April in the Moon-Sun available as free ebook

April in the Moon-Sun by Gary Cummiskey, published by Dye Hard Press in 2006 and now out of print, is an astonishing cut-up prose sequence with delirious images shifting between Johannesburg and London, capturing the instances of experience through a simultaneous and multi-layered kaleidoscope rather than by linear perception.

It also formed the basis of a short film by Aryan Kaganof, called Velvet.

April in the Moon-Sun can be downloaded for free here

Taylor Rain is Dirty Girl in Velvet - Dionysos Andronis

The latest short film from Aryan Kaganof is a precious, allegorical jewel of a film lasting 11 minutes and 32 seconds. Poetry is central to this film, firstly in the form of lines being composed, and then in the poetry of the female body, a favourite theme in Kaganof’s work. The poet celebrated here is Gary Cummiskey, one of the most promising poets of his generation in South Africa. The poetry of the female form comes from Taylor Rain, an exceptional performer who offers us her radiant and photogenic body.

The film is divided into four parts. In the first part, a blank screen serves as a point of anticipation. You’ll see why a little further on in the text.

The poems being written by Gary Cummiskey appear in the second part, accompanied by improvised music from the group Matmos. Even though we don’t understand the poems in their entirety (they scroll down the screen quickly, word by word), it creates a sensation of mounting excitement which becomes aesthetic and sensual. The words are not merely groups of letters, but carry an emotional charge. The suspense is accentuated by the sound of a typewriter off-screen providing a second, eerie music. We have the feeling that something is about to happen. This part lasts six minutes.

In the third part, the actress Taylor Rain starts masturbating in front of the camera. She caresses her vagina and anus. Gary Cummiskey’s poems now scroll down in the centre of the screen, becoming the true stars of the film in the foreground, while the actress provides a very beautiful background motif multiplying the wealth and interaction between the themes. A small white bear is sitting next to the beautiful young girl. It serves as an element of explanation. This significant section lasts three minutes.

The caption “Yes, that’s velvet” appears in the fourth and final part lasting 32 seconds. It is a sweet, short conclusion of exemplary grace. The background is black, in harmony with the opening image, and the artificial velvet of the little teddy bear is a metaphor for the forgery of the second body-poetry in the film. The truth lies in the words and written poetry. The body is beautiful, extremely beautiful, but the aspect of our human lives which is most alive is in the written lines.

(translated from the French by Lucy Lyall Grant)

Taylor Rain is Dirty Girl in Velvet - Dionysos Andronis

Ce nouveau court métrage de Aryan Kaganof est un bijou précieux et allégorique de 11 minutes et 32 secondes. Dans ce film il y a d’abord la poésie sous la forme de vers en train de se composer et puis il y a la poésie du corps féminin, un thème favori chez Kaganof. Le poète honoré est Gary Cummiskey, un des plus prometteurs de sa génération en Afrique du Sud. La poésie du corps féminin appartient à Taylor Rain, une performeuse d’exception, qui nous offre son corps photogénique et radieux.

Le film est divisé en quatre parties. À la première partie un écran noir de deux minutes sert comme point d’anticipation. Vous verrez pourquoi un peu plus tard dans le texte.

Les poèmes en train de s’écrire de Gary Cummiskey arrivent à la deuxième partie et ils sont accompagnés par une musique improvisée du groupe Matmos. Même si on n’arrive pas à saisir les poèmes en entier, puisqu’ils défilent mots à mots et en vitesse sur l’écran, une sensation de palpitation est déclenchée qui devient esthétique et sensuelle. Les mots ne sont pas des simples lettres mais des porteurs de charge émotionnelle. La palpitation est accentuée par le son d’une machine à écrire en off qui sert comme une deuxième musique angoissante. On a le pressentiment que quelque chose se prépare. Cette partie dure six minutes.

À la troisième partie l’actante Taylor Rain commence à se masturber devant l’objectif. Elle caresse ses parties vaginales et anales. Cette fois les poésies de Gary Cummiskey défilent au milieu de l’écran. Elles deviennent les vrais protagonistes en premier plan et l’actante un très beau motif secondaire qui sert à multiplier la richesse et l’interaction entre les thèmes. Un petit ours blanc est assis prêt de la belle jeune fille. Il sert comme un élément d’explication. Trois minutes est la durée de cette partie significative.

