WHITEONWHITE: ALGORITHNICNOIR is an experimental movie that runs forever, never repeating the same way twice. Edited live in real time by custom written computer code, the film attempts to push the envelope of cinematic form, delivering a changing narrative through a mix of algorithmic logic and serendipity.
The story that is eked out – albeit differently – at each viewing follows the observations and surveillance of a man named Holz, who takes a job in the futuristic metropolis, City-A, for the New Method Oil Well Cementing Company. Voiceovers and dialogues forge the narrative – wire tapped telephone conversations, reel-to-reel tapes, snippets of a job interview between Mr. Holz and his prospective employers, distant observations relating to Holz’s confounding environment and a female narrator describing various impositions on the citizens of City-A: strangely manipulated time keeping, a language ration, suicide statistics, and industrial drinking water. Through these associative segments, it becomes evident that Holz is manipulated by forces beyond his control.
The filmmakers have also ceded a level of control to what they refer to as the ‘serendipity machine.’ The computer that runs WHITEONWHITE: ALGORITHNICNOIR is loaded with over 3000 film/video clips, 70 voiceovers and conversations, and 150 pieces of music. Each voiceover/conversation plays through its duration as the machine culls scenes based on ‘metadata queries’ – searches for specific tags embedded in the media. WHITEONWHITE: ALGORITHNICNOIR is projected on a cinema scale movie screen, with an additional “code screen” – a computer monitor that displays the tags that call for each clip from the server, i.e, “white, lonely, tower, winter, future...rocket,” creating the real-time edit.
Eve Sussman, born in 1961 in England lives in Brooklyn, New York. She is an artist working in film, video, installation, sculpture and photography. She attended Robert College of Istanbul, University of Canterbury, and Bennington College. Sussman is the founder of Rufus Corporation, a collective of performers, artists, and musicians who have collaborated on motion pictures such as The Rape of the Sabine Women (2006) and 89 Seconds at Alcázar (2004) in addition to various photography and video installation based works.
Format: HD video
Running time: ∞
