People Like Us

Using found footage sourced from educational films in the Prelinger Archives, this work explores the subject of experimentation in human body and machine interfaces in the 20th century. The film edits together the different ways we have controlled our environment - through technology, magic and theatrical devices. As the world of communications brings people together, power still exists by pushing a button and pulling the puppet strings.

The climactic scene of John Huston's Key Largo is fused with John Cage's 4'33", all dialogue is stripped away to reveal a cinema of movement, glances and inadvertent comedy.

A word from the artist... While viewing and sourcing content from the Great North Run film archive, it occurred to me that the huge crowds that come to spectate this event are as important as the participator. I arranged film frame layers across the screen so that they strayed outwards in the direction of the natural panning of the original shots - much more in accordance with the natural gaze of the spectator, revealing a unique panoramic view of the content. The irregular angles and shifting perspectives bring to mind Cubist photomontage and Cubist/Vorticist painting/collage, with the added dimension of the moving image naturally taking this to another level. Given that this is a celebration of human achievement, and as a nod of appreciation to the Cubist influence within this work, it seemed appropriate to use "Parade" by Erik Satie as the musical backdrop."

A video triptych exploring the themes of labour, leisure and industriousness, carefully constructed using industrial and documentary film footage from 1940-1975 to follow the endless chug of the conveyer belt of life. Material from the Prelinger Archives and AV Geeks, two of the biggest ephemeral footage libraries in the world, has been pieced together in a symphony of movement and metamorphosis. Images of production lines, factories, and educational and creative industries, are sandwiched by those of the winding up and down processes of the day, the hours of leisure and relaxation, to illustrate the endless whirr of activity in our pursuit of meaning and happiness.

British artist Vicki Bennett takes you on a roller coaster-ride with her art project People Like Us. In performances, videos, collages and music, her amazing editing techniques and sense of humor leave you flabbergasted and enthusiastic at the same time. People Like Us is like free-zone where appropriation meets alchemy, humor meets social critique and the boundless imagination meets so-called reality.

Sleep deficient actors drift in and out of consciousness. Peer into a parallel cinematic world that exists between the edits, when we are not looking at the screen.

This is the first in a series of films using documentary, industrial and educational film footage from the Prelinger Archive and The Internet Archive. The film explores the theme of technology, showing how the future can be edited and manipulated through advances in computer science. As the narrative in the film says "The art of computer graphics is only in its infancy yet it is already stimulating creative thought in far out areas where research is likely to get complex and unwieldy".

The Golem, a monstrous being of inanimate matter from Jewish folklore, is accidentally summoned from a book wreaks havoc through a library.

A washing machine less ordinary: The electronic music duo Matmos probes the music making capabilities of the “Ultimate Care II” by Whirlpool and weaves the sounds of its housing, laundry cycle and switches into a beat. Using animation, optical effects and advertising film quotes from the time when fully automatic machines had their breakthrough, a lively piece of music video is created that makes us forget all our laundry worries.

A collection of rarely seen early pc-made avi films - primarily using relatively primitive techniques of scratch video then Adobe Premiere editing, resulting in a particular lo-fi look which isn't particularly intentional, but reflective of the process. "Music Of Your Own" and "Burning" originally existed as audio-only pieces on the "Thermos Explorer" album (2000), and since the audio was originally sourced from film it was later possible to recreate the stories in visual form. This particular film has recently been returned to (14 years later!) and re-re-purposed in Notations - a film for live improvisers (2013).

In 2009, People Like Us and many others remixed The Inaugural Poem, because we felt that the first one needed improving.

The work is created using a technique that expands film scenes beyond the conventional screen ratio. The finished result reveals beautiful panoramic views of the background landscapes as captured by the panning camera, effectively allowing film scenes to be seen as never before.

The 'garden' was a first attempt to sanitise and control nature. Once there was the wilderness, now there is the urban jungle.

This is was included often in People Like Us live audiovisual live sets around the time of creation, inspired by a sinister revolving doll head and the fact that PLU generally play their concerts in cinemas.

A supercut of the Golden Gate Bridge and water.

This work was created using film from the LUX archive by artists Alan Berliner, Lawrence Jordan, People Like Us, Semiconductor and the Estate of Stan Vanderbeek. The aim of the commission was to further promote work in the LUX archive. Permission was sought from the artists and their work was then collaged, rearranged and altered to create a new work Resemblage. Commissioned by LUX.

A 30 minute edit of "The Magical Misery Tour", a 45 minute concert created between June and September 2011. It was premiered at "The Sound of Fear" at London's Southbank Centre on 3rd September 2011, under the working title of "Horror Collage". Now that the full length live set has been completed we have changed the name to something more fitting with the content. The source material is 95% from horror movies, with the content portraying not so much a scary nightmare but a journey through the underworld of everyday human experiences. It is not true to say you do not relate to this kind of horror movie. Truth is stranger than fiction. Having said this, People Like Us, as ever, see the positive and sometimes humorous side of the most ghastly scenerios, and by accompanying the edited found feature film footage with new sample collage pop songs, elevate you from the swamp.

A story of two journeys to the promised land, the world where dreams can be made real and reality is like a dream. The relationship between narratives holds surprising coincidences and surreal tangents and departures as they both dance their (not so) merry dance to their shangri-la. The films sit side by side, staying loyal to the linear narrative, but editing the longer film to the length of the shorter. The film was structured so that the crossover point from monotone to colour in imagery occur at the same stage. This method of story telling is challenging, sometimes jarring, but one’s patience is paid off with delightful harmonies and synchronicities both in images and narrative occurring far more than either pure chance would dictate or the imagination construct. This film is inspired by the Chance Operations of John Cage, Cut-Up techniques of Gysin/Burroughs and Kurt Schwitters, and single shot/durational films (Andy Warhol, James Benning).

Two well-known feature films are edited together to create more than a sum of the parts.

Vicki spent 4 months with "access all areas" to the BBC's million-strong archive. The result was a short film using imagery collaged from a number of documentaries made between 1951 and 1980 - featuring footage shot at the Festival of Britain, as well as other footage portraying optimistic outlooks on post-war Britain. She tells the story, through layers of A/V collage, of how the artist can bring about positive change in culture. By juggling layers of imagery and context, much like a puppeteer, the film portrays the playfulness of the artist/director, moving images and scenery around with surprising results - "Trying Things Out". It is partly autobiographical in that it reflects, by use of footage of people playing with machines and effecting imagery, that access to film archives can inspire new work, creating new dialogues where otherwise there may have been none.