HalfLifers: Rescue Series

HalfLifers

00:28:30

Collection: Single Artist Compilations

Tags: Humor, Performance

HalfLifers: Rescue Series

Rescue Series is a HalfLifers project that attempts to articulate deep-seated anxieties about the loss of functionality or purpose through a series of spontaneous “crisis re-enactments.” As these fears overwhelm the psyche, the simplest and most mundane activities become potentially hazardous. The inhabitants of Rescue Series (Burns and Discenza) exist in an obsessive psychic space, where emergencies, mishaps, and training sessions are continually catalogued and explosively re-staged in a desperate and absurd attempt to restore a sense of security.

“These frenzied, fast-motion videos turn ordinary places (a children’s pool, a four-door sedan, a suburban garage) into potential harried ‘crisis re-enactments.’ Hilarious and ominous, the Rescue [Series] uses video as something between a children’s toy, a surveillance camera in hyperspeed, and a disaster record.”

—Anthony Kaufman, “The Two-Faced Format: Documents and Experiments at NY’s Video Fest,” indieWIRE (17 July 1998)

 

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HalfLifers

Rescue Parables

1994 | 00:04:30

Various scenarios are envisaged where a rescue might be possible. Props include a hoist, a trolley, various doors and windows, ladders and a length of hose. It is unclear whether our two heroes help…

Collections: Single Titles
Tags: Humor, Performance

Burns and Discenza continue to battle invisible forces with the use of various children’s toys, cars and a mechanical digger, a paddling pool, rubber rings and ladders. Eventually they escape the…

Collections: Single Titles
Tags: Humor, Performance

HalfLifers

Fear of Rescue

1997 | 00:10:00

In this attempt to resolve the on-going crisis, Burns and Discenza find themselves in, variously, a childrens adventure playground, a garage and a yard. They utilize a mechanical digger to dig the…

Collections: Single Titles
Tags: Humor

HalfLifers

Aquatics

1997 | 00:06:30

Actions speed up, slow down, and run at regular speed. The usual props are there, as is a wet dog. Subtle nuances are revealed as the behavior of the anxiety-laden protagonists is rendered, for once…

Collections: Single Titles
Tags: Performance