Black Belt Test Exposure: Senpai James Finds His Line (2004)

The filmic material was exposed, as the title suggests, at a martial arts expo in which Kirby’s young son James was undergoing his black belt examination. Here, saturated color frames reminiscent of the earlier exposure-works are disrupted by pure black-and-white scan lines and video feedback. It is a summary work, combining techniques from several different phases of Kirby's practice, and this allows Kirby’s improv strategy to achieve a new level of freedom, with certain expected formal gestures disrupted by whole new frames of reference. (Michael Sicinski)