Tibet Crackdown vid by Nick Guls of Digital Drift
To learn more about the Light Programme Remix video, R. J. Preece interviewed Nick Guls of Digital Drift in England by telephone earlier in the week.
Nick has a background in filmmaking, projection and installation work, and was a scratch video artist in the 1980s. He also was involved in producing the video projections behind Cabaret Voltaire’s performances during their Groovy, laidback and nasty tour (1989-90). He’s currently involved in electro-acoustic and video collaborations.
Now onto excerpts of the conversation.
R.J. Preece: How did you get involved in making the Crackdown video?
Nick Guls: I’ve known Billie Ray Martin a very long time. I met her in 1983 in Berlin when I was travelling in Europe. We actually met in a café that was playing Cabaret Voltaire videos.
Preece: (Laughs).
Guls: And we got talking—I liked them and she liked them. And I ended up being given the keys to a friend’s flat and ended up staying there for a week. We’ve been in touch ever since.
When her Crackdown music project came about, she asked me to make a video, something maybe viral, that could go online. And I thought it’d be great. She sent various mixes, and I wanted to work with this particular mix.
I’ve had a long-term interest in Buddhism and Tibet Buddhism and I’ve been in Tibet. And I know Billie has an interest in Buddhism.
So I thought it’d be interesting, given the original Cabaret Voltaire footage, some of the stuff they used to show live—riot footage, confrontation. So I thought it’d be interesting to revisit their style and approach to videos—with a 21st century update, the Tibet crackdown, a global exemplar.
Preece: Could you tell us a little about the format?
Guls: With the idea of a 21st century update, I trawled YouTube of footage of the Lhasa riots in 2008, and I combined that with photos I had taken there. I organized multiple pictures on screen to kind of show “simultaneous broadcasts”. I used to do a lot of multi-projection live, but here it’s in one screen space.
Preece: Gut reaction. Just say what you think, please. Do you think this video could work in an art gallery as an artwork?
Guls: I don’t see why not.
Preece: OK. It keeps floating through my brain. (Pause.)
Why Tibet? You could have chosen anything. Is it something in your heart?
Guls: Yes. Yes.
For 15 years, I’ve had a deep interest...
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Readers, you’ll see that the rest of the interview is not included. Sorry, reality check, you’ll just have to watch the video, open your heart and your mind, and consider possible reasons why...
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