST FROM THESE STATIONS, IN CLOSE
AGREEMENT WITH UT1, OR ASTRONOMICAL TIME.
(”WA6ODB….with…a question….”)
“and, uh …”
“Do you know how many time zones there are in the Soviet Union?”
“and about power …”
“d’you kn–”
“we got so much power now …”
“Do you know how many time zones there are in the Soviet Union?”
“we got so much power now, that it’s ridiculous.”
“d’you kn– do you know how many time zones there are in the Soviet Union?”
“power, and all that, that’s power, we got so much power, that it’s
ridiculous.”
“We have–”
“power, power, power, power, power, power now, it’s ridiculous. We
got so much power now …”
“Do you know how many time zones there are in the Soviet Union?”
“It’s not even funny.”
“D’you–”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Do you know how many–”
“It’s not even funny.”
“D’you kn–”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Do you know how many–”
“That’s, that’s ridiculous.”
“Do you know how many time–”
“That’s ridiculous. It’s not even funny.”
“D’you–”
“It’s not even funny.”
“D–”
“It’s not even funny.”
“Do you know how many time zones there are in the Soviet Union?”
“It’s not even funny. How many time zones?”
“Yeah. We have, we have four in this country, right?” (Hello?)
“How many time zones?”
“Yeah.” (Hello? Yes.)
“1, 2, 3 …”
“Four in this country, right?” (Hello? Yes.)
“Uh, yessir.”
“Mm hm.” (I need language assistance)
“Uh, four … 1, 2, 3 … yessir.”
“Right.” (O.K., we’re
calling from a radio
station for Radio
Moscow)
“1, 2, 3 … yessir.”
“Mm hm.”
“Uh, four … time zones?” (And we want to speak
to Mr. C. Eliot
Friday.)
“Yeah. We have four in this country, right?”
“Uh, nosir.”
“We have, we have–”
“Uh, yessir.”
“Mm hm.”
“And, uh …”
“Do you know how many time zones they have?”
“Uh, yessir. Uh, four … uh, nosir. I never really studied that up.”
“Eleven.”
“Eleven. It’s not even funny.”
“Eleven.”
“Eleven. That’s, that’s ridiculous.”
“Eleven.”
“Eleven. Well, that’s what we can do. We can go anywhere, because
we live here, we–”
“Yeah, but–”
“–anywhere else.”
“But, not only, not only the right of free travel, I’m saying…eleven.”
“Eleven. 1, 2, 3 … yessir.” (Hello?)
“Mm hm. Eleven.”
“Eleven.”
“That’s how big they are.”
“Yeah. Yeah. Eleven.” (What happened to my call?)
“That’s how big they are.” (I keep on telling you…)
“Yeah. Yeah. I, I can believe that, I’m a firm believer in that.”
“Alright.”
“1, 2, 3 … uh, four … yessir. 1, 2 … yessir. Yessir.”
“Mm hm.” (I need…Radio Moscow, 215 2101)
“The Soviet Union’s the whole half side of the world.”
(And I need language
assistance.)
“Yeah.”
“And we’re just a little, one little tenth of the globe.”
“Yeah.”
“They, uh, when you talk about fightin’, we’re a country that, uh,
we’re a firm believer on pride, and it’s called help thy neighbor,
do not kill, do not, you know, steal, cheat, lie from everybody.
That’s why we have to have computers, because man, nobody is
perfect. You know.”
“Mm hm.”
“It’s not even funny.”
“D’you–”
“and about power, man, nobody is perfect. You know.”
“So what is your point?”
“Nobody is perfect. You know.”
“So what is your point, Glen?”
“There’s, there’s, there’s two things you don’t talk about, one’s
politics, the other one’s religion.
“D’you–”
“The reason you don’t talk about ‘em is because they combine in
each other. You know what I’m saying?”
“Do you know how many time zones there are in the Soviet Union?”
“You know what I’m saying?”
“Don’t you kid yourself. Thanks, Glen, for the uh… well, just
thanks for the, the good thoughts.”
