Digital video 4 mins 8 secs
colour, stereo
sound by Jon Rose
A NEW LIFE is a digitally produced video tape loosely based around Dante's first novel <172>The New Life<171>. In addition it draws upon a number of works by the early Renaissance Italian painter Mantegna. Although involving advanced technology in the creation of A NEW LIFE the production techniques are not dissimilar to much traditional animation. The work may be regarded as one or more of the following <196> video art, animation, computer graphics or simply a pictorial narrative. In this short video the fundamental elements of the Dante are evoked <196> the author's relationship with the subject, Beatrice; the discourse on love and faith; a fascination with death and mortality; the plurality of authorial voices employed; the use of bodily organs and architecture as metaphors for the human condition and social processes; the radical appropriation of religious imagery and narrative. Although the video echoes these concerns it does not seek to represent the original. Rather, it is a personal response to the stimulus of the source material <196> at times serious or tragic, at others comic. (source: http://www.emaf.de/distribution/show-film.php?filmID=107)