Hello
My name is Paul W. Rankin. This site contains some of my work. The name is a play on Heidegger’s concept of Being.
Selected Projects
Variations on Leonard French
Abstract film commissioned for La Trobe University’s 50th anniversary, with 29-piece live orchestral score, composed by Tamil Rogeon and performed by the Australian Youth Orchestra. Visuals created entirely from macro footage of Leonard French’s “The Four Seasons”.
Commissioned and produced by Christian Wagstaff and Keith Courtney, Creative Production Services.
World premiere on 18 November 2017 at soundvision, La Trobe University, Melbourne.
“Variations on Leonard French” was originally commissioned as a live film and music performance, in celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of La Trobe University in 2017. The work is based on the sculptural piece by noted Australian artist Leonard French the “The Four Seasons”, acquired by the University in 1978 in recognition of the contribution of David Myers, inaugural Vice Chancellor. This contemporary reimagining of French’s vision, created for the explicit purpose of acknowledging the visual fabric of the University, should be preserved within the cultural collections of the institution for posterity.
– La Trobe University Art Collection
Related press:
Watch the film on FilmFreeway.
The Visitors
Video projection for Lawrence English live performance work The Visitors.
Rework of various segments of Night of the Living Dead (1968) combined and manipulated at various speeds to appear like a single original scene slowed 100 times its original speed.
The Visitors is a 50 minute audio visual homage to Romero’s remarkable film. It is a mediation on the zombie as cultural phenomena. Using one of the iconic zombie montages from the original film, which is drawn out from a few seconds to 50 minutes; the images on screen shift from objects of horror to a dreamlike light play. The faces and bodies of the undead become a focus of attention, something to be explored rather than shunned. Their on screen presence shifts from fear and disgust to a kind of glacial beauty. Matched with an embodied soundtrack of low frequency vibration and harmonic echoes, The Visitors is a work that celebrates Romero’s criticisms of modern systems of economy and power and recognises the role and value of the body as more than just flesh for consumption.
– FONOMO
Past screenings:
- Premiered 17 June 2017 at Borderlands, Dark Mofo, Hobart
- FONOMO, Bydgoszcz, Poland
- Austrian Film Museum on-location at the Gartenbaukino, Vienna
- Cinémathèque Live at the Gallery of Modern Art
Open Frame
Promotional videos (various social media formats) for Open Frame at Carriageworks in Sydney.
Watch on YouTube.
Sonic State
Live visual performance with Heinz Riegler at Metro Arts in Brisbane.
An improvised 40-minute set on the theme of creation and collapse. All video created with practical effects, layered and mixed live.
Watch excerpts on YouTube.
Falling Light
Film released as official video for Norman Westberg (Swans) track “Bunny Bill”.
45 min version screened for Norman Westberg live performances at MONO 21 and at Milton Art Bank.
Related press:
Watch the film at FACT Magazine.
Wilderness of Mirrors
Single-channel video loop in support of Lawrence English album Wilderness of Mirrors.
Alternate version used for Dark Mofo 2017 midnight lineup reveal.
Related press:
- Motherboard
- The Quietus
- Uncut
- OMG Vinyl
- Drowned In Sound
- Resident Advisor
- Mess+Noise
- SWQW
- news.com.au
- donaufestival