Final Project: Viral Video

My final project consists of a YouTube channel dedicated to deconstructing and reconstructing viral videos. This was an ambitious project, which predictably, turned out to be not quite as ambitious as I originally hoped, but it was still very interesting and I hope to continue with it. I ended up with three videos, one centered on walking/dancing, one on music, and one on kids/babies. The more I think about it the more I realize how many directions are possible with this project; it's a miracle I managed to narrow down those three. Anyway, here are the three videos:

The YouTube channel: click here.

The thing that struck me thinking about allatonceness and the global village is that these viral videos have managed to get at basic ideas/emotions that connect us all: laughing, dancing, confusion, shock, music, etc. For the most part, they connect to people on a very basic level, and that's what makes them not only entertaining but shareable. For all of our supposed complexity in the digital age, all it really takes is a cat video to connect millions of people. 

Topless Cellist - Charlotte Moorman

Charlotte Moorman was an avant-garde cellist and performance artist, known for performing in various states of undress. In short, she was amazing.

She was a Julliard-trained cellist who found her calling in avant-garde performance art. She was part of the Fluxus movement, one of the few women involved, and collaborated with many other avant-garde artists, most notably Nam June Paik. Paik created many electronic contraptions that she would use in performance, such as the TV bra. 

It's exactly what it sounds like.

She orchestrated 15 public avant-garde festivals in New York from 1963 to 1980. She wanted all types of avant-garde to reach as wide an audience as possible. She once played a piece on her cello while strung up by a dozen weather-balloons, floating over the Sydney Opera House. Nbd. 

I think that McLuhan included her in TMITM where he did because of her balance between the old and the new in her art. On the page before hers, he talks about a transition phase between the old way of doing things and the new, the former trying to persist over the latter but ultimately failing. Moorman's life and work exemplifies this idea: she was raised in Little Rock, Arkansas in the 40s and 50s, about as traditional as you can get. She was extremely committed to her music and constantly looked for ways to improve her technique until she got bored with classical cello in her late 20s. She transitioned to the new, the avant-garde style of performance, and the more she got involved in it the more she was convinced that it was the right style for her. She constantly pushed the boundaries of her performance, seeing how much she could get away with. From the old and the new, "Moorman invented a new mode of performance that combined classical rigor, jazz improvisation, and avant-garde experiment--informed by intuition, daring, and love of spectacle" (Joan Rothfuss, Topless Cellist).