Project poster

 

The War on Smog 1

THE WAR ON SMOG [Text]

The bombs are smart

Even against camouflage,

And they drop their loads

With a righteous

Boom.

We are saved frequently

By these awesome systems.

They save us

From emergencies

And all the,

All the bad guys.

— Finn Harvor

*

From my collection of authorial movies. These poems are primarily from a massive project entitled Plastic Millennium. It subdivides into a series of modules and thematic concerns. What is here are a few pieces from a series of nature works entitled the "Baram" series ("baram" is the transliteration from the Korean word for wind). Also are a few interlinked pieces about war and what I term “The Constant Roar of the State”. I'm drawing a linkage between these and the nature poems insofar as industrialism now – as in, really now – is impinging on what we define as the natural; in other words, we are warring on nature itself. The metaphors have disappeared. We're in the midst of something that is moving with glacial speed, but is like a bomb going off.

The Baram Series contains a substantial amount of nature scenery (a passion of mine). But it is not meant to valourize or sentimentalize the reality of 21st Century nature, which, after all, is increasingly boxed in by 21st Century development. One can see that in Canada, where I grew up; one sees it especially vividly in Asia, where I now live. The project started almost by accident: I had a piece entitled “Baram Writer” accepted by an online lit magazine (now defunct). The title was a play on words: a few years before, I'd seen a movie in Korea entitled “Baram Fighter” – that is, the transliteration of Hangeul to the Roman alphabet sounded just the same. I liked the play on words, and kept the “baram” as a sort of talisman for what followed.

These pieces exist as poems and videos, with each element of the project linked but also discrete. I have been working on the project for many years, and am not trying to be trendy or “newsy”, but instead capture something of the larger age we live in. War and the environment are now connected: by the very act of “fighting an enemy”, we – via the exhaustive machinery of war – create another, more amorphous, but also threatening enemy.

In these poems, "baram" -- or other elementary aspects of nature ("geu-neul" [shadow] and "hai" [sun]) -- do not function so much as symbols of nature, but direct "branches" of it. In other words, nature touches us directly, and gives us tangible experience. Yet at the same time this is happening, nature also can bring us closer to other forms of more emotional experience that are linked to our connections with the others who are meaningful in our lives. Yet articulating this rather simple connection is hard, and that is because being conscious of the experience is hard. Therefore, these poems will, I hope, be read on several levels: as appreciations of the natural, as experiential-philosophical meditations, and as love poems.

These poems are in turn are from a much larger project that in its totality comprises over 800,000 words, 1,500 drawings, 1,000 plus original photos, 100 original songs, and 1400 authorial movies (movies based on a belletristic text in which every element is made – authored – by one artistic sensibility). It is a first. (There are longer textual works out there, obviously, but none as long and also with as much variety of artistic forms.) As I remarked above, I've been working on this material for many years now, and it has a broad thematic range. 

About myself: I'm an artist, writer, filmmaker, and occasional musician, and live with my wife in South Korea. I've published art and writing in The Partisan [upcoming], Pacifism21, Former People, The Puritan, Eclectica, Canadian Notes and Queries, Rain Taxi, The Brooklyn Rail, The Korea Times, Dogmatika, Dark Sky, the Quarterly Conversation, rabble, the HUFS International Journal of Foreign Studies, The Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, Now Weekly, The Canadian Forum, This Magazine and several other publications. I've had group and solo shows of of my artwork, have written and staged two fringe plays, and invented a new genre of experimental movie (the “authorial movie”, in which the basis of the narrative is a belletristic text, such as a poem, short story or movie, and one person – one author – produces all elements of the video, such as text, art and music (for more examples of these, see the links below)).  I have had group and solo shows of my  visual art.My videopoetry has been screened in the US, UK, Greece, Ireland, Hong Kong, South Korea, Kazakhstan, and India. Finally, I blog at Conversations in the Book Trade, where I have conducted interviews with people including Adam Bellow, Ian Brown, Philip Marchand, Bev Daurio, Brian Palmu, derek beaulieu, Ed Champion, and Richard Nash. Link: http://conversationsinthebooktrade.blogspot.com/

https://youtu.be/ZmCk1a6uDyk

Pollution and war

 

Is pollution caused by military activity damaging the planet?

