A Space in Time with Chani Becker (Part 2)

This is a continuation of yesterday's interview with Chani Becker of HotHouse Design and Post here in Duluth.

Ennyman: What are themes that emerge from your creative side? Or, what are the problems that you're trying to solve?

Chani: With film in particular?

E: I'm thinking of film right now.

Chani: This is something that I haven't figured out where it's going yet. But I've been thinking a lot about the work that I'm doing documentary-wise. It’s all related to sustainability, environmental and social sustainability, all very straightforward documentary projects, either documenting initiatives that are going on or this or that. But in my creative work I'm heavily influenced by the surrealists, and in my own life by the absurdity that tends to permeate every day existence. I've been thinking a lot about how surrealism and the technical approaches of surrealism can inform sustainability.

E: That's a very interesting combination.

Chani: Yes. So those are the themes that I'm interested in, working on and thinking about a lot. I'm conducting a workshop on surrealism and sustainability this summer at a sustainability conference. To a bunch of educators and scientists who may not be necessarily open to these ideas being put together. We'll see how that goes and see if it will sort of jog some new ideas and see if it will help me try to put this into some sort of narrative or experimental film.

E: Who are your influences? Bunuel and Dali come to mind for me.

Chani: Yes, Bunuel is one of my favorite film makers and David Lynch would be a close second or tied for first. But Luis Bunuel specifically regarding sustainability. His films have been really important. The Exterminating Angel is a film that comes to mind. I don't know if you've seen that one.

E: I've seen the one where things are being pulled out of the well and an eyeball is being slit. I've seen also the life of the …

Chani: The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie.

E: Yes.

Chani: The Exterminating Angel, he made in the early 60's, 1963. It's black and white, and it takes place after the opera at a wealthy persons' dinner party and they're all following social convention. It's getting late in the evening and social convention tells you that it's time to go so your host can go to sleep. So people have this urge, this instinct to do that, but they can't. They cannot find the will to leave the room. So the whole film takes place in this room over the course of days and days and days, nobody can muster the willpower to leave the room, even though it’s insane. They're breaking social convention, they get to the point where there's no food, no water over the course of these days and they are literally clawing through the walls to get to the water pipes to have water to drink because they don't have the willpower to leave. So I love that situation as a metaphor for sustainability and for how we're living so unsustainably and the capacity to change is there, the idea of leaving the room is there but the will power isn't there and we'll bite off our own ankle rather than just walk out of the cage.

E: You said you have 3 current projects right now?

Chani: Three current documentary projects, and many other graphic design projects I'm doing.
E: Tell me about your painting. You do art, also.

Chani: Yes, yes.

E: Do you have a studio?

Chani: Out of my home, I have a large space for painting at home and yes, it's been difficult to balance that with starting the business and working on these films. So it’s been tough. I haven't been painting as much.

E: Tough because you wish you could be paining more? All the time?

Chani: I do, I do. It's been tough just to balance my time, nearly impossible. I work every night at my business, working on projects. So it's been really difficult, but I've managed to eek out two paintings since I've been here in Duluth. But yeah, they're more just getting my muscles flexed, getting warmed up.

E: I guess that you're never bored?

Chani: Or easily bored, one of the two.

E: What is your biggest fear? I have to throw a curve ball in there, make it seem like I'm an interesting interviewer.

Chani: My biggest fear? I think boredom is my biggest fear actually. What a terrifying thought to not be interested in anything.

E: I have a hard time picturing that for you.

Chani: It's not something I worry about.

E: According to Updike, it is one of the life forces that drives people though. So you got involved in with this 3N6D project with John and the others. What did you learn from that experience? Tell me your take on it.

Chani: That was an amazing experience, I learned how the process of art making, or the creative process can literally open up new spiritual pathways within yourself. That's what it did for me, it ended up being a ritual, a ritualistic experience, kind of a sacred experience that just happened randomly with these disparate elements coming together. I taped all three nights and I've since watched all 3 nights, and the energy in the room and just the way it all evolved and unfolded, it turned into this very magical portal which I can't describe how or why, or really what happened. I'm sure it was unique for every person who experienced it, but that's my take on it, that there was this sort of portal that opened. It also had very much to do with the time. It was over 3 nights and it happened right at the end of February and it was an early spring and the ice was melting and it all came together in a very powerful sort of random spiritual doorway being opened.

E. Yes, it was a unique event, unusually powerful and evocative. Thanks for sharing yourself here. The best to you in your future creative endeavors.

