Video Box Workshop w/ Max Van Loan
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Video art sculptures with Max Van Loan
Inspired by peepholes and the early cinema technology the kinetoscope, participants will construct and decorate a cardboard box with a hole to view a screen (your phone!). Videos will be compiled from existing material or created on site.
Before cinemas and movie theaters, where we collectively learned how and why to watch films
together, there was the kinetoscope. The kinetoscope, invented in 1894 (the year before the first
projected film) is a large box that sits on the floor and reaches tall enough for a standing viewer
to lean over and peek inside. Inside the box, a viewer would see a 15-20 second loop of some
of the first motion pictures. Kinetoscope parlors were open for a time, but went pretty much
extinct once a projected movie could be seen. In a way, we have come back around to the
kinetoscopic style of viewing; we are often watching moving images on small screens in our
hands.
In this workshop, participants will create their own modern kinetoscopes, building boxes
of various shapes and sizes, decorated however they like, that are meant to be peered inside to
view a short loop of video. The boxes in this case will be made of cardboard, decorated with
faux flowers, fabrics, decorative papers, and other embellishments (supplies provided), and the
moving image inside will be displayed from each participant’s phone or tablet. Join us in the live room to build modern takes on the historical kinetoscope, injected with play, whimsy, and a whole lot of creative fun. See you at the kinetoscope parlour!
Max Van Loan (they/them) (formerly Emily/Em) is an experimental filmmaker based in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. With their work, Max cultivates a physical relationship with a film medium
that reflects intimate personal spaces containing trauma, queerness, and play. Their work has
screened in festivals and galleries internationally including Ithaca Experimental Film Festival,
Winnipeg Underground Film Festival, Ribalta Experimental Film Festival, Transient Visions:
Festival of the Moving Image, Microscope Gallery (NYC), Union Hall Denver and Madison
Museum of Contemporary Art.
Inspired by peepholes and the early cinema technology the kinetoscope, participants will construct and decorate a cardboard box with a hole to view a screen (your phone!). Videos will be compiled from existing material or created on site.
Before cinemas and movie theaters, where we collectively learned how and why to watch films
together, there was the kinetoscope. The kinetoscope, invented in 1894 (the year before the first
projected film) is a large box that sits on the floor and reaches tall enough for a standing viewer
to lean over and peek inside. Inside the box, a viewer would see a 15-20 second loop of some
of the first motion pictures. Kinetoscope parlors were open for a time, but went pretty much
extinct once a projected movie could be seen. In a way, we have come back around to the
kinetoscopic style of viewing; we are often watching moving images on small screens in our
hands.
In this workshop, participants will create their own modern kinetoscopes, building boxes
of various shapes and sizes, decorated however they like, that are meant to be peered inside to
view a short loop of video. The boxes in this case will be made of cardboard, decorated with
faux flowers, fabrics, decorative papers, and other embellishments (supplies provided), and the
moving image inside will be displayed from each participant’s phone or tablet. Join us in the live room to build modern takes on the historical kinetoscope, injected with play, whimsy, and a whole lot of creative fun. See you at the kinetoscope parlour!
Max Van Loan (they/them) (formerly Emily/Em) is an experimental filmmaker based in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. With their work, Max cultivates a physical relationship with a film medium
that reflects intimate personal spaces containing trauma, queerness, and play. Their work has
screened in festivals and galleries internationally including Ithaca Experimental Film Festival,
Winnipeg Underground Film Festival, Ribalta Experimental Film Festival, Transient Visions:
Festival of the Moving Image, Microscope Gallery (NYC), Union Hall Denver and Madison
Museum of Contemporary Art.
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Where is it happening?
2496 S Wentworth Ave, Milwaukee, WI, United States, Wisconsin 53207
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
Host or PublisherCactus Club











