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''Mirrorball #1: Fresh Tracks''

Reality TV has not killed the video star

By WILL SPITZ | January 23, 2008

3.0 Stars

Encyclopedia Pictura's video for Grizzly Bear’s “Knife"

Reality TV has not killed the video star. Even though MTV shows videos only from like 3:30 to 4 am on the third Tuesday of every even-numbered month, the music video is alive and kicking, thanks in large part to the Web. To be sure, the notion of music-promos-as-art is stronger than ever, as the Museum of Fine Arts’ annual “Mirrorball” series attests, four programs from the Edinburgh Film Festival. Among the highlights from the opener, “Fresh Tracks” (see www.mfa.org for the complete schedule): Tom Kuntz’s video for Bumblebeez’ “Dr. Love,” which is as hilarious as it is visually dazzling; Patrick Daughters’s promo for Feist’s “My Moon My Man,” which has the best synchronized dancing I’ve ever seen carried out on an airport moving walkway; and a few gems from San Francisco duo Encyclopedia Pictura including their eye-popping video for Grizzly Bear’s “Knife.” Museum of Fine Arts: January 30 + March 9

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Trees outside the museum
Video: Thurston Moore live at the MFA
Persian gulf
Another “Festival of Films from Iran” opens at the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Bush Administration still hasn’t started bombing Tehran.
Holiday, it would be so nice!
The Museum of Fine Arts offers a full-out festive immersion approach to the impending holidays this year — a line of attack that, in keeping with the contemporary spirit of art, embraces performing arts, multimedia, and site-specific.
Show fetish
Ever since Salvatore Ferragamo designed the first stiletto heel in 1955, podiatrists have faced a steady stream of female patients seeking physical relief from their devotion to fashion over function.
Break on through (to the other side)
Rachel Perry Welty sees art where many of us see annoying little things to be thrown away or deleted: the funny-shaped plastic tabs cleverly invented to close the bag around a loaf of bread; the identifying stickers found on most fruit; answering-machine messages left at wrong numbers.
In the pines
Jose’s unapologetically no-frills style is all about the pathetically triumphant moment of restraint that stops you from drunk dialing an ex.
Our town
After living through decades of Big Dig construction and disruption, the average Bostonian has developed a keener design knowledge and sensitivity.
Desperately seeking shoulder pads
In the glorious fall of 1980, young photographer Amy Arbus approached the Village Voice looking for freelance work.
Gods and monsters — and David Hasselhoff
The Museum of Fine Arts did big things with Napoleon and Edward Hopper, pictures of prostitutes graced the walls of Boston’s two biggest art museums, and all hell broke loose when the Mooninites invaded.
Flora, fauna, and the female figure
The Art Nouveau movement of the late-19th/early-20th century distanced itself from the mass production of the Industrial Revolution with elaborate, one-of-a-kind works made from unusual materials.
Anat, Elvis, and Jenny
In the wake of a single solo album on her own label in 2005, Anat Cohen is suddenly everywhere.
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