NOTE: The paintings here are original works by Chani Becker. Click to enlarge.

A Space in Time with Chani Becker (Part I)

I met Chani Becker through the collaborative project 3N6D in which John Heino assembled a dancer, film maker, musician and himself with photography in an orchestrated, experimental three-sequence free-for-all of expression. Chani contributed film and video. Some of her paintings were also on display there at the Venue, and several drew me in.

Her self-introduction on her website begins like this:

Chani Becker is a filmmaker, graphic designer and owner of HotHouse Design & Post in Duluth, Minnesota. She grew up in and around Madison, Wisconsin - including many years on a small farm in Blue Mounds. Her family's decision to sell the farm and move to a cul-de-sac on Madison's west side prompted her first documentary video "Out the Window" in 1998.

I like the spirit with which she seemed open to life and her commitment to pursuing the creative movements within her. Earlier this month she agreed to have lunch with me at Pizza Luce in Downtown Duluth. This is the first part of that interview.

Ennyman: So, how long have you lived in Duluth, and tell us about your life journey that led you to this point in time?

Chani: Well, I've lived here in Duluth for about 3 ½ years. It will be 4 years September 1st. I moved here from my home town of Madison, WI. I quit a really good job that I loved very much, that was paying me very well, and offered me a raise right before I left to move here without any job lined up, and without knowing anyone here in this town whatsoever. But I moved here out of a sense of adventure. I knew that Madison wasn't where I wanted to stay and settle, because I grew up there, and I was feeling very restless and I never wanted to live there as an adult. I had already lived there for 6 years as an adult and it was time to go, time to move on.

E: Do you think a lot of people get stifled by living in their home towns? They grow up, they never move out of who they were?

Chani: Who they used to be? I think some people are very comfortable with that, and that's fine. But for me, I was living with ghosts of my past every day. There were ghosts on every street corner and it's not like there was anything I had to escape or any violent or tragic past, but if you're constantly reminded of your past and who you used to be, it is hard to grow. Madison is built on marshland, and I just feel the energy of the place sucks me down, sucks me there and keeps me there. And so in part it’s that my psycho-geographic map was populated with all these events from my past that made it kind of uninteresting to be there. But it was also just the energy. I wasn't feeling like it was the place for me. I had been having all these dreams, and even before visiting Duluth ever I decided to move here. I did realize when I moved here, that I had been having dreams about Duluth, Duluth/Superior. Going over the bridge had been something that was a part of my nightmares in my childhood. So there was this feeling that coming to Duluth, I was supposed to be here and it was a place of my dreams and my nightmares very literally. So it was definitely the right place for me, sort of a doom mixed with fate. Maybe they're the same thing.

Ed: So what is HotHouse Designs?

Chani: The full name is HotHouse Design and Post, which means video post production. So the company does graphic design for marketing, advertising and video post production. When I started the business I didn't start it to become a video production company and do the full range of services for commercial video production, which is why post is in the name because it’s editing, editing motion graphics, post production works commercially.

Ed: Is that what you were doing in Madison?

Chani: Yeah, exactly. And my degree is in film, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film. And then because I'm a filmmaker, even though my business isn't commercial video production, I also make documentary films on the side and other fun film projects just for the heck of it, just for fun.

Ed: So what is it about film as a medium that you like so much?

Chani: It involves every other medium. It can involve the same dynamics as a painting or a photograph, or a performance, or a piece of music.

E: And good writing.

Chani: One of my professors in college called it 4-dimensional design. It’s so free; it's just incredibly free as a medium.

E: How many films have you made?

Chani: Well, I've made... 3 right now, but they are films. They're documentaries but they're work for hire, from Universities or non-profit organizations. So the definition of what a film is is kind of gray and (is the question) just for my personal expression or intellectual adventure, or is it for pay? So for pay, I've made probably 5 various film projects over the past 5 years or so, but I wouldn't consider them films, per se. And in terms of purely artistic or noncommercial interest I've worked on about 7 in the past 10 years or so. But the more lately they've been collaborative, like I worked as film editor on a 48 hour film project for the past 3 years and we made 3 films in the past 3 years and I was the editor not the director. And right now I'm working on a surrealistic experimental film project with a collaborator, too, We're both collaborating equally on it but it's just for play.

NOTE: The paintings on this page are by Chani, who will talk a little about surrealism in film and painting in part II. Click image to enlarge.