L’inscription «Yes, that’s Velvet » (Oui, c’est du velours) vient à la quatrième et dernière partie qui dure 32 secondes. C’est une conclusion heureuse et courte d’une grâce exemplaire. Le fond de l’écran est noir pour être en accord avec l’image du début. Le velours artificiel du petit ourson - jouet serait une métaphore du faux de cette deuxième poésie corporelle dans le film. La vérité est du coté des mots et de la poésie écrite. Le corps est beau, très beau même, mais les vers écrits sont l’élément le plus vivant de notre vie humaine.

First published on www.kaganof.com/kagablog

Aryan Kaganof's Velvet - Helge Janssen

It is utterly impossible to view this short film and not be affected.

Art/film does not come more cutting edge than this.

But it is absolutely impossible to take Kaganof at face value. To do so is to get entangled in a web of personal likes and dislikes, revealing ones own psychological imperfections, and this serves no purpose whatsoever.

Never more so as in this 11 minute film.

The challenge then, if one feels up to it, is to empty one’s head of all psychological baggage, step into a clear space of NOW, and view what we are being shown in a state of heightened and relaxed alertness. (Tolle)

On an evolutionary scale I’d say that is a pretty high order.

Having said that, and even so, the emotion and the intellect are prodded to a point where they run amok, and the situation becomes an exercise in crisis management. Perhaps I am a ‘poetic epileptic’ for if I were an epileptic, these words and images would have had the same effect as a strobe.

And the words, the words, the words, hammering, hammering.....‘dirty girl’....not least of them by Gary Cummiskey.....drilling...the cut-up flashes of phrases coming furiously......all the while ‘emptying one out’, pausing just long enough to allow the viewer a foothold, then shooting off again, stripping stripping, stripping......becoming as naked as.....

....the visuals of Taylor Rain large, unabashed.....

....but Kaganof is not about to use the word ‘physical’ (introductory information) lightly, and herein lies the very reason why this film is not pornographic: a very pretty woman is exploring her lower orifices without apology, without taint, without trying to stimulate the viewer, she herself is not ‘self pleasuring’, she is matter-of-fact, controlled: she becomes at once her own 'doctor', a researcher and a pioneer....

As such Rain/Kaganof/Cummiskey together stab right into the heart of the matter: where’s the taboo?


This review originally appeared on KZNSA Gallery.

Velvet to be screened at the KZNSA Gallery

Aryan Kaganof’s film Velvet is based on a cut-up prose sequence called April in the Moon-Sun by poet Gary Cummiskey.

Composed in 2002 and originally published on the online literary journal, donga, April in the Moon-Sun is characterised by astonishing surreal images that shift between London and Johannesburg. Throughout its hallucinatory pages lurks the whore-spirit, Dirty Girl.

When donga went offline in 2006, Cummiskey published April in the Moon-Sun through his Dye Hard Press. The print run was limited to 100 copies, one of which was sent somewhat belatedly to Kaganof.

Towards the end of 2007 Kaganof announced his intention to make a short text film which would be his interpretation of the work. In January this year, Velvet was born.

Lasting 11 minutes and 32 seconds, containing electronic music by US experimental duo Matmos and culminating in what Kaganof describes as “physical poetry” by US porn star Taylor Rain, the film begins in total darkness with background sounds reminiscent of John Cage’s work, and which hint at what is to come.

From darkness – nothingness – is born the word, as the text of April in the Moon-Sun starts to appear on screen. The music of Matmos, a track titled Burroughs, reflects the cut-up nature of the work. The spirit of Dirty Girl is invoked as she starts to appear in the narrator’s brain.

From the word is born the image – the physical manifestation of Dirty Girl, played by Taylor Rain, who engages in some naughty, dirty exploration. Dirty Girl’s sudden appearance after about six minutes of text comes as a shock to our eyes just as her activities may come as a shock to our bourgeois sensibilities.

Velvet will be screened at the KZNSA Gallery, in Glenwood, Durban, from August 5 to August 24.

Velvet

Velvet is a new film by Aryan Kaganof based on my cut-up prose sequence April in the Moon-Sun. The film traces the progress from nothingness to the creation of the word, and from the word the creation of the image - the manifestation of Dirty Girl.
With Taylor Rain as Dirty Girl. Music by Matmos. 11 minutes, 32 seconds.