“The New Order” exhibition in the Museum of Modern Arts was definitely an interesting experience because I personally have never been there until a field trip with the class. There were a lot of fascinating showpieces that caught my attention and there were also that I found strange weird and uninteresting. However, there was a showpiece that seemed to be having both traits as almost being on the edge of weird and boring but also captivating and enchanting. This show piece is called “Country Ball,” and it was created by Jacolby Satterwhite.

There is something in this video that really captivates and one can’t just walk away from it. As Satterwhite said in one of the articles “Country Ball is an attempt to recreate a home video from the late 80s of my family’s mother’s day cookout.” On the first viewing, this video looked as something that came out of a very altered state of mind with a use of some psychedelic  substances. Although, it might still be the case, on the second more closer look on the video, I can really notice details and indeed images of people pouring and cooking something. In addition to that, there are 3D animated people dancing with real faces superimposed on their heads. Jacolby said that he had to “perform in front of the camera and green screen a hundred times; later inserting those videos into a virtual space to create Hieronymus Bosch “Garden of Earthly Delights” inspired landscape.” 3D space is also full of details and hand drawing and some real home videos inserted in the background. What I really liked about this piece is movements inside this 3D landscape.

There is a constant movement of the camera. There are a lot of tilts and pans and dollies and sweeps of a camera and it creates a momentum that engages a viewer and makes it so much more interesting and not dull. In addition, 3D generated figures are also always dancing of doing something and it adds to the constant feeling of movements. In terms of sounds, we hear a song and people having fun on a background. It definitely sounds as something coming from an old VHS tape because the quality of a sound is not that good. Overall, this video piece by Satterwhite is very unique because I could not help myself but to stay and watch it. The somewhat psychedelic visuals and very vibrant and oversaturated colors definitely played a role in. 3D environment was also very strange because there were almost no hard and sharp corners or structures, everything was very ambiguous and the shapes were bent or just weird looking.

Also, the small detail that I really appreciated was a moment in the end when two people figures seemingly try to put cards into a wallet and they keep doing it over and over while being strapped or chained to something. The first thing that came to my mind was the analogy with Greek mythology and a story of Sisyphus Rolling Rock Up to Hill.