Month: November 2021

Singing in Oblivion and This Day’s Madness Did Prepare Tomorrow’s Silence at MoMA

Clanjeny

The first film, Singing in Oblivion by Eve Heller, was a short film about life and death. The film starts off with a wide shot of a tomb as various birds are heard chirping creating a song-like audio piece. A unique contrast between the birds singing and the black and white images of the cemetery. No words and no people other than old photographs altered with a negative filter. The way the images would change rapidly it seems as the people on the photographs are not only dead but they’re ghosts. Some images looked a bit creepy and with the negative filter, the people’s faces weren’t as clear. There was one image of a little girl whose eyes were looking up she looked like she was possessed. Later on, the images changed their pace and would linger on the screen removing the filter to reveal the people’s faces as if to demonstrate that they were full of life. There were also images of different chains running vertically through the screen as film stock would. The images were different and unexpected as they kept running to reveal what looked like a clock at the end of the chain. I thought that it was poetic and I read that image as a representation of a person’s life span given the clock at the end was revealed that the person’s time was up. The film however ended with a close-up shot of a baby covered in a blanket in a women’s arms. I really liked how the filmmakers decided to end the film with just one image of the baby as the story comes full circle with it. Also how the sound was the same throughout the film with the birds chirping in harmony. The film overall had a peaceful tone to it.

The second film, This Day’s Madness did Prepare Tomorrow’s Silence by David Gatten, was a 90-minute film about a slightly harder concept to crack. Honestly, I don’t really know exactly what it was about. It had a similar concept to the previous short film about the life and the passing of time. The film starts with a black screen with Impromptu No.4 in C-Sharp Minor, Op.66 by Yoshimi Fujimura playing in the background. After the instrumental was over then glimpses of the ocean, the sky, and a yacht were shown. The shot’s pace was fast so it seemed like someone’s POV while waking up. That was my initial thought but as the film progressed the same style in shots continued throughout the film. It was a bit uncomfortable to watch because the images were usually bright images and then it cut back to a dark screen. In terms of audio, there was barely any sound design done in this film so all 90 minutes of the film was pretty much silent. The only sound that I was able to hear was of a faint heartbeat on several occasions. Before screening the film the filmmakers said that film was going to appear to be longer than it actually was and honestly I felt that. The film in my experience was hard to watch and I could not see everything being shown entirely as it cut so fast. They also did not have any kind of dialogue instead they had messages written in a notepad. Overall the film was experimental and I have not seen anything like this film. I did not enjoy it entirely as it was uncomfortable for my eyes to watch giving the flashes of the cuts but it was nice to see something different.

Singing in Oblivion and This Day’s Madness Did Prepare Tomorrow’s Silence at MoMA

UN | Bella

Jose

When I first viewed the film, my initial interpretation of the piece was that its intention was to “creep out” the viewer with its seemingly random display of light and eerie high-pitched sounds whose origin was unknown for a brief period of time. As it progressed and inevitably concluded, however, I began to admire the manner in which the director divulged the information throughout the piece. By initially having the focus be on the refraction of the water bowl combined with the vibrations imposed by the amplifier, I found myself watching with an immediate sense of intrigue trying to decipher exactly what I was watching and what was the cause of such imagery and sound. The manner in which the image’s malleability changed on a dime immediately gave me the idea I was watching some sort of visualization of the noise present in the film.

It was only after the reveal of the water bowl placed adjacent to the light source did the projection of the image upon the wall begin to make sense. I also found the layout of the piece to be quite intriguing, with first the focus of the video starting from the reverberation of the water image refracting from a light source upon a wall to then showing the apparatus itself along with the person manipulating the sound equipment. By choosing which information to place first, it lets a natural illusion start off as a near mystery for the unknowing audience and as the film progresses and begins to overlap the images of the bowl, the light, the woman, and the sound equipment is when things that seemed to have no relation begin to take a mold as one cohesive piece.

Upon my first viewing of the film, I didn’t initially connect the setting for which the piece inhabits to also share the theme with the other set pieces. A seemingly abandoned warehouse, once a place that was commonly known for industrial manufacturing is now once again in use through a now different form of human manipulation amongst equipment and natural resources. The women’s utilization of the sound equipment initially seems to be random but as the film progresses it seems as though she is purposeful in her manipulation of the sound, the light, and the water in order to create specific refraction upon the wall of the warehouse; in a way connecting the old to the new; the natural with the seemingly unnatural.  