 

A hiking trail in Seoul

 

Weird weather, continued

HOW MUCH OF THE FROG POPULATION IS LEFT?

우리 개구리 얼마나 마리 아직 있어?

*

Top video, tonight. Bottom video, a week ago.

More:

One: https://youtu.be/UPrH6pu2bsI

Two: https://youtu.be/cIHfmNwoQWA

Three: https://youtu.be/NzkSvSxISbs

ChatGPT and creative writing

#canlit #ChatGPT #chatgpt4 . ChatGPT is causing consternation among writers. What kind of effects strategies can we develop to prevent literary culture from being “disrupted”? The answer lies partly in better criticism. 

Clip above.

Full video at YouTube: https://youtu.be/UZuW9xPAgV4

Early spring weather

 

Jirisan

 

Banking crisis 2023

 

Climate change in China

 

Climate change in North Korea

 

Climate change in South Korea

Weird Weather, Wonky Weather — 3. Full video at YouTube: youtu.be/NzkSvSxISbs via @YouTube. #ClimateEmergency #ClimateCrisis #globalwarming #ExtremeWeather

Periods of unseasonably warm weather followed by cold snaps decimated a local frog population. How’s that important?

Weird Weather, Wonky Weather 3

Weird Weather, Wonky Weather — 3. Full video at YouTube: youtu.be/NzkSvSxISbs via @YouTube. #ClimateEmergency #ClimateCrisis #globalwarming #ExtremeWeather

Periods of unseasonably warm weather followed by cold snaps decimated a local frog population. How’s that important?

War Markets

War Markets

(Originally published in Mudlark)

Where were you born?

In what city

was the future written

on the hard,

cakey walls

of destiny’s

blind alleys?

Well, don’t worry —

International markets,

dizzylingly high

on their abstract

mountains

of profit

and gas —

have been teetering lately;

their great volumes —

stacked high as peaks —

are due for a crash.

Experts

all bitcoined (till last spring)

take to media,

and reassure, reassure —

while stocking secret fridges

in faraway

cottage-bunkers

with veggies, dried meat

and fruit ...

food, in the near future,

will be the new loot.

Full video at YouTube: https://youtu.be/SWqLFVSWb5I

Drone downed

 

Drone Technician

Clip from Drone Technician: with text. Full video at YouTube: https://youtu.be/ygmANaVDC5U via @YouTube. #DroneAttacks #RoboticWarfare 

Temperature fluctuations

#ClimateAction #climatechange #KoreanClimate #ExtremeWeather. 

A sudden cold snap killed a local frog population — which had bred en masse because of unseasonably warm weather. Normal spring patterns, or the sign of deeper climatological change? 

More here: https://youtu.be/UPrH6pu2bsI

Thievanomics

#videopoetry #moviepoem #poetryfilm. 

Clip from Thievanomics 2: The Perfectioneers, about the algorithms and coolly calculating humans who now manage the lives of us, the common people…. 

If curious, full video at YouTube: https://youtu.be/pqMS29M9rzA

Silicon Valley Bank

 

Weird Weather, Wonky Weather 3

Frogs in background now dead; a cold snap did them in. Typical seasonal change or extreme weather event? More at Weird Weather, Wonky Weather: Abrupt Seasonal Change in South Korea youtu.be/UPrH6pu2bsI via @YouTube. #climatechange #moviepoem #globalwarming #weatherpattern

Weird Weather, Wonky Weather 2

#climatechange #moviepoem #globalwarming #weatherpattern

If curious, full video at YouTube: https://youtu.be/UPrH6pu2bsI

Sudden changes in temperature are nothing new during transitional seasons like the spring and fall. But in recent years, these changes in South Korea have become more abrupt and extreme, leading to noticeable changes in the breeding of frogs and blooming of spring flowers. What is happening in your part of the world?

*

#changementclimatique #moviepoem #réchauffementglobal #weatherpattern

 Les changements soudains de température ne sont pas nouveaux pendant les saisons de transition comme le printemps et l’automne.  Mais ces dernières années, ces changements en Corée du Sud sont devenus plus brusques et extrêmes, entraînant des changements notables dans l’élevage des grenouilles et la floraison des fleurs printanières.  Que se passe-t-il dans votre partie du monde ?

