Production history around: Genesis

Within this article I will be talking about how the film ‘Genesis’ came to be.

Originally this film was going to be very different. I wanted to make a piece which was similar to ‘Eggistential’ in the sense that it was a single 10 minute shot, and then I play around with the footage in post. However, rather than chromakeying the yolk of an egg, I was going to chromakey the flame of a candle.

This original concept for what this film would have been exists for a single frame at the end of the film.

I found just having the candle flame not very interesting, and less fun to play with. I think because in Eggistential, the egg yolk and the pan were both circles, and this allowed rotation without a loss of structure.

The audio of the person speaking is Genesis P. Orridge from an interview they did in 1982.

I learnt about Genesis through an experimental film and collage artist that goes by ‘nocturnalblonde’. I was on Reddit looking through r/ExperimentalFilm when I found one of their posts. The post was of a film (which I believe is no longer up) which had imagery that was very early MTV and spiritual. Two elements which instantly piqued my interest. One deep-dive later, and I found out that the post was heavily inspired by the works of ‘Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth’. Not only that, but nocturnalblonde was working on archiving a lot of the texts, music, art, and interviews related to the organisation.

Many of the points they (Genesis) make in the interview are really interesting to me.

The idea that ‘it’s wrong to try and give the answer of the universe in one minute’ I find to be very agreeable. A lot of my films are short-form content, often leaving people with that energy of what was the point of that? But I’d argue a two-hour film, a three-hour film, or even a thousand-hour film would do just as good a job of giving the answer to the universe — which is to say, none at all.

In my films, I like intentionally leaning away from what could be seen as ‘meaning’ because leaning too hard into meaning starts to feel like propaganda. And honestly, I don’t think anyone is qualified to assert what ‘meaning’ even is. It all starts to feel very false prophet — people afraid of reality and desperate for someone to tell them what it all means. I’d rather leave space for doubt, for ambiguity, for whatever the viewer brings to it.

The way in which Genesis worked as well, as a video group using music, as opposed to the inverse aligns similar with what I do too. The visual aspect is, in most cases, my primary interest, with most audio being decided in the editing process — usually after at max thirty minutes of searching. I really enjoy the chance discovery of finding a piece of music that compliments the film, or transforms it. I feel that if you look for music first, human bias results in you changing what footage you collect to ‘satisfy’ the expectations of the music. This, while maybe creating more cohesive projects, I find to be less interesting.

I really like the line “records as bits of plastic with ideas and attitudes are of interest” — it is exactly how I feel about experimental film, or just independent film to a larger extent. This framing moves visual media away from a capitalist lens, and into a expression framing, in a similar way to how many books are viewed. A little piece of who you are as a person, in a particular moment, gets caught in the footage. This is vulnerable and invaluable. I feel that this is one of the closest things we can get to in terms of capturing the soul.

This is also why I really enjoy finding independent media at charity shops. A chance event, which allows you to look into the soul of someone else. It can be the start of a journey which you would not have embarked on if the stars did not align. I also really like when this also links to a sense of place, and expands your known history of an area.

The purposeful use of contradiction that Genesis speaks of is also something which I use in my work: an idea which I have read about, and/or want to explore, and a medium to play in. I tend to find that mixing these two together enhances both elements, via lateral thinking. Unexpected connections start to form, and the idea gets expanded. Play is always an important element of keeping learning fresh, and learning helps make play fun.

Red Herring comments at the end of the film are something which I heavily agree with, but I feel an off shoot from them. A lot of the silliness in my films are a pretentious test. I really feel in the art world, many of the institutions and curators are chasing aesthetics that make them feel like they are doing ‘something important’, or that they are ‘important’. They try and select things that ‘look like art’. Now, what ‘looks like art’ today and 100 years ago are very different, but the gatekeeping is not.

My films, for the most part, don’t try to look ‘like art’. They look like what I want to make. If people see my work, and they say ‘your attitude is not serious enough’ or ‘not refined’, then you need to ask ‘what are you looking for?’ — Are you trying to look for what you enjoy? (entertainment). Are you trying to look for what people think art is? (expectation). If you are looking for either entertainment or expectation, are you in the right place?

The ‘Egg Creature’ was a fun thing to make. The body was found in a charity shop a week before filming, and was originally for a children’s toy. I believe it was one of those mystery toy capsules where smaller toys were stored inside of it. When I saw it, I knew I wanted it to be the base for a project.

The eyes are mine (from Gacha’nce) and my wife Isobel’s (From After Images (2)). We both work on my films from a visual sense. Often she is the cameraman when I am on screen. She has been getting a lot better at getting good shots. I love working with her, and many of my films would not have been possible if I was going at them solo. The mouth is that of Genesis P. Orridge. For this film, an amalgamation creature of our visuals and their words was created, both literally and metaphorically.

This film plays with a Spoerri idea I have wanted to do for a while. Spoerri would let people have a meal, and then affix everything they had used in place after the food was done. This captured so many quirks of the people. How messy they were, how they scrapped the plates, who sat next to who. They are human moments frozen in time. It is a way I feel about my films as well.

For months now, I have looked at my office walls, and thought about how uniquely me it is. In the same way everyone’s home is uniquely them. I wanted to make a film where I went through every element of my wall and told a short story about what it is, and my connection to the piece. I may still do that.

One of the first things I show on the wall is the ‘Freedom of Expression’ poster I made.

It shows how the Egg Creature came to be. I was playing around with collage because I wanted to make some pieces for the upcoming ‘Artemis Collective: Nude Not Rude’ exhibition in Plymouth. I’ve also always been a fan of collage work in general.

Lots of other bits get picked up. My adoration of Hugo Ball, the DiaDOGue script that Louis and I were reading from, my pin board, the game Isobel was playing at the time. The room has changed so much from then since too. I find this stuff very interesting, but I have always been a sentimental person.

The stop-start effect of the audio clips was intentional. I often like to try to have the music be a pace dictator near the end of the editing process, putting cuts on different beats. However, letting each comment by Genesis breathe I feel allowed them to be internalised.

I’m currently working on a large ‘Communication’ project with Phaedra, and the Egg Creature appears in that as well. I like that its inclusion kind of dates when that segment was filmed, as it was right after the creation of ‘Genesis’.

The Egg Creature also opened up the door to me making more puppet like creatures with cardboard, which has been a lot of fun to experiment with. More details will come post the release of ‘Communication’ — whenever that will be.

The music in the background of this piece is ‘square wave lfo controlled reality’ by gis_sweden. It was further edited by Isobel Meatcher.

That’s that. I’m sure I could talk about more, but honestly this article has been in my drafts for two months, and I am ready to work on something new! Currently (end of April, 2025) I am working on my commission for the Fluxus Museum, so my independent creation output has been way more limited than I’d like. I appreciate you taking the time to read this, and I hope you have fun out there.