DVD Reviews

Ant Farm Video

You may have never heard of the art group known as Ant Farm, but it's very likely you've seen their work. In the mist of an avant-garde movement that occurred in the 1970's, Ant Farm emerged as one of the strangest and most popular. They combined art, architecture and video into their work, which many contemporary artists and critics found to be influential and innovative, to the point where some popular films and music videos were inspired by and even imitated their work. Some of their art include Media Burn, with was a specially designed car crashing through a wall of burning television sets, and Cadillac Ranch, a row of classic Cadillac cars buried into the ground with the back end sticking out. Much of their work was captured on video, and can now be found in Ant Farm Video, a DVD best-of compilation containing the best of Ant Farm's art on video. For lovers of video art and the avant-garde, this collection is quite a treat.

The DVD contains primarily video of some of their most known art pieces. Sometimes the video is documenting the art; other times it's the video itself that is the art. In total there are about eight major pieces to view, with a few extra video pieces hidden throughout the DVD, some of it previously unreleased. All of the video was shot using an old home video camera (back in the day when home video portapak cameras were relatively new), so you can imagine how poor the picture quality is. The image is viewable, but only barely, and that's only due to the source material. The same goes for the sound quality, which came from the old camera's built-in microphone. The only exception is the Media Burn video that has been digitally remastered and restored. Considering the equipment it was shot on the video does look a little better, but it's about as good as its going to get. The Media Burn video comes with an optional commentary from members of Ant Farm, as they provide some background on the project. The DVD also contains background info on all the major projects, a history of Ant Farm, a file on DVD-ROM that contains additional information and articles, and a timeline of all their work. It's a neat little package that those familiar with Ant Farm will be interested in seeing.

Ant Farm Video is a fascinating compilation for the notorious avant-garde group that intrigued and influenced an entire generation that was looking to be challenged. This collection is probably the best you're going to find anywhere of Ant Farm's art, and the extra features are treats for fans and for lovers of avant-garde. But it is only the individual who appreciates fine art, who enjoys the weird and wonderful, and who is looking for something a little different that will get a kick out of this DVD. The image and sound on most of the videos are poor due to the low quality from the original source. It's shoddy home video quality. But once you get past the quality, you may be fascinated by what you see. It's a fascinating DVD compilation for a compelling group of artists, but it's only for those that appreciate avant-garde and experimental art and video. Not for the close-minded



Review By Chris Emery