UN | Bella

Malni – Towards the Ocean, Towards the Shore

Victor

Sky Hopinka’s elegant, stunning, experimental film is a well-balanced piece between an art, experimental, abstract film, and a documentary. This ominous ethereal film digs into the legend of Chinookan. The music and long shots of their natural landscape bring us closer to their world, which we forget is right next to our daily cosmopolitan modern civilization. It is an excellent display of how Native Americans live their lives and culture.

Sweetwater Sahme and Jordan Mercier navigate throughout their live, world, environment, and spirituality discussing their lives, views, and hopes. In general, the film seeks the ‘it’ that makes us human, here and beyond. An outstanding experimental is an essential biographical portrait of present-day Native life. Sweetwater Sahme and Jordan Mercier connecting to the world is as beautiful as before they were forced into a new way of life.

Malni – Towards the Ocean, Towards the Shore is a reminder that we, the modern society, often forget, do not do anything, or give as much attention to the Native American community as it justly deserved. In today’s world, we are so consumed with the gender, orientation, and African American equality fight that we forget that the first and most affected in the Americas were Native Americans. Sweetwater Sahme and Jordan Mercier travel different lives and journeys, considering life, death, and birth while living in a society that almost completely destroyed their way of life.

As David Michael Smith of the University of Houston argues in his paper, Counting the Dead: Estimating the Loss of Life in the Indigenous Holocaust, 1492-Present that Russell Thornton’s American Journal of Physical Anthropology’s estimation of 70 million native population is way off. Smith says, “Thornton’s estimated hemispheric population decline of 70 million is multiplied by 2.5, the total number of Indigenous deaths throughout the Western Hemisphere between 1492 and 1900 appears to be about 175 million.” I believe that films and works like Malni – Towards the Ocean, Towards the Shore are needed and necessary in today’s society. We need to be constantly to be reminded that we all should and must remember, honor, respect, and work vigorously to repair the unsettling genocide that was done to the natives in the Americas.

Hopinka’s film has a perceptive that gives me the impression that it is sincere how much such a large culture and community struggles and strives after being almost decimated in a world that is hugely different for the way from theirs and the way they see and live life. Yet, the film also displays well how, although today’s is remarkably different, Native Americans still see the world in a long, calm, and serene way, appreciating life, nature, and anything around us.

Hopinka’s portrayal of the community, lifestyle, and way of life is well balanced with the eerie and delicate style the film edited together, without any rush to get anywhere, but to live the moment is right in front of them accepting the difficulties. All while keeping their cultural integrity and beliefs. Ending the film connecting it all in a journey of life throughout nature, the present, past, and hope to harmonious life and future.

Malni – Towards the Ocean, Towards the Shore

SKY HOPINKA @ MoMA

Fabiola

Blog post

The experimental film I went to go see for this assignment is Maɬni – Towards the Ocean, Towards the Shore, directed by Sky Hopinka. The film follows two people of Chinook ancestry, Sweetwater Sahme, and Jordan Mercier as they walk through their home in the Columbia River Badin. They discuss their journey in life, their families, and their views on the afterlife. Hopinka gives them equal screen time by filming them separately as they share their stories. In the film, I noticed the subtitles would change when each subject would speak. When Sahme speaks in English the subtitles are in Cinuk Wawa. When Mercire speaks in Cinuk Wawa the subtitles are in English

As we follow Sahme in the forest, we learn that she is expecting her first child. Sahme’s plan is to give birth in the same living room her grandmother has passed away in. She believes that her grandma’s presence is still in the home and that her grandmother is going to help her bring life into this world. Sahme goes on to say that she does believe in reincarnation due to the strong connection she has with her grandmother. 

Most of the time we spent with Sahme was near the waterfall, it is her favorite spot because it brings her peace, and she likes to stare at the beauty of nature surrounding the forest. It allows her the private space to think. We also spend time with Sahme in her living room. This is where she talks about her childhood memories. Her mother raised her as a single parent. She is grateful for the strength her mother has put in her and hopes to be as great a mother as she was to her growing up.