Weird Weather, Wonky Weather

#climatechange #moviepoem #globalwarming #weatherpattern

Sudden changes in temperature are nothing new during transitional seasons like the spring and fall. But in recent years, these changes in South Korea have become more abrupt and extreme, leading to noticeable changes in the breeding of frogs and blooming of spring flowers. What is happening in your part of the world?

Can AI write good quality fiction?

Clip from an upcoming experimental project with AI creativity. Have you tried these programs yourself? What’s your take on them? What kind of work did they produce? #AIart #ChatGPT #publishing #machinelearning #Algorithms

Russia, Ukraine, North Korea

 

Stephen Markley interview/ reading

 

Stephen Markley’s The Deluge

 From the Guardian:

Around the midpoint of The Deluge, a character laments how quickly “you wake up and you’re in a bad movie from the future”. It’s an offhand but accurate description of the economic, ecological and technological turmoil in Stephen Markley’s bleak vision of the coming decades. In his alternative 2030s, surveillance capitalism has ended privacy and AI has eroded human agency; financial markets collapse and the political sphere becomes yet more rabid. Above it all looms our inescapable, spiralling climate catastrophe.

Beginning in 2013 and rolling inexorably forward into a darkening century, The Deluge depicts an apocalypse in slow motion. There is no schism separating before and after, no single epochal event that marks a terminus for civilisation. It’s a story of incremental chaos, political lethargy and scientific minutiae, and it is utterly mesmerising. There have been many more flamboyant end-of-the-world scenarios in fiction, but few as frighteningly plausible.

 For all its dispassionate techno-detail, The Deluge is a book with a big, pulsing heart

Markley spent a decade on the book, which is constructed as a collage of texts: first- and third-person narratives intermingled with magazine articles, scientific papers, White House briefings and podcast transcripts. His ability to inject these ostensibly dry sources with pathos, verisimilitude and agility of voice sets the novel apart from other apocalyptic melodramas. Point-of-view characters span the sociopolitical spectrum and the wealth ladder. A marketing exec turned hedge fund manager, an ecoterrorist, a neurodiverse data analyst, an alienated addict: each offers a peephole into events, but together they form a comprehensive tapestry of a civilisation coming undone. Markley begins with the character of climate scientist Tony Pietrus in a chapter titled “The Phase Transitions of Methane Hydrates”. It feels like an open challenge to the reader, forewarning that this book will neither hold your hand nor care about your feelings.

Moviepoem based on my late brother’s writing

 

From the archives

 Nuclear power plant danger from attacks

Nuclear power plants in time of war

 YouTube link: https://youtu.be/ed_dedDrwJE

On censorship in North America

Clip from a video on how the complex realities of censorship in North America are more complicated than you might think. Full video at YouTube: youtu.be/9rTi6BkLeUQ via @YouTube. #canadianculture #mexico #censorship

Boy Meets Girl After Battle 1

 

Boy Meets Girl After Battle 1

 

Who is Ramzan Kadyrov?

 

Putin’s Mind

 

Bakhmut

 

From the Missile Launch as Painting project series

Clip from one of the moviepoems in the Missile Launch as Painting series. Full video at YouTube: https://youtu.be/bkMNagLlOu0

Global Fevering, part one

 Spring on the Korean Peninsula usually is a dangerously arid time of year.

Toronto

 

Water torrent, Korea

Speaking With Mountains

Happy that/ heureux que three shorts selected by the Taiwan ISFF. The most recent, Speaking With Mountains, was recorded on a hiking trail near Suki’s family’s farm on a peak named Hyeongjae Bong. I’ve climb that trail several times, frequently with a camera in tow. But this was the first time the footage came together. The second, Don’t Kid Yourself, was also recently screened at the ReelPoetry Festival in Texas. The third is a short eco-doc (also a smartphone project) about global warming. It’s from a few years ago, so it’s totally out of date now.

