Surface Noise

Surface Noise

16mm, color, sound, 18 min
Found footage exploring public and private space, organized formally as a sonata, centered around work and issues of class: the divisions between home and public, owners and workers, saturation and flow, ...
Rental format: 16mm

Stills

About

Found footage exploring public and private space, organized formally as a sonata, centered around work and issues of class: the divisions between home and public, owners and workers, saturation and flow, structure and improvisation.

I work in media, both film and video. I began as a documentarian and moved into more experimental work by the late 1970s out of a sense of the politics of poetic forms and an aesthetic prediliction toward invention. My films extend the avant-garde and montage traditions of Eisenstein and Vertov, as well as the surrealist traditions of Bunuel and Breton in an attempt to examine, critique and play with and within the social realities of our era. In addition to these stylists from early in the century, my influences include the postwar films of Bruce Conner, Stan Brakhage and the under-recognized Len Lye. These works support my commitment to wit, clarity and an investigation of the daily. I expand on these traditions by focusing on sound/image relationships, and by examining gender, the portrayal of women and desire.

Films

  • Other films by this artist in our catalogue

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    Ornamentals
    Experimental

    Ornamentals
    Abigail Child

    16mm, color, silent, 8 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Body
    • Music
    • Dance
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    Prefaces Is This What You Were Born For? (Part 1)
    Experimental

    Prefaces Is This What You Were Born For? (Part 1)
    Abigail Child

    16mm, color, sound, 9.5 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Arts / Artists
    • Music
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    Mutiny
    Experimental

    Mutiny
    Abigail Child

    16mm, color, sound, 9.5 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Ethnographic
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    Covert Action Is This What You Were Born For? (Part 4)
    Experimental

    Covert Action Is This What You Were Born For? (Part 4)
    Abigail Child

    16mm, black and white, sound, 7.75 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Philosophical
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    Perils, Mayhem, Mercy
    Experimental
    Narrative

    Perils, Mayhem, Mercy
    Abigail Child

    16mm, black and white, sound, 126 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Arts / Artists
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    Perils Is This What You Were Born For? (Part 5)
    Experimental
    Narrative

    Perils Is This What You Were Born For? (Part 5)
    Abigail Child

    16mm, black and white, sound, 3.5 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Arts / Artists
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    Is This What You Were Born For? 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 (Prefaces, Mutiny, Covert, Perils, Mayhem)
    Experimental

    Is This What You Were Born For? 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 (Prefaces, Mutiny, Covert, Perils, Mayhem)
    Abigail Child

    16mm, color and b/w, sound, 46.75 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Arts / Artists
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    Mayhem Is This What You Were Born For? (Part 6)
    Experimental

    Mayhem Is This What You Were Born For? (Part 6)
    Abigail Child

    16mm, black and white, sound, 16.5 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Body
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    Both Is This What You Were Born For? (Part 2)

    Both Is This What You Were Born For? (Part 2)
    Abigail Child

    16mm, color, sound, 2 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Body
    • Erotic
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    Mercy Is This What You Were Born For? (Part 7)
    Experimental

    Mercy Is This What You Were Born For? (Part 7)
    Abigail Child

    16mm, color, sound, 10 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Technology
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    B/Side
    Experimental

    B/Side
    Abigail Child

    16mm, color and b/w, sound, 40 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Political / Social Activism
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    Below The New:  A Russian Chronicle
    Experimental

    Below The New: A Russian Chronicle
    Abigail Child

    16mm, color, sound, 30 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Ethnographic
    • Found Footage
    • Personal / Diary / Journal
    • Political / Social Activism
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    Dark Dark
    Experimental
    Narrative

    Dark Dark
    Abigail Child

    16mm, black and white, sound, 16 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Films About Film
    • Literarature / Theater
    • Philosophical
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    Cake and Steak
    Experimental

    Cake and Steak
    Abigail Child

    color, sound, 10 min
    Rental format: DVD NTSC
    • Children / Youth
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    To and No Fro
    Experimental

    To and No Fro
    Abigail Child

    color and b/w, sound, 4.5 min
    Rental format: DVD NTSC
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    Foreign Film Series
    Experimental

    Foreign Film Series
    Abigail Child

    color and b/w, sound, 45 min
    Rental format: DVD NTSC
    • Films About Film
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    Mirror World
    Experimental

    Mirror World
    Abigail Child

    color, sound, 12 min
    • Structural
    • Literarature / Theater
    • Ethnographic
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    (If I can sing a song of) LIGATURES
    Experimental

    (If I can sing a song of) LIGATURES
    Abigail Child

    color and b/w, sound, 5 min
    Rental format: DVD NTSC
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    The Suburban Trilogy
    Experimental

    The Suburban Trilogy
    Abigail Child

    16mm, sound, 75 min
    Rental format: DVD NTSC
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    UNBOUND: Scenes from the Life of Mary Shelley
    Experimental

    UNBOUND: Scenes from the Life of Mary Shelley
    Abigail Child

    DVD, color, sound, 70 min
    Rental format: DVD NTSC
    • History
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    ELSA merdelamerdelamer + VIS A VIS
    Experimental

    ELSA merdelamerdelamer + VIS A VIS
    Abigail Child

    black and white, sound, 30 min
    Rental format: DVD NTSC
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    BLUE EDIT
    Experimental

    BLUE EDIT
    Abigail Child

    Digital, color, sound, 15 min