THIS CONCLUDES OUR TRANSMISSION TO OCEANIA. HOWEVER, LISTENERS IN
EAST ASIA MAY CONTINUE LISTENING ON THE FOLLOWING SHORTWAVE FREQUENCIES:
6110, 7230, 9565, 9760, 15160, AND 15425 KILOHERTZ.
<CLICK><CLICK<CLICK>
Separate them <CLICK>
Damned if I know<CLICK>
Here it comes<CLICK>
-
end
-
“dolo”, the audio track, was released on ZOOG, my 2006 audio CD, and was later sampled by Negativland and
is featured, entirely, on their 2006 album “It’s all in Your Head FM”, ed. Seeland.
Sparky is a 3d animation made for Sparky, the music included in the audio cd migso002.
It tells the story of mr. A, that was going on the street one day and is mistakenly identified as someone called Sparky by Mr. B.
Mr.B shouts: -Sparky?
Mr. A replies: No sir.
The pursuit begins. Mr. A takes a taxi to an airport, then a plane to a desert island. Followed by Mr B.
Mr. B spots Mr.A in the island: -Sparky?!
-No sir.
Mr. A takes a plane to another continent, then a taxi to the Space Agency, then takes a rocket to the moon.
Followed by Mr.B that lands on the moon seconds after Mr.A.
Mr.B: -Sparky?
Mr. A: No sir.
Zoom out. two lunar modules on the surface of the moon, facing each other. lunar mountains and behind, the earth. end.
-
04′42”
2001
audio: (monaural) NASA, mission Apollo 11 to the moon, 1969
SpaceJunk beta 1.0 is a 3d animation about the ring of man-made debris that orbits our planet and has been growing since the early 1950’s.
The Sound used, astronauts from the Apollo 11 mission to the moon describing the objects inside the spaceship is now transposed to the objects outside in space.
More than 2000 3d model objects were collected from the internet in order to compose the animation, thus describing a virtual orbit around the earth and into my computer.
.
“L’homme pense que les cieux qui entourent sa demeure sont un endroit paisible, proche du néant.
Cette idée est terriblement fausse, car l’espace est tout sauf vide.
Des débris de toutes tailles flottent partout, en orbite autour de la Terre.
Avec l’exploration de l’espace, la multiplication des satellites représente un risque calculé dans la
mesure où ceux qui les envoient là-haut calculent les probabilités pour que le satellite ne rentre
pas en collision avec quelque chose dássez gros pour l’abîmer, voire le détruire.
La vidéo SpaceJunk beta 1.0, réalisée par le jeune artiste portugais Miguel Soares, met en scène
dans des images de synthèse un anneau virtuel composé de satellites et d’objects divers
(canettes de coca-cola, bijoux, etc)”.
Nicolas Trembley. In Abstraction, surface, Air.
Bureau des Videos/Georges/Centre Georges Pompidou. Paris, June 2002
04′00”
2001
music: “Rackrailway to…” Roberto Musci & Giovanni Venosta, 1987
voice: poems from Interstate ‘76 computer game, 1997.
See also GT (prints)
Para este trabalho, Miguel Soares inspirou-se no jogo de computador Interstate 76, relacionado com corridas
de automóveis entre bandos rivais, no qual a voz de um personagem, chamado Stampede, declama poemas sobre a estrada.
Recorrendo, como nas peças anteriores, a programas de animação em três dimensões para a construção dos
ambientes e das figuras, o artista conta a história muito simples de três carros que dialogam entre si durante
o percurso que os leva ao encontro de uma rapariga. Cada vez que Stampede debita um dos seus poemas, é
simulada a passagem da imagem em três dimensões a imagem em película de cinema.
Miguel Wandschneider
Archibunk3r Associates is a video portfolio of an architecture and design bureau based on Mars, in a distant future.
AA are the authors of teleport centers, stadiums, satelites, the Channel of Light, the SofaGuard ™, Hard Disc, the
Multi Purpose Vehicle used in Time for Space, and Tower city, among others.
