january 25-26th, 2026


 

january 25th

 

hellie and i were discussing danger music the other morning (actually following a conversation i had with loren ~a week ago). basically, pieces that require bodily harm to come to the performer to perform or for the listener to hear (often theoretically; the fluxus scores most heavily associated with this are largely unperformable within "reason"). it got me thinking about the role of danger and bodily harm in film - specifically, street ski edits. Rudy Lepine has described this proximity when discussing his work in 'Delirium' and (especially) 'Psychoactiv'; "As my ski dreams were coming true I was dealing with this debilitating injury, and I wanted to be able to link the two authentically".

Oliver Hoblitzelle's work in his newest film, 'The Jet Ski Movie', really kept this idea in my brain. we are used to skiers (and skateboarders, etc) bailing in clips, often with a redemptive success at the same spot later in the film. the film's focus (around 17:00) on a performers head injury, complete with a switch to purely diegetic music and a heavier helping of interspersed violence (on skis and off), forces the viewer to consider the performer(s) outside of the context of getting the clip. the intial shot in this sequence seems to pay homage to Arto Saari's clip in Flip's 'Sorry', with the injury-causing action being obscured in favor of a collection of scenes that reflect the state of the performer. 

So where does that leave me? its hard not to feel like the performer has a moral obligation to me (the viewer) to, at the least, put on a helmet; helmets are, though, imperfect solutions to the brain trauma (as shown through the depressingly short lifespans of nfl players). am i asking them to do so just to make me, the viewer, feel better? would it allow me to watch the bloodsport/danger film of street skiing with greater separation from the violence inherent to the art practice?

queries: "What moral obligation do artists have to (or away from) violence and danger in their art practice?"

"what role does the viewer play in the future of skiing and bodily harm by watching (getting hype for, losing our minds over, etc) danger film?" 

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