Seriously Small Files

These Seriously Small Files transcend the realms of compression and offer glimpses of immanence through manifestos, executables and the summoning of spirits encased in magnetic tape. A testament to the format, the messages eMBedded in this program are deeply rooted in the medium itself. JM

Loes van Keulen, Sentimental Deterioration
(Amsterdam, 2020, 1:07, 5 MB< 2:25 processing time)

Loes van Keulen reconstructs a night out in a vertical diptych that juxtaposes the monotony of nightlife with sterile, digital narration comprehending life, abstraction, representation and perfection. JM

David Buchanan, Stream of Life
(Game of Life )

David Buchanan creates a digital environment where micro(chip?) lifeforms come into being through algorithmic alchemy. Watch as these chunky pixels evolve in real time in a digital primordial petri dish of pixels. JM

Remy Porter, Trying to Play
(Pittsburgh, 5:00, 3.3 MB, 1:18 processing time)

Watch as our host Sheri Smelcer attempts to navigate the expositional minefield of her laptop in an attempt to showcase a small file in this meta-narrative comedy that calls attention to—and inverts—the very being of the Small File Media Festival in a relentlessly self-aware parody. JM

Kristin Roos, Screen Cube City
(Vancouver, 2020, infinite GIF, 670 KB)

Using palette cycling, different parts of the city change colours (grayscale), each part with a different frequency. The colours and frequency are very pleasant to watch. ARS

Trevor Byrne, Sticky Note Studies #1 & #2 (Orange and Pink)
(Los Angeles, 2020, 1:06, 1.7 MB, 1:02 processing time)

An explosion of pixels, hues, shades and shadows shift fluidly in a silent, dreamy macro meditation capturing the limitless potential of sticky notes. JM

Matt Warren, Hauntology at 576 Lines (and some at 480 lines) (Australia, 4:38, 4.9 MB, 0:15 processing time)

Warren takes an archival journey into his creative past as he reflects on the Marconian spiritual journey of archaic media after the tape has ended. A spiritual descent invoking the vanishing specters of analog noise. JM

Aidan Branch, Boulevard du Temple 1838 (Vancouver, 2020, 3:19, 2 MB, 2:38 processing time)

A cryptic and hypnotically subliminal manifesto alludes to secret societies through a monochromatic wash of pixels. JM

Joshua Marquis, sparkle sublime (Vancouver, 2020, 2:57, 3 MB, 1:12 processing time)

A dulcet drone punctuated by inaudible, pitch-shifted murmurs provide the soundtrack for a stunning display of fireworks enhanced by the sheer size and fluidity of the compressed pixels, algorithmically smoothed into oblivion. JM

Mike Hazard, Something from nothing (Dr. Evermor) (Minneapolis, 2020, 1:37, 4.1 MB, 1:00 processing time)

Something from nothing (Dr. Evermor) documents Dr. Evermor’s participatory creations hand built from cast-off industrial machinery. In a stunning feat of compression, this short film captures a fidelity of image in a minute file size. JM