Billed as “television as art, rather than about art”, Random
Acts is a collaborative project between Channel 4 and Dazed & Confused,
featuring a series of exciting three-minute films which will be aired on
Channel 4 throughout 2012. Disrupting the post-watershed schedule every weekday
(11.05pm seems to be the moment, folks), it’s a surprisingly diverse range. The
all-encompassing content includes dance, video art, music, animation and spoken
word- commissioning both firmly established artists as well as budding talent.
Each and every Random Act is a startlingly original expression of creativity- little
pockets of fresh, unconstrained thought that are wonderfully unfettered by
inane presenters and conservative habits of mainstream TV. Good riddance,
Rulebook. As Captain Barbossa rightly says in Pirates, they were more like
guidelines anyway.
So far, the project has showcased the very best in
imaginative talent- featuring mini films by ingenious groups such as Tate
Media, wind-up visual artists Jake & Dinos Chapman, and visionary fashion
photographer Rankin. Last Thursday Rankin presented his Random entry entitled
'Rachael'- a cinematic glimpse of a seemingly normal family in post-war
Britain. Penned by Irvine “Trainspotting” Welsh, the short art film starred
Holliday Grainger (the insufferable Katherine Howard in The Tudors) as Rachael,
a girl whose youthful innocent appearance in the bathroom mirror belied darker,
deeper stirrings. And last night, it was the turn for Henka Dance to shine- as
contemporary dancer Fukiko Takase physically took flight with bold, ballet-like
movements in what looked like a disused warehouse. It was visually arresting,
the close-ups powerfully involving us in her choreographed swan song. So if
you’re looking to escape the endless barrage of soaps (the list is painfully,
painfully endless) and dumb dramas (the big culprit being Zooey Deschanel’s
disappointing New Girl), then why not flick to Channel 4 at 11.05pm? Next
Monday’s Random offering of poetry by Polar Bear looks intriguing- and at just
3 minutes long, I think it’ll be a brief burst of refreshing creativity just before
bed.
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