Speaking: 

Vimeo link: https://vimeo.com/804542929

Password: baramone 

Don’t Kid Yourself: https://youtu.be/tiw04VYgxB8

Yes, Planet: https://youtu.be/8EiEyA7bF14

Meat: New Cut

 

Bakhmut

 

Missile Launch as Painting

 YouTube link: https://youtu.be/bkMNagLlOu0

Greening Korea series: bamboo swoosh

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/vSACEevH7Bo

Korean Marketplaces

Korean market culture has shrunk drastically in Seoul as corporatization shoulders aside small merchants. But it’s still central to small town life. Greening Korea deals with this, as does Your World.

 YouTube links: 

Greening Korea: https://youtu.be/ex6K64LYVkc  

Your World: https://youtu.be/kaI1ZtdRVPA

Volcanoes in Japan: Noboribetsu

 

Sori Oasis 2

Poster from my mini doc Sori Oasis (“Sori” means sound in Korean). Was shot in and around the Soraepeul hiking trail in central Gangnam, Seoul. Cities need “quietness zones.” 

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/X8Ybg1LkaHQ 

#SoundPollution #Seoul #urbanbiodiversity

Sori Oasis 1

Clip from my mini doc Sori Oasis (“Sori” means sound in Korean). Was shot in and around the Soraepeul hiking trail in central Gangnam, Seoul. Cities need “quietness zones.” 

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/X8Ybg1LkaHQ 

#SoundPollution #Seoul #urbanbiodiversity 

Olaf Scholz in India

 

« Hey, Maverick! », a satirical moviepoem, selected by the Alibag Film Festival

 

Your World

Clip from Your World, a semi experimental documentary/moviepoem about rural life and food in South Korea. YouTube link: youtu.be/kaI1ZtdRVPA #poetryfilm

Project still — from the NightWork series

 

Airport bird

 

1967: A Song About Ottawa

 

Leaving Ottawa

 

Pollution and epidemics

 

East Palestine, Ohio

 

Canadian winter - an authorial moviepoem

 

Ottawa, winter

 

Project still - Toronto Beaches

 

North Korea tests ICBM

 

Crazy Leaders, Crazy Weaponry

 

John Tory

 

Noteworthy

Koans Cut From the Norwegian News

Project poster

 

Ottawa

 

Greening Korea: Green Tea and Kimchi

 Traditional food and agriculture in South Korea.

Greening Korea

 Urban spaces and nature in Seoul.

A bagel shop, Ottawa

 

Toronto

 

The Authorial Moviestory

 

There are countless examples of short dramatic movies. And, of course, there are countless examples of short stories. One characteristic that distinguishes them is the movies are invariably group projects and the short stories are almost always solo creations. Creating solo has some substantial artistic advantages: it allows one sensibility — one consciousness — to define the artwork. By necessity, dramatic films are a collection of consciousnesses. 

The authorial moviestory takes the energy of filmmaking but keeps the artistic purity of short story writing, since I an authorial movie all elements, including text, narration, artwork, and music are done by one person. This is a new art form.

St. James Cathedral, Toronto

 

Toronto

 

Greening Korea 1

 How the mega city of Seoul tries to balance development and nature.

APSC Lens on a Full Frame

 

Possible explanations for what the Chinese balloon was doing 2

 

Possible explanations for what the Chinese balloon was doing 1

 

Balloon Apocalypse

#Balloon #uschinatension #geopolitics #chineseballoon 

Will WW3 be triggered by … balloons?

A brief authorial moviepoem on those who will ultimately pay the price of geopolitical miscalculation. #poetryfilm #moviepoem #poetry. Full video at YouTube: youtu.be/VpO4FfwFcOA

The Wargasm XV

 

 Clips from the Wargasm XV. Happy this project to receive another screening. If curious, YouTube link: https://youtu.be/Aix1vLTja0k

Singing in coldness

 

Cold weather advisory

 

Cold Toronto

 

Apocalyptic Sadness

 « Given that a lot of us might not be alive some time in the near future, here’s something for you to think about… »

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/qwkrD1brVD8

Noteworthy

 « Contributors’ Notes » by Robert Mitchell 

Boy Meets Girl After Battle

 Still from Boy Meets Girl After Battle. What young men do during war, and what happens when, later, they encounter young women during war: 

Full video via YouTube link: youtu.be/r9FPC9A0Mz4 

#poetry #poetryfilm #poetrycommunity #antiwar

The Sadness Series

#experimental #videopoetry #poetryfilm 

An experimental ambient and poetic piece divided into two parts. It opens with images that trigger anxiety, such as images of weaponry. These are contrasted with the nature and peace that will be destroyed by this weaponry. As the videopoem progresses, we realize that we, too, are in denial of how close we all are to apocalypse.

