Chance Chants (1979)

An animated film created through chance operations. Part 1 Narration (to follow along, read from the bottom up as this is the last stanza and builds itself like "The House That Jack Built"). The "poem" was created by picking words out of a hat. The narration was built through recorded phonemes on recording tape, and then spliced together to form words. This is the output That contains the wedge That presses the switch that moves on the space That advances the eye all cute and sturdy That inspects the ratchet all grand and standard That depends on the disc all different That seals the spool with the classic process That employs the washer That embraces the brake That squeezes the pump That ejects the clerk who counts in the house that Jack built. Narration Part 2 Alison Knowles' "House of Dust" This was a very early computer-created poem by Knowles and computer programmer James Tenney. Illustrated/Animated. Narration Part 3 This short sentence: "Today fruit flew in a city of combs while cats passed beans and children told slow songs in houses raw with broken nose." ...was played to a random person and then they were asked to repeat/record what they think they just heard. That recording was played to another person. They repeat/record what they think they heard. Etc. Like an old-fashion children's telephone game. The visual begins with a scene depicting the original sentence. That was traced. The tracing was traced. The tracing of the tracing was traced etc.