The Willard Suitcases

http://www.suitcaseexhibit.org/indexhasflash.html

From the project description:
When Willard Psychiatric Center in New York's Finger Lakes closed in 1995, workers discovered hundreds of suitcases in the attic of an abandoned building. Many of them appeared untouched since their owners packed them decades earlier before entering the institution.

The suitcases and their contents bear witness to the rich, complex lives their owners lived prior to being committed to Willard. They speak about aspirations, accomplishments, community connections, but also about loss and isolation.

Filmaker in Residence

http://www.doclab.org/2009/filmmaker-in-residence/?visit

(From the website)

     This is the presentation of the pilot project for the National Film Board of Canada’s (NFB) new Filmmaker in Residence program. It is a continuation of what the NFB started in the 1960s and 1970s with Challenge the Change, and is devoted to community-based media production explicitly aimed at social change.
     For this first project, documentary filmmaker Katerina Cizek took up “residence” at the St. Michael Hospital in Toronto. The site explains that staff and patients at the hospital were not merely the subject of her work, but also partners in it.
     Visitors can crisscross through her story at their own tempo, viewing texts, photographs, sound collages, and video images. Cizek follows three organizations that are connected with the hospital at various levels in the community. She joins Brendon, a police officer, and Ellen, a psychiatric nurse, as they work together on the Mobile Crisis Intervention Team. She also accompanies doctors from Dignitas International to Malawi, where the hospital makes its spearheading contribution to the struggle against HIV/AIDS.
    In addition, Cizek works with young women who have experienced homelessness on a photo blog project run by the Young Parents, No Fixed Address network.

Audio/Visual re-mixing (NSFW for language within the first few minutes, amongst other things - read comment)

DJ Cheeba-The Reels of Solid Steel from Solid Steel on Vimeo.

Hey folks!  In the last few years, there has been the creation of marketed technology which allows for audio/visual analog mixing in the same way that vinyls have been spun, scratched, jumped, looped for the last few decades.  This is an example of what can be done with that technology.  What's really neat about this video in particular is that the DJ inlays a video of the work he's doing at a few particular moments (for example 21:30).  (Also of note, 47:28, just because the audio/visual syncing is dead on).

Even if the musical stylings don't tickle your fancy (hip-hop, electronic, drum and bass), it's worth taking a quick peek!

Notes on 'the visual'

We open our eyes to the world, and are immersed in a visual environment. To comment on 'the visual' is to direct our gaze, to look THERE, to notice, to pay attention. My ideas about 'the visual' are strongly influenced by my experiences with visual arts, and ideas about artistic vision. The concept of 'the visual', for me, is embedded in the idea of looking with intent: the intent to question, to understand, to interpret; the intent to see anew, or see differently; the intent to extend my own thinking, to imagine, to create; the intent to open up to experience, to feel, to be moved. While I understand the effective use of 'the visual' in research (the image as a representation, a resemblance, a pointer, a symbol, a window), I am as interested, if not more interested, in the visual's affective power. A picture is worth a thousand words not because it would take a thousand words to describe the image represented, but because the picture opens up the possibility of a limitless conversation.