CONTAINER

6:03, Video, 2017

experimental short

Releasing Human Energies: Internal Mix

Commissioned by Jesse Malmed for “Asides Besides 2: Video Artists Remixing Artists’ Video. CONTAINER is a Remix of Mark Toscano’s “Releasing Human Energies” (2012): “A film about control. A refinement of energy for purposes of conserving resources, materials, impetus, potential, so they might all be narrowly channeled toward an unquestioned goal of maximum profit with minimum waste. Capitalism, in this example, as a process of understanding how to make use of someone as efficiently as possible to get the most out of them that is desired. Instructions for keeping people on task.”
I wanted to grab all of those words and all of that weight and lock it in our (female) protagonist’s head and vigorously shake it all up. She’s processing what she’s dealing with. She’s practicing mindfulness and can’t detach from directions, instructions, and advice. She’s stuck in a pink cloud of thoughts and the cloud is stuck in her. I feel for her.

You can find Mark’s original film at:

https://lightcone.org/en/film-10503-releasing-human-energies