ART
We Was Voodoo: a Conversation with Karsten Krejcarek
/ Matthew Ronay
11.23.09
M: OK, so…
K: So, the question is what my interest in meteorites?
M: Yeah, I’m trying to boil it down for people. Of course when you watch the video, the narrative is compelling, but I’m trying to boil it down to the… The thing is about this meteorite – what interests you about the meteorite. Where did it come from?
K: I think they are metaphorical more than not. There’s a lot of stuff that surrounds meteorites… They come from beyond and intercept reality – but it’s not exactly part of our regular system.
M: Potentially dangerous.
K: Potentially dangerous, potentially metaphysical. The New Age has embraced meteorites as a powerful healing tool. And there is an entire cult around them – people who collect them, people who make fake meteorites – which are called meteorwrongs. The monetary values assigned to them is based on what they hit, whether their falling is viewed, whether they hit a person – to my knowledge it only happened twice, once recently. So they have this mystique around them. In terms of the video, it’s really just this other entering into a narrative, to allow something magical to happen.
M: This is a funny question, but sometimes I think of you as a kind of Eddie Murphy or Tyler Perry. Do you have any thoughts on that? On a lighthearted note… In that approach to making cinema and narrative, it’s kind of like a Vinnie Gallo kind of thing. You write it, act, play all the roles. And also if I can throw something else in there to think about while you are answering - is part of the aspect that you like about working on the movie is working with the crew and working with other people and stuff like that. You know? Is it? Can you combine that somehow?
K: I can try to answer this separately. To the later, and back to this idea of getting out of the studio, a huge part of the video is embracing other people and having experiences with others. Whether it be the people who are directly helping me shoot the video, or the people helping me find locations, or rowing me out to an island ….
M: Like it’s much more fun for you to spend a day going to look for a location, and talking to weird people and getting in your car and going out than sitting in your studio sanding MDF or something like that.
K: I would absolutely agree with that. And it’s been very good for me in that respect. To the first part of that question, there is an almost unintentional aspect of the videos that it is comical, it is parody… What I have been trying to do is let go of my preconceived notions of what the video is going to be. And when these things happen, embrace them and use the process of post-production to make them more intentional.
M: Or more contrived.
K: In the process of playing an older black man, or a woman, or a wizard, all sorts of unplanned residual effects happen that make it comical. Again, back to the difference between working as a sculptor and working as a video person – I have a lot control in the studio over what I make, and I seem to have no control over what happens in the video. I consider that a very important and beneficial aspect of the process of video making and for my practice at large.
K: So, the question is what my interest in meteorites?
M: Yeah, I’m trying to boil it down for people. Of course when you watch the video, the narrative is compelling, but I’m trying to boil it down to the… The thing is about this meteorite – what interests you about the meteorite. Where did it come from?
K: I think they are metaphorical more than not. There’s a lot of stuff that surrounds meteorites… They come from beyond and intercept reality – but it’s not exactly part of our regular system.
M: Potentially dangerous.
K: Potentially dangerous, potentially metaphysical. The New Age has embraced meteorites as a powerful healing tool. And there is an entire cult around them – people who collect them, people who make fake meteorites – which are called meteorwrongs. The monetary values assigned to them is based on what they hit, whether their falling is viewed, whether they hit a person – to my knowledge it only happened twice, once recently. So they have this mystique around them. In terms of the video, it’s really just this other entering into a narrative, to allow something magical to happen.
M: This is a funny question, but sometimes I think of you as a kind of Eddie Murphy or Tyler Perry. Do you have any thoughts on that? On a lighthearted note… In that approach to making cinema and narrative, it’s kind of like a Vinnie Gallo kind of thing. You write it, act, play all the roles. And also if I can throw something else in there to think about while you are answering - is part of the aspect that you like about working on the movie is working with the crew and working with other people and stuff like that. You know? Is it? Can you combine that somehow?
K: I can try to answer this separately. To the later, and back to this idea of getting out of the studio, a huge part of the video is embracing other people and having experiences with others. Whether it be the people who are directly helping me shoot the video, or the people helping me find locations, or rowing me out to an island ….
M: Like it’s much more fun for you to spend a day going to look for a location, and talking to weird people and getting in your car and going out than sitting in your studio sanding MDF or something like that.
K: I would absolutely agree with that. And it’s been very good for me in that respect. To the first part of that question, there is an almost unintentional aspect of the videos that it is comical, it is parody… What I have been trying to do is let go of my preconceived notions of what the video is going to be. And when these things happen, embrace them and use the process of post-production to make them more intentional.
M: Or more contrived.
K: In the process of playing an older black man, or a woman, or a wizard, all sorts of unplanned residual effects happen that make it comical. Again, back to the difference between working as a sculptor and working as a video person – I have a lot control in the studio over what I make, and I seem to have no control over what happens in the video. I consider that a very important and beneficial aspect of the process of video making and for my practice at large.