Mercier is expecting his second child. When asked about why he grew his hair long, he explains that it is the way his ancestors had it and it’s a way to honor his tribe. Every time his hair grows longer it makes him feel stronger. As he gets older, he learns more about his ancestors and that is why he continues with his journey in life. Most of the time spent with Mecier we see him at special events with his tribe. He takes his wife and daughter with him, which is a great way to keep the tradition going. Mecier’s wife ends up giving birth to their son, Vincent. Mecier shares that every time he sings his grandfather’s song to his son, Vincent becomes well. The song will continue to be passed on to the next generation.

When Hopinka explores the cycle of life we see images of the sea, forest, and sky. Both subjects see the transition into the next life as a peaceful and beautiful part of life. Hopinka shoots long takes of the gathering of the confederated tribes throughout the film. This helps the audience learn much about the Chinook culture. We see clips of drummers. singers and dancers. We also see Mercier contribute to all these activities and see how committed he is to his tribe. The film allowed us to explore the lives and culture of the Chinookan. 

SKY HOPINKA @ MoMA

Sky Hopinka at MoMA: Connection between land and origin

MichaelO

The story of Maɬni – Towards the Ocean, Towards the Shore takes place in Portland, which I can only assume is the city in Oregon. However, it is framed very differently than a story about city people, or even someone who is trying to fit into society. Maɬni – Towards the Ocean, Towards the Shore is a story about indigenous people and how they carry themselves in their daily lives and why their environment is very important to them. The film focuses on Jordan and Sahme, who’s similarities are their connection to the ingenious people of the land and their role as parents, but beyond they have their differences.

The film opens with the audience following a man hiking through a forest, and it has dialogue that sounds completely different from anything that I’ve heard before. Later on, I discovered that the narrator was speaking Chinook, a language that the indigenous people of an area that is now modern-day Oregon and Washington speak. The narrator talks about moving towards the ocean and the shore, the movement in life, and how it influences life. We also shortly see Jordan driving a truck, assumingly leaving his place of work. Jordan is the first person that we see in the film and Jordan continues the theme of indigenous identity and talks Chinook as well. We see Jordan watching a baseball game and he takes about his people and his hair as a sign of identity. Jordan has a long braid, and he mentions that his people know what his long hair symbolizes. Shortly after, the viewers are introduced to Sahme, who presents a completely different dynamic than Jordan. The introduction is set up in a more natural environment, somewhere by a river, with very muddy banks. Sahme seems to be very in touch with nature, as this is presented as her natural environment. Surprisingly as a first in the film, Sahme speaks english, and what says is presented in Chinook subtitles. She is going through the wilderness, talking about her connection to the land and then the camera reveals that Sahme is expecting. Sahme clearly knows her way around the wilderness and we even see her later on standing under a small waterfall. Later in the film, the viewers are then peeking into the homes of Jordan and Sahme. Jordan’s house is much more lively with his family having fun in the background, and Jordan talks about his two children, Ila who was named after his grandma, and VIncent, the youngest of the two. Sahme talks about the impact of her environment and having her first born, since the land is connected to her own grandparents as well. Together they present the importance of the between life and death and how the land connects to our spirits. The film ends with Jordan canoeing to a very beautiful location with interesting lighting and Sahme devling back in similar scenery from when she was first introduced.

Between Jordan and Sahme, the viewers are introduced to the culture of Chinook method that’s not incredibly straight-forward. It’s almost like you have to pick apart their statements but also the many scenes of the film have different meanings and important details on what Chinook beliefs could be. Even though it makes sense for indigenious to be very involved with nature, nature is sprawling around the environments where Jordan and Sahme seem to have a stronger spiritual connection. This kind of ideology of who are and what the land is to us is very prominent in the film. The film talks about how we move towards the water, and we are walked through that journey, while also giving us insight on the importance of that journey and how that impacts those who are with us, those who are no longer with us, and those who are just beginning to exist. I struggle to see how is it experimental to be honest. For the most part it uses very familiar techniques with a few exceptions like when the footage was just a circle. I would say that the most experimental part about it is how we’re introduced to Jordan and Sahme. It feels very intimate and documentary style filming where we get close to the people that are at the center of the subject of the film. Although the most interesting thing that the film does is that it kind of code switches and gives us the entire film in Chinook. Even the prospect of whether there’s a film that is all Chinook is an interesting concept. It seems very natural to the film and very essential to the story. It makes the impact and connection stronger. 

