St. Marks: New Years Eve

St. Marks: New Years Eve combines political commentary with non-narrative segments that celebrate the medium of video. The video’s tonal climax occurs at its beginning, in which a large crowd gathers at a live music event and stands to sing the national anthem with peace signs and middle fingers held high in the air above them.

This footage transitions to an intimate jam session in a dimly lit room that gives way to cuts between close up shots of two individuals reading a book. One asks the other “tit-a-tat? Does that mean something?”. Their counterpart responds without a conclusive answer to the question. This short sequence cuts to footage of two people alone in an empty room, kissing on a folding chair. The final sequence is a documented conversation between four people tangled up in one another, speaking to the camera and amongst themselves.

By documenting a variety of situations without respect to plot or length, the Videofreex deconstruct existing standards of ‘acceptable’ media. In St. Marks: New Year’s Eve, the Videofreex center themselves and their peers within a political and mass media climate that leaves minimal avenues for public self-representation.

— Charlotte Strange