Field Reports, Part One: Art Encounters

When viewing the film "Bear Garden" which I saw in class, and comparing it to any one of the films I saw of Robert Schaller,one word comes to mind: Kinetic. The kinetic energy within these films are completely off the chart. That's the relation they have to each other. As a viewer making an independent interruption, I felt like all of these experimental films were making expressions about the kinetic energy within society, within their lives, and within our very own lives as viewers.

In all of Robert Schaller's films there was this extreme amount of motion. Along with this motion there was multiple quick cuts, and quick edits. Going back and forth with the camera, fade ins/outs, cross fades etc. In particular “Life As A Bee”, showed us the audience, what it's like to be a bee. We were dropped right into the first person prospective of this insect. It took us from flower to flower at extreme paces, always in motion and never stopping. The three projection film featuring the dancer was another work that was obsessed with the idea of motion. As the dancer moved across the screens we're entranced by her actions. This kinetic energy runs through all of his films, this sense of motion, this sense of energy, to me in my opinion, feels like en expression of life.

“Bear Garden” is in the same mold of Robert Schaller 's motion experimentation with film. We're placed again in a fist person view and thrown around. We're having an experience in movement, we're forced into another body, not out, to witness first hand what these movements feel like. “Bear Garden” isn't as always as fast and furious as Robert's films, but it definitely has similar ideas about how to express energy and movement.


Both filmmakers are dealing with the idea of expressing the Kinetic energy in life. At least that's the feeling I get when I watch their films together.