Sky Hopinka at MoMA: Connection between land and origin

Diane Severin Nguyen: If Revolution Is A Sickness

Anne

If Revolution Is A Sickness sits in the Sculpture Center in Long Island City. The piece is primarily time-based accompanied by a few still pieces. Upon entry, the audio from the exhibition overtakes the hallway leading up to the large room where the moving image is being projected. 

My first interaction with this piece was through sound. As I entered I heard the narration from a young girl. The first thing that I saw visually was the large yellow curtains that enclosed the stage. As I made my way deeper into the room, I noticed that the only thing in the room was the large stage, the screen, two speakers on a stand, and the red steps that lead to the stage. The narration from the video echoed throughout the large industrial-looking room. 

The video project is on a loop, allowing visitors to experience it differently based on when they started watching. I caught it in the middle and wasn’t very sure what was occurring. However, as I continued to watch I began noticing some patterns and started to form my own understanding of the piece.

Something about the piece and the room that it’s placed in just pulls you right in. A major symbol in Nguyen’s was the colors used throughout the piece and the exhibition itself. There was yellow and red everywhere. The room was adorned in those colors, and the characters in the film wore those colors as well. Also, white was present but not as pronounced as yellow and red. At first, I dismissed the color white and didn’t think that it was significant. However, I remembered that this piece is exploring the Vietnamese diaspora in Poland. These colors are significant in both the Polish and the Vietnamese flags. The Vietnamese flag is red, with a yellow star in the middle whereas the polish flag has two horizontal stripes, the top one is white and the lower one is red. Red is the color that both of these flags have in common. 

Nguyen uses color to help the audience make distinctions between the characters. The main character who is Vietnamese is seen mostly yellow with red accents. Whereas her dance counterparts I assume are Polish are mostly in red, some have white on and yellow is subtle. 

As I left the exhibition, my mind kept wondering what the deeper significance of the colors was. These flags represent an idea, they can be the source of pride and value for many, but they can also be a source of grief and torture for some. It’s interesting how the red in both of these flags represents a struggle for freedom and the other color represents the people or a hope for the people in the nations. 

Nguyen used this piece to explore identity and the meaning of identity when it comes to one’s heritage and nationality. The piece was very moving because Nguyen managed to tell the story of a group’s collective experience through this one character. Lastly, I personally feel that the title speaks to identity and assimilation. The main character is a Vietnamese girl in Poland, she carries both of these identities but there’s always one that’s more dominant than the other. It makes me wonder if the piece also seeks out to expose the dangers of assimilation and the loss of one’s identity.

With the colors of the dancer’s clothing, Nguyen puts their identities on full display. The audience is able to see the differences and similarities between each dancer. Although they are uniform there’s still some sort of individuality that leaks out. 

Written by: Anne Bien-Aime

Diane Severin Nguyen: If Revolution Is A Sickness

Marta Minujin’s: Minucode (1968)

Max

By Max Sackett

Prior to arriving at MoMa I had a plan to view Shigeko Kubota’s, Liquid Reality Exhibition and write my blog post about it. However while I was wondering around the museum I was really struck by something else.

Marta Minujin

As you walk into this room you are surrounded by projections on the wall of men and women at what seems like a party. All around you are conversations between men and women enjoying cocktails and cigarettes. The way it is set up I instantly felt like I was a guest at this party. It is sort of a surreal feeling, you spin around and all around you are people, some looking at you others not paying any attention outside of their own conversations. Being in this space I felt transported to a different time. I felt like I was at one of the parties in a Woody Allen film that Brough together artists and intellectuals alike. A time where speaking amongst friends was used with words and not with posts and likes. To meet people you had to be out in the world not swiping left or right. All of these thoughts are the types of things that we’re running though my mind as I experienced this piece. 

Prior to reading the artists supplement writing or intent of the work I like to experiment it personally first. It is my belief art should not always have to be explained. My original thought was that she wanted the viewer to feel as if they were in another place, that as soon as they walk into this room or exhibit they have left the museum, and are somewhere entirely different. This assumption is not totally wrong. Minujin’s most basic idea was to set up four different cocktail parties and invited people from four different sectors: business, arts, politics and fashion. She wanted to see how they interacted with one another and how the people in these different sectors differ from the others. 

