Our friends Roomful of Teeth made an awesomely cool video with Playmobil figures to drum up a little monetary support for their next project, learning Inuit throat singing, before they perform at MASS MoCA on June 18.  Watch the full video and pledge your support here.

Video Vortex = a weekly installment of our favorite videos from MASS MoCA artists and trailers for upcoming events, plus a few random viral creations as well.

Disfarmer

If you aren’t in love with this puppet yet, wait until you see the bit with the coffee table!

Carolina Chocolate Drops with The Duke and The King

Start this duo off watching CCD do what they do best and then follow that up with The Duke and The King performing on the radio.

Misc.

I’ve been obsessed with Rube Goldberg machines lately, so this week’s non MM related video is a wicked cool Rube Goldberg made by the folks at Vodafone.

After seeing some footage of Dan Hurlin’s Disfarmer we can’t to see it performed in the Hunter Center this week. The show looks profound, humorous, and stunningly beautiful so it’s no surprise to us that Hurlin’s work with Disfarmer was captured for not one but two documentary films.

Puppet (Watch a Trailer), directed by David Soll and featuring Dan Hurlin and the puppets of Disfarmer, asks the question how can a block of wood be so moving?  After a century as children’s entertainment, American puppetry has exploded as serious art. But puppeteers still face uninformed critics, lack of funding and marginalization as they struggle to create relevant theater in this ancient form.

Disfarmer: A Portrait of America (Watch a Trailer), directed by Martin Lavut and produced by Dennis Mohr, discovers an American master in the enigmatic story of Mike Disfarmer. With in-depth interviews with local residents of his home town of Heber Springs, Arkansas; gallery owners and photography experts who introduced his work to the art world; and Dan Hurlin, a contemporary artist making work inspired by Disfarmer’s legacy, the film explores the disparate worlds brought together by their shared interest in this misanthropic portrait photographer.

Before you see Hurlin on the big screen in these two films, catch him at the FREE artist talk on Thursday, May 6 and see him in action during the full production of Disfarmer this Saturday, May 8 at 8 PM or Sunday, May 9 at 3 PM in the Hunter Center.

Cheers,

Brittany

Check out his review from yesterday’s NY Times.

Tickets for the show on 5/29 are selling well. Make your plans for Memorial Day Weekend and get your tickets now!

AND, Petah Coyne opens on Saturday, May 29 too. If you’re a member you come to the opening for free. Not-yet- members are $6.