ben balcom's work

Ben Balcom’s films teeter on the line between reality and dream, characterized by the appearance and disappearance of narrative. The form of these films change from pure experimentation to character-based allegory. These films are trying to discover the relationship between our nature and the representation of this space through a reconfiguration of experience in an artificial medium. anomie compendium is a three-part, hand-processed, 16mm film cycle. every small heart is a miniature inferno, is like a small free-verse poem. celebration of dead leaves uses a combination of optical printing techniques and hand-processing as tools to manipulate, as well as emulate, our experience of seeing and moving through the world. mother-earth-song is a short allegory that speaks to the relationship between male and female archetypes during a state of decline. In addition Balcom just received a grant from The Northampton Arts Council to make his forthcoming film, we are the multitudes. Each of these films is united in their interest in poetry, mythology, and perception, experienced through an interface of silence and the language of the material. This body of work is meant to be eyes seeing humanity hiding, running, lying, tearing itself apart.

anomie compendium ( exerpt from part I ) from heap us 'round our ruins on Vimeo.

Untitled from heap us 'round our ruins on Vimeo.

anomie compendium (exerpt from part III) from heap us 'round our ruins on Vimeo.

every small heart is a miniature inferno from heap us 'round our ruins on Vimeo.