.
“In Archibunk3r Associates, a kind of prototype catalogue from an architecture and design studio from the future,
we find once again Miguel Soares obsession with the artificial environment in which life in technologically developed
societies or in imagined future societies takes place.
A sense of melancholy, to a great extent given by the music, inhabits this images of idealized architecture and objects.
We do not know for sure to what the sense of loss is due to – if to a world extinct, the city as a space of sociability and
the experience of nature as a tangible reality, if to an utopian society based on technological advances as an instrument
of progress and well-being. ”
Miguel Wandschneider in SlowMotion – Miguel Soares, ESTGAD, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal
05′00”
text: João Simões. voice: Lula Pena and João Simões. sound design: Ari de Carvalho
music: “Mortícia”, “The chequered flag”, Combustile Edison, 1996. “I’m such a small thing”, Funki Porcini, 1996
“(…) Miguel Soares is a science fiction artist, someone who makes futuristic works that comment on aspects of contemporary human life.
His Time for Space (2000) is perfect editorial on Portugal’s present moment. Like some futuristic tourism commercial, Soares’ frolicking UFOs call upon us to journey with them to fantastic places where we can finally gain an all-encompassing sense of belonging.
However, we are never made to feel sure what the purpose of belonging is. While the upbeat tone of the work indicates positive possibilities, there is a subtle undercurrent that suggests that we are being invited to some darker cultish or militaristic venture.
Soares’ delicious ambiguity relates back to the reason I felt the title Situation Zero was such an apropriate description of the state of portuguese contemporary artmaking: the possibilities of its future are promising yet unknown.”
René de Guzman, in Situation Zero: Recent Art from Portugal. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. San Francisco. USA, August 2001
.
In a society located in a distant future, the promises of happiness are packed with images and sounds of publicity: images of flying saucers flying over seas and crossing the universe are underlined by alienating music and the reading of a text promoting wonderful journeys into unknown worlds.
As one understands at the end of the video, the shift from a feminine voice to a masculine one signals the shift from an travel agency campaign into a military enrolment one.
The illusion of adventure and freedom co-exists with the nightmare of a dictatorial society aimed towards the control of individuals.
Miguel Wandschneider, in SlowMotion – Miguel Soares. exhibition depliant. ESTGAD+Art Attack. Caldas da Rainha. Portugal.
Y2k 1999 One of the works that came out of the X-city project. Y2k is based on the fear of the millenium bug, and was made for the Festival Atlântico 99, in December 1999, at Galeria ZDB – Novo Figurino, Lisbon This is a preview of the effects caused by Y2k, the computer bug of the millenium everyone was talking about during that year. Despite the daylight, the church bells are chiming the Y2k hour.
A jet plane is trying to escape the millenium bug by moving from city to city (time-zone to time-zone). Each time it passes the heart of the city – the administrative center- it becomes distorted, regaining its original shape as it gets further away from the city center, escaping the bug, and moving onto the next city. This routine goes on for about 3 minutes. In the end you see an office building being desintegrated by the Y2k bug.
X city is a 3d virtual city that I was building and animating during a 3-year period.
It was meant to grow in size and complexity as I would get faster and faster computers.
I would transfer the city to a faster computer every time I could, so in the end it would be an
almost “real” city.
Unfortunately I started wrong by choosing the wrong software (Corel Dream 3d): animation had to
be done frame by frame manually, with no keyframes. Then files were put on a render queue.
X-city was based in the city of New York. In December 1998 I animated 3d planes crashing into
buildings. One can be seen on the cover of Biblia magazine #6 – Biblia goes to America.The other can
be seen as animation in this page and was part of my videofolio “miguel soares – works 1991-2001″.
During this period I always had the same computer (a pentium 166mmx).
I started at a rendering speed of 25 frames per day (1 second).
I abandoned the project when frames were taking 13 hours to render each.
I gave the computer to a friend.