According to Minujin all the people who were filmed were invited back several days later to watch themselves. “I wanted then to see themselves ‘backward’, to observe their own behavior, to watch their social interactions.” The sensation felt by those who were at these parties was probably quite uncanny. Especially to experience it in the gallery setting with the images being projected all around you. I could only imagine that experience was stranger and more profound than the one I and all the other guests at the MoMa felt. 

The experience and the feeling I had when I walked into this galley is one I won’t soon forget. It was quite relatable and inspiring. I felt nostalgia fro a time I had never been and also a feeling of wanting more. I wanted to know who this people were although they were all ordinary people like you and me they became even more so through this visual experience created by Minujin. 

Marta Minujin’s: Minucode (1968)

Shugako Kubota: Liquid Reality

Noga

When visiting the fourth floor of the MoMA, one may turn right from the elevators to the Andy Warhol exhibition. I recommend doing the opposite and stat with turning left. With going against the flow, I discovered the revolutionary exhibition – Shugako Kubota: Liquid Reality. An exhibition of short videos projected uniquely and creatively for the exact purpose of challenging the viewers to see beyond what is illustrated in front of them. Kubota is a Japanese artist (1937-2015) who is affected by new technology and examined its relationship to time, the body, and everyday life. Using standard definition video and super 8mm footage, Kubota edits and manipulates the video’s electronic signal to create a new and experimental form of video.

Kubota Ethics

In addition to new forms of layering video and editing, Kubota is also examining new forms of screenings. As part of the exhibition, there are two types of screenings. The first part includes clips in wooden boxes. Three wooden boxes are in a pyramidic kind of structure and are covered with mirrors from the inside. The video is played on a small screen on the bottom of the pyramid, that way it is also mirrored on the walls at all different angles. The fourth wooden screening box is in the shape of 4 steps staircase, with a screen on each step. All the screens are showing the same clip in sync. The clip is constructed from footage of a naked woman who walks down the stairs. In addition, Kubota has layered its effects and distractions. This sculpture of the video was inspired by the Cubism painting Nude Descending a staircase (No. 2). The way Kubota used a cubic staircase to screen a nude in a deconstructive way had preserved the cubism ideology while creating a new form of art.

The second part of the Shugako Kubota exhibition has demonstrated the origins of its name: “Liquid Reality”. In another room, there were different kinds of clips, most in a blue to green color palette. The clips are screened either over metal or through water and again create an alienated feeling that makes the spectator think carefully about the viewing. The first piece is a projector screening a clip over a boat-looking metal vessel filled with water. The container included a small swirling tube that created small waives consistently and made the viewing more challenging. In the second piece, the footage is screened on a spherical monitor that swings over a metal curved plate. This sculpture and screening capture both Kubota’s clip and the actual viewer’s reflection. By the third piece, I was most intrigued. It was a wall of mirrors and screens with a water dripping frame, creating the illusion of rain or a waterfall. On the wall, a projector projected one clip, while on the other screens in the wall are projected videos of water-related views. All videos in this piece are in a blue and green color palette, but one video in the lower middle part of the wall, that had a reddish color palette. That clip was a loop of what looked like a trees-top with sunset (or sunrise) in the background.

To sum up, everything that was stated and illustrated in this article, Shugako Kubota: Liquid Reality exhibition, is a brilliant and unique display of old and new footage of the world shown from a new perspective. I recommend taking a look at this showing even if one has already visited the MoMA.

An Article by Noga Harel

Shugako Kubota: Liquid Reality

Nelson Crawford, Filmmaker @ MOMA

Julian

Nelson Crawford was a multimedia artist, and member of the 16-millimeter independent filmmaking scene in California and New York during the late 1960s through the early 1980s. The MOMA currently is running an exhibition, Nelson Crawford, Filmmaker, which is a display of nine of his works that serves as a meditation on the climate crisis and the sustainability of the earth. In some writing that corresponds with the exhibition, it talks about how from the contemporary point of view, Crawford’s work asks of viewers to “consider the impossibility of extracting the climate crisis from depictions of Earth’s beauty”. Traveling outside of the United States to Peru and Ecuador, the works included in this exhibition display a love and respect for the natural outside world, however these feelings of pleasantry are undercut by our contemporary awareness of the fragility of the earth and the “destabilizing presence of man and machinery.” (MOMA website). 

