Junkopia
A curious short film over at Ubuweb by Chris Marker, John Chapman and Frank Simeone, depicting driftwood sculptures at the shore of San Francisco Bay which resemble the remnants of some Ballardian cargo cult. The film was made in 1981 and the sculptures look weathered and dated enough (rainbow stripes; what appears to be a lunar lander) to be products of the early 1970s. The atmospheric soundtrack is reminiscent of Max Eastley’s recordings, some of which use the force of sea-borne winds to generate their sounds.
And while we’re on the subject of Mr Marker, I hadn’t noticed this Marker-related blog before.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Max Eastley’s musical sculptures
• Penguin Labyrinths and the Thief’s Journal
• Short films by Walerian Borowczyk
• Monsieur Chat
• Sans Soleil
2 comments or trackbacks
#1 posted by Claire
Jan 23rd, 2009
I remember these — the Ubuweb page says Emeryville, and maybe that’s where they are in terms of city lines, but they’re along the freeway between Berkeley and Emeryville. I always assumed they were built by Berkeley art students.
#2 posted by John
Jan 23rd, 2009
Hi Claire. I tried looking for the area on Google Earth but there’s several places it might be. Oddest thing for me is we probably drove past this spot when I went through SF from LA up to Petaluma in 2005. We drove all over the Bay area later and stopped off in Berkeley on the way back.
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