Lecture: Julika Rudelius

Interesting Quote:
"Well, I think you have to be a pretty good psychopath to be a successful visual artist."

Three Words:
Sociological, Tricky, Meticulous.

I thought it was really great that she prompts the actors through ear pieces as a way of directing. It's a really smart but tricky way to get them saying and doing exactly what you want without it being obvious. I liked that it allows her to run the camera in long takes and capture everything without stopping.

I thought that "Rites of Passage" the piece about politicians and the "Charismatic Leader" was extremely powerful. The rotating camera work as well as the predatory circling of the older men around the younger gave such an incredible sense of tension. Even with only seeing part of the work it was intense to feel that building tension.

Overall, I enjoyed the lecture. Rudelius work with social commentary is very strong and I thought it was a great mix of being entertaining and thought provoking. I wish we had been able to see more of her work or see some of it in it's entirety. I understand wanting to be so meticulous in your work's presentation, but at a certain point it needs to become more about letting others see it and less about your control of it. It was extremely frustrating from a presentation stand point to just be getting into a piece only to have her stop it and say she couldn't show it like that. I think VCU is partially to blame for the choppy and unpleasant qualities of her presentation. I mean I don't think I can remember one lecture where there hasn't been some sort of technical problem. In the future it might be a good idea to have someone designated to help the artist setup and preview their presentation so that fixes don't have to come on the fly at the time of the presentation. Not only do these technical problems ruin the artists presentation but they make the school look bad. It seems to me that if there are always problems with presentations then it might become more dificult to continue to get such high profile and highly respected artist to come and give lectures.