Re:Agrippa (Experimental Video Based on Footage of Dec. 9, 1992, From One of the Sites of the ‘Transmission’ of Agrippa) (1993)

Screenshot of video

Item #D16. Experimental video Re:Agrippa by “Rosehammer & Templar” (probably specifically Rosehammer) (produced 1993), based originally on bootleg video from a Dec. 9, 1992, public screening of the “Agrippa” poem.

Re:Agrippa is an experimental video composition that samples and remixes (with added material) footage from a bootleg video recorded at the public unveiling of Agrippa at the Americas Society in New York City (one of the sites of the “Transmission”). The footage that Re:Agrippa includes from the original bootleg video (now available in full as Item #D48 on this site) shows the text of William Gibson’s poem in Agrippa scrolling up the screen, accompanied by a soundtrack of Penn Jillette reading from the poem; shots of publisher Kevin Begos, Jr., introducing the work; and added experimental-video-like montage, sound, and titling effects added by Re:Agrippa’s pseudonymous makers. (A transcription of the full bootleg video underlies the so-called “hacking” of the poem and its release to the Internet on Dec. 10, 1992. See “-Templar- Rosehammer & Pseudophred’s” introduction to the text of the poem that appeared on that date on the MindVox BBS; see also Matthew G. Kirschenbaum’s discussion and follow-up discussion of various explanations of “the hack.”)

For Windows Users (WMV9, streaming)
» Excerpt: Gibson’s poem scrolling up screen (.wmv, 20 secs.)
» Full video (.wmv, 5 min., 32Mb)
For Macintosh Users (Quicktime 7, streaming)
» Excerpt: Gibson’s poem scrolling up screen (.mov, 20 secs.)
» Full video (.mov, 5 min., 27Mb)

Note: The Windows Quicktime plug-in for IE and Firefox is flawed and may crash when streaming Quicktime 7 (H.264) content. Windows users are encouraged to view the WMV files above or download the Quicktime files prior to viewing (rather than streaming).