Clark Nikolai
Directing
Biography
Originally from Saskatchewan, where he made films and videos in Saskatoon’s vibrant punk and parallel art scenes, Nikolai's work covers all genres and often combines found footage, music and experimental visual effects, stylized staging and dream-like experimental narratives. He is an early pioneer of video art in the Canadian prairies, and was a founding member of both the Open Air Audio Visual Co-op (1984) and Video Vérité Artist Centre (1989) of Saskatoon (now PAVED). Since 1981, he has produced over fifty videos and films, which have screened and received awards around the world. His practice has also included still photography and experimental music.
Known For
A business meeting dives into the socio-political when a truly human moment moves the group to speak their hidden truths.
Never.
In our darkest days, Moonboy reminds us to grab the light, music, love... and just dance in an elevator!
Moonboy
Mark is a concert pianist who has lost his lover, David to AIDS. When he starts to see visions of David, he finally realizes that it's okay to move on.
From the Ashes
Troublemaker on the Frequency is a short experimental video that explores mis-communication through found sound recordings, amateur radio, and glitch.
Troublemaker on the Frequency
A Father gleefully goes about his day, connecting to the world through social media. When disaster strikes, he discovers thoughts and prayers are not enough.
Thoughts and Prayers
Using found footage, several members of royalty inform the citizens of an impending doom from space coming toward Earth.
A Message
A young man encounters a dark force in this surreal and time twisting thriller.
The Bathroom Mirror
An experimental film involving ice cubes melting in a trough at a leather bar.
Avalanche
A journey to a lake to find danger.
Frolic
An experiment in found-footage and archival processes. Subkonscio Rapida was originally shot in 1988 and then... forgotten. Forty years later, the 16mm film has been rediscovered and recut. Completed by the same artist at two very different points in his life, Subkonscio Rapida is a meditation on memory, time, and rediscovery.
Subkonscio Rapida
A frustrated jet-setter who can't travel discovers video superimposition. Through the magic of video technology, he is relegated to a box at the bottom of the screen as other people's pictures of faraway lands are shown. The protagonist reflects his generation's acceptance of today's diminished expectations. He is left to film his seemingly blank space coupled with his amusing narrative as others explore the world.
Travel Sketch
A young man in the Alps is confronted with his culture's fears of nature, wolves, sexuality and wildness. Based on the short story Peter and the Wolf by Angela Carter.
Petrus et Lupa
Three men, whose jobs require them to work nude, talk about life, bodies and how nudity can make a difference.
Naked Pursuits
Psychiatric labelling imparts new meanings to found footage of 1980s TV and home movies from Saskatoon's punk scene.
Exempli gratia
Asking for help at a seaside mansion, a ship captain is told " You're just in time for coffee. Come on in." He then is sucked into a world of discussions about video art.
Cockleidoscope
A man and a woman attempt to start a conversation with a third person. A spinoff of Spanghew Decorum.