The next part of the video has its genesis in an experience — actually, a series of experiences — I had while biking along the Han River. In these, I recalled my brother — a very gifted poet who died tragically at the age of 49. But during I also caught glimmerings of the emotions he himself felt the final years of his life: his love of the world and its nature and human constructions, and also overwhelming despair at the realization of how quickly it could be destroyed … and how likely, given the craziness of human behavior, that destruction was. As well, during these periods of recollection while biking, I thought of my wife. These emotions are conveyed visually, but also aurally, through chant.

Greening Korea, part one

 How green is Seoul?

The Paradox of Travel

 

At Incheon

 

Tanks in Ukraine

 

Boy Meets Girl…

Clip from Boy Meets Girl After Battle. What young men do during war, and what happens when, later, they encounter young women during war: 

Full video via YouTube link: youtu.be/r9FPC9A0Mz4 

#poetry #poetryfilm #poetrycommunity #antiwar

Leaving Incheon

 

정통 한국 시장/ A traditional Korean market

 

Mountain Geography in Korea

 

Bamboo forest

 

Your World: an experimental moviepoem

 

Happy that/ heureux que my quasi experimental documentary/ moviepoem Your World took a prize at the Athvikvaruni IFF and is a selection at the Sittannavasal IFF, both in India. Perhaps because of the project’s subject matter, this movie seems to be resonating with juries in India.

If curious, YouTube link: https://youtu.be/kaI1ZtdRVPA

Sound versus Noise: full documentary

How does noise pollution affect us?

Sound versus noise

#documentary  #pollution  #noisepollution #canada #southkorea  #industrialnoisepollution #trafficnoise 

YouTube link: http://youtu.be/wqNgWw2fblc

Synopsis: South Korea, despite its small size, is filled with beautiful nature. However, because of its high population density, this is interfered with.

Hadong Market

입구 하동 중앙 시장 사람이 한명 있다

People in place — solitary man at entrance to the Hadong Central Market 

Hadong

South Korea 

Development in Seoul — poster

How much development is too much?

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/Z67MRF_UDSU

Pollution and Green Tech in Germany

 

A documentary on noise pollution

From Korea to Canada and Back Again: Sound vs. Noise youtu.be/wqNgWw2fblc via @YouTube. I’m premiering this documentary on noise pollution at YouTube. If anyone’s interested in the theme, would like your comments. #pollution #noisepollution

PicGall 2

 A gallery of photos taken in Seoul 

Soraepeul/ 서리풀

 

Global Fevering 2

Part two of an authorial moviepoem about climate change.

From 2006: Lovegraphy — a highly illustrated screenplay narrative

 

EXT. A SMALL KOREAN VILLAGE. AN EARLY SUMMER EVENING, MID-WEEK. A WESTERN MAN is walking down the city's main street. To his left is the historic site of Haemi Fortress. He has a peaceful expression on his face, but from his body language we can tell he's lonely. VO: Those were the days before I met you. SFX: A light breeze.EXT. THE INNER COURTYARD OF THE FORTRESS. MOMENTS LATER. The Western man sees a group of CHILDREN. They are giggling and playing with each other. Then one of them spots the man.CHILD: 의국인! [Foreigner] SECOND CHILD: [sing-songy] Hello! MAN: [smiling] Hello. ALL CHILDREN: [gleefully] Hello! Hello! MAN: [speaking slowly] Can you speak English? The CHILDREN suddenly start to giggle uproariously. But their amusement is more a symptom of shyness than desire to carry the game any further. They run away, still laughing. The MAN continues walking. He makes his way through small, sad, empty streets.INT. AN EVANGELICAL CHURCH. TEN MINUTES LATER.The MAN enters. He is somewhat surprised to see a CROWD OF WORSHIPPERS. They are very involved in their prayers. The MAN walks cautiously forward. A MIDDLE-AGED KOREAN MAN spots him. CUT TO: CLOSE UP of MIDDLE-AGED KOREAN MAN. MIDDLE-AGED KOREAN MAN: 하느님! 하느님이 자를 사랑하습니다! [God! God loves you!] EXT. A STREET. MOMENTS LATER. The MAN is walking by himself again. He looks even sadder than before. A DIFFERENT CHILD spots him.DIFFERENT CHILD: [especially enthusiastically] Hello! beat. V.O.: I don't know what it is was about that kid's voice. It got to my heart more than any church or religion could.... I heard that intrusive, pip-squeaky voice and all I could think of was another day when the sun was setting -- a hotter day, and happier, too.

