Mikel Rouse
Directing
Biography
Mikel Rouse is an American composer, filmmaker and artist associated with the Downtown NYC movement Totalism. He is perhaps best known for his "talk show opera" Dennis Cleveland.
Born: January 26, 1957
Place of Birth: St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Known For
Funding
Vivian, Roe, JJ, Ines and a mysterious French man through a 20 year musical memory of New York City. As people and places in their lives drift away, visual impressions meld with sound and narrative stories to reveal a complex yet moving tableau. As the characters recall their own personal histories, conflicting images reveal their past, present and future.
The Perth Production of a Talk Show Opera
This is a documentary produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and directed by Kevin Firkins. This documentary coincided with the production of the talk show opera Dennis Cleveland at the Octagon Theatre as part of the 2001 Perth International Arts Festival.
Gravity Radio
A live performance film of Mikel Rouse's song cycle Gravity Radio at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2010.
Music For Minorities
This is the small feature film that formed the integrated backdrop for the live performance/music piece. As abstract images and sound combine with the various stories and insights of the subjects interviewed, an illustration of memory is created. Seemingly unrelated video images merge with the images of the storytellers to create a common thread: the views of the Silent Minority.
Dennis Cleveland
A 2002 live performance of Mikel Rouse's Dennis Cleveland, a multimedia opera set entirely on a television talk show in the late 20th century.
The End of Cinematics
Drawing on the richness of the good old days of cinema with live music and a thoroughly modern, “hyper-real” film experience with multiple screens and surround sound, The End of Cinematics examines the 21st-century phenomenon of viewing media content in fragmented form. From channel surfing to MTV to formulaic Hollywood films and sitcoms, we’re accustomed to—and adept at—filling in the details of storylines, of grasping an idea and determining its conclusion.
Dennis Cleveland Luminato Festival 2008
The Canadian premiere of Mikel Rouse's multimedia opera Dennis Cleveland at the 2008 Luminato Festival.
Mikel Rouse at National Sawdust
Retrospective concert with special guest Jeff McErlain at National Sawdust on April 29, 2017.
Metronome: Community Spread
A short film music album hybrid for the Metronome project by Mikel Rouse.
Failing Kansas New Zealand Festival 2002
The 2002 performances of Failing Kansas at the New Zealand Festival created a scandal and ultimately a sensation. Credited with knocking Osama bin Laden off of the front page of the National newspaper and dominating TV and radio for days, the piece was ultimately a sold out triumph heralded as “A New Art Form." Now, almost twenty years later, Rouse has assembled the original footage and live recordings into a complete concert film.
Filmography
as Douglas Engelbart
as Douglas Engelbart
as Dennis Cleveland
as Himself
as Self - Member of Metronome
as Hick / Self / Dennis Cleveland
as Dennis Cleveland
as JJ