The first work of Crawford that visitors are greeted with is something of an abstract, avant-garde firework display. This short film was made in 1976 and is title “Paths of Fire II”. It is the only work in exhibition that seems to eschew images of the natural world for something more abstract and intangible. I was taken by this piece of media because it reminded me of the works of my favorite experimental animator artist that I always come back to such as Stan Brakhage. This one appears to be an anomaly when taken in context with the rest of the works in the exhibition, however it does possess the same wistful, meditative quality of the other works as one sees themselves getting lost in the images and finds that their senses become attuned and fixated only om the moving image and the rest of the outside world seems to disappear.

Once one takes the escalator down to the lowest level of the The Debra and Leon Black Family Film Center, they are greeted with the rest of Crawford’s works. These works are composed of images of the natural elements of Earth: water, air, and fire. The meditative aspect arrives from the simplicity and repetitive nature of these short films. The films are not complex, close-ups of an orange flickering fire that zooms out to reveal said fire is in a forest, panning close-ups of grass that cross dissolve into each other, close-ups of leaves on a tree. Displayed on different screens and running simultaneously, when watching all the screens together, one sort of gets the sum of its parts, or a greater narrative that Crawford is reaching at about ecology and the protection of the natural world against human forces that intentionally and unintentionally are working against our physical world. Crawford sought to capture the tiniest details in nature, the tiny holes in the leaves, the direction the grass sways, and so on. In capturing these minute details, Crawford highlights how complex the natural world is, and how one can always discover something new and intriguing in the natural world, only if it still exists. I really enjoyed the Nelson Crawford, Filmmaker exhibition because the issue of the climate is one that is existential and of the utmost importance and I really admire Crawford’s ability to understand and integrate that message into his work as far back as the 1960s. I also admire the filmmaking of Crawford’s that is showcased in the exhibition as it is so simple, but immersive and contemplative.

Nelson Crawford, Filmmaker @ MOMA

Liquid Reality exhibit @MoMA

Connor

This week I went to MoMA on 53rd st. to experience the Liquid Reality exhibit created by Shigeko Kubota. Having never been to the museum before I found myself searching for the exhibit for quite some time. This was actually great for me because I got a chance to view tons of other interesting work before finally arriving to Kubota’s exhibit, which was located at gallery 414. I didn’t know much about the artist or her work other than a brief description of her style on the  MoMA website. I did know that the galleries description along with the title of Liquid Reality sounded strange and appealing to me. The description noted the artist’s work to revolve around concepts of technology, nature, time and light. While this was all pretty vague to me, I was pleasantly surprised when I viewed the work and found it to be intriguing, playful, pleasing to the eye and contain a quality of interactivity. 

It was very clear from viewing the work that the artist was fascinated with video and how it could be manipulated, interpreted and heightened through the use of reflective materials as well as natural elements.  The first piece that I noticed was a series of obtuse video screens, suspended in colored glass, propped up perpendicular to a rectangular pool of water. The piece seemed to be making use of so many things at once: the light from the ever-changing distorted screens, the transparency of the glass and the outside environment, the shimmers of colored Reflection off the pool of water, and the sharp green glow that bounced off of the liquid that projected onto the floor of the exhibit. 

This was followed by a piece that consisted of flat, black, chromed sculpture on the ground. Above it was a suspended, space-aged orb with a small video monitor playing under it reflecting off of the black sculpture. The Kubrick-esque orb swung from a rope of wires, constantly distorting the image reflected from the chrome structure. When I finally placed myself in a good position to view the moving image, I realized that the video was of me looking down searching for it.  

There was a piece that appeared to be a wooden pyramid with the tip missing. As I approached the piece I noticed kids and other museum attendants struggling to peer over at the opening of the pyramid to snap an iPhone picture. When I got as close as humanly possible too the piece (literally touching it) I saw that inside this pyramid was a kaleidoscopic array of mirrors and colored light. It then became clear that the purpose intended was for the viewer to have to lean over the piece in order to view what was inside. 

The overall experience was thought provoking, but still very fun in a traditional sense. I got the feeling that the artist wanted a certain reaction from the viewer that strayed from the run of the mill, scratch your chin and and raise one eyebrow. The viewer was meant to discover ideas and different levels of reality being expressed through the process of the viewing the art. 

Liquid Reality exhibit @MoMA