Magda Kuca and Laertis Create a Trippy Music Video With the LomoKino
1 4 Share TweetPolish artist and photographer Magda Kuca specializes in alternative photography such as large format, wet collodion and cyanotypes, to create work that has a rich hand-made aesthetic. When she was asked to direct a new music video for musician Laertis she took inspiration from an infamous bike ride taken by Albert Hofmann in 1943 whilst under the influence of LSD. Magda used the LomoKino 35 mm movie camera to create the resulting video. We talked to her about this project and how she turned an idea into reality.
Hi Magda, please tell us a bit about yourself.
I am a visual artist, photographer and educator working from my studio in West London. My work is often influenced by the supernatural and folklore. Utilising large format photography and experimental, as well as historical, photographic techniques such as wet collodion, gum bichromate, platinum print, electro-photography, I explore narratives around craft and materiality. As an educator, I teach from my London studio, focusing on early image making methods through hands-on workshops and lectures working with other artists and creators, brands, galleries and museums in the UK and worldwide.
What was the concept for this video?
The idea was to create a video clip for London-based musician Laertis, with whom I worked before on his last album. We worked with his news song 'Things'. We met up for a brainstorming session a few months back in my Earls Court studio thinking about how we could continue the aesthetics we already employed in previous collaborations. We shot his previous cover in wet collodion process and the last video was shot inside a camera obscura on 8 mm film. We wanted to keep the magic of experimental film alive for our future projects.
How did you plan for this project?
Laertis often does his thinking when biking through London, it's how he comes up with new ideas. I remembered just watching a documentary on Hoffman’s history about discovering LSD and his psychedelic bike ride and we decided to use it as our inspiration. We also try to do something different each time we collaborate. I really wanted to try film soup on color film, so it all came together – we shot on B&W film and as the music changes into something more dreamy I introduced color souped film which was soaking for a couple of hours in hot vinegar soup and dried for two weeks in rice before being developed and scanned. We also did a small tribute to a really old cartoon both of us, as well as our parents ,still remember – Magic Pencil from 60s – 70s. One would draw an object with the pencil that would then come out of the page and become reality. We also thought it went well together with Laertis' cover which is hand drawn and appears on a few shots, recalling his passion for drawing in general.
Why did you decide to shoot with the LomoKino?
I wanted the beat of the song to match the pace in which visuals change. I thought that the choppiness of LomoKino and stop-motion look would go hand-in-hand, reflecting the beat of the guitar in the song.
How did you find the results from the LomoKino?
I was hooked on the look of souped color film coming out of the LomoKino. It was the exact low-fi result we were looking for, yet not without surprises. Its unpredictable nature contributed well to the aesthetics we were looking to achieve. B&W film being flooded with color as the music changes worked out better than I expected. It takes a moment to turn it into a video. I shot three rolls of film, each 35 mm frame makes for four shots which need to be cropped and animated in premiere.
To see more of Magda's work visit her Instagram page.
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