Three Tragedies, Four Seasons

#poetryfilm #videopoetry #videoart #moviepoem

This is an early cut of one of the first feature length moviepoems I made. 

Synopsis: Three Tragedies, Four Seasons is the result of three projects that came together and merged. One was from a series called World Bardo, which were short ambient pieces or videopoems, and some were about the death of my mother-in-law in the summer of 2018.

She passed away in July. It’s a sultry time of year in South Korea, and the sound of insects, the heat, and the humidity suffused everything. 

The second death was that of my brother — in January, 2013. The weather then was the opposite: frigid and spartan. My brother was fascinated by both summer and winter, especially the bleak, spectral beauty of winter. The final story is a work of fiction — also set in winter. Throughout all these pieces, wanted to capture a feeling of seasonality, and also the sense of the nature/life/death cycles that exist in the world. It’s easy to talk about cycles in an abstract way; after the death of someone you care deeply about, these sensations becomes very profound. The world, the environment, feels like it’s entering you. Intense sadness dissolves us.

Awards

Krimson Horyzon International Film Festival

Nov 15, 2021

 

Gangtok International Film Festival

Nov 5, 2021

 

Chaplin International Film Festival

Nov 12, 2021

 

Gully International Film Festival

Oct 31, 2021

 

Tagore International Film Festival

Mar 17, 2021

 

Virgin Spring Cinefest

Jan 7, 2021

 

Selections 

FILMYSEA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Mar 18, 2022

 

Chennai Indie Film Festival

Dec 26, 2021

*

From my collection of ambient and authorial movies. My focus is on videopoetry; however, I work in other genres and art forms as well.

Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/finn.harvor

VideoStorage:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/250816849097045/

Daesongsa Temple, Seoul/ 대성사

 

CanLit and Gender

 Is anglophone Canadian fiction gender balanced? To discuss…

Global Fevering 1

A medium length moviepoem about the planet.

Soul a Lost Doll: writing of Richard Harvor

My brother died ten years ago today. Among the papers Richard left behind were many pages of listed sentences: epigrammatic, sometimes connected in terms of imagery, sometimes existing as isolated thoughts. What linked them was his tremendous originality of metaphor.

 

In memoriam, Richard Harvor August 23, 1963 - January 6, 2013.

Singing in Coldness: a chant haiku

 

Your World: a poetic documentary

Happy that/ heureux que my quasi experimental documentary/ moviepoem Your World selected by the Alibag IFF.

Runtime: 10:23

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/kaI1ZtdRVPA

Synopsis: A hybrid personal documentary/ moviepoem about my wife’s rural roots. The poem is based on an earlier project (entitled Tender as Tea, which appeared in the Baram Series chapbook (link: https://formerpeople.files.wordpress.com/2019/09/baram-series.former-people.shorter.jul_.12.19.may_.31.may_.9.pdf ). The project was shot over a year or so on various cameras. Most of the footage is from the Hadong Jungang Market and the farming area where Suki grew up.

 

The Highly Illustrated Screenplay Narrative 1

 

 

THE HIGHLY ILLUSTRATED SCREENPLAY NARRATIVE 

Fade in.

A bus travels along a bumpy intercity road, the surrounding scenery a jumble of discount food marts, restaurants, car repair shops , and other forms of suburban service provision.

On the bus is a man wearing a mask. With each asphalt-enhanced bump of the vehicle, he shakes a bit. But he’s clearly used to the ride. He seems half-bored, half-obsessed with his smart phone.