Alive from Off Center

Young Video Artists

In "The Nose Knows," Teddy Dibble sniffs several microphones, selects one, and mouths the words to an instrumental of "The Girl from Ipanema"; in "A Scar-y Story," he incredulously describes a strange condition afflicting his face, as bandages accumulate on it; and in "The Sound of Music," he sits alone at a desk, answers a phone, and repeatedly puts the caller on hold. In the Yonemotos' "Vault," a florid, melodramatic send-up of television and film cliches, a young couple plays out their romance in a mixture of Bergmanesque flashbacks and soap opera parodies. In "Perfect Leader" by Max Almy, a man is manipulated via a computer program into the ideal politician for the modern media age. In the final piece, "From Hippie to Yuppie" by Ben Bergery, a series of paired phrases appear on screen in colourful graffiti, reflecting the life journey of sixties generation.