Viennese electro-pop artist Cardiochaos gives a Caustic Critique of our digital addictions in “Videosuicide.
The project, helmed by musician and filmmaker Peter Brunner, takes its name from the Extrasystoles Brunner is afflicted with, which he in turn channels into his own brand of obsessive creative energy. This is evident through his thoughtful exploration of how our society engages with pavlovian addictions to our tiny handheld devices that are either attached at the hip or the hand.
Brunner Explains:
“Videosuicide is inspired by a current tendency where we as a society of consumers are laboratory animals addicted to the ever-spinning wheel of fortune, meaning social media. The social media or Facebook goal as we know it is to keep us as long as possible on their websites. How the algorithms are reaching this goal is based on simple addiction tests scientists developed before the millennium. Look around, we are transcending into an army of digi-hooked-zombies.
This is what I would have done with a bigger video-budget: the reverse-ego shooter “free the zombies from their smartphone addiction”, but instead I thought it would be interesting to have a more “guerilla documentary” approach of a “VHS nostalgic look vs a modern smartphone world” contrast. It’s absurd to see people entering a zombie mode as they are hooked to the screen, longing for status and recognition. It seems to me like the pandoras of “here and know”, looking into their little digi-boxes of fortune, breeding demons waiting to rise.
I love the moment when people watch the video and laugh about the zombie-like state of the people they’ve just seen in the video before they themselves connect with their own smartphones again and perform a “videosuicide.
To me, it seems alarming since moms run their buggies into trams and cars because they are watching a new insta-feed of how to be the best mum. An interesting documentary by Werner Herzog about texting and driving came to my mind.”
Watch Video Suicide Below:
In addition to being a musician, Brunner is a former student of Michael Haneke, and also works as a filmmaker. After his first two feature films “My Blind Heart“ and “Those Who Fall Have Wings“. Brunners English language debut “To the Night” (2018) starring Caleb Landry Jones was called “a psychological acid trip of a movie” by THR and premiered at KVIFF in Competition.
In 2019 principal photography is scheduled to begin for his psychological horror-drama “The split Tongue” will start, which will be produced by Ulrich Seidl.
Meanwhile, Cardiochaos’ third LP The Space Between the Notes is scheduled for release on the 31st of May, 2019, with live dates to follow.
For more info, visit www.cardiochaos.com
