Using his own savings APN201 wants to show that you can make art without grants. As long as you have brain that is producing ideas you can do anything. This page is a collection of pictures, videos and text. Describing the art work and the process around it.
Some months ago YouTube removed my film Sleep from my other YouTube channel because of nudity. I was very upset for 2 reasons: 1. The video was picked up by the algorithm and was making thousands of views (and dozens of subscribers) every hour. When they deleted the video, all activity on the channel stopped. Almost like if I was shadow banned. 2. YouTube says nudity in context of art is allowed, so they think my video is not art.
I challenged the decision and even appealed, but no help. They said it’s deleted and I cannot ecen appeal anymore.
Meanwhile I learned that it was a subject of university master’s thesis in the University of south Florida. If I knew that earlier.. because it kinda proves it must be art. On other hand it has a page in Wikipedia and premiered in Rotterdam Film Festival and that did not convince them.
I noticed that X (Twitter) user TeamYoutube was very helpful in helping people to fix their channels, so I decided to try one more time.
@TeamYouTube I'm sad that my movie was removed. Not so, because the channel was skyrocketing, and now it died, but because it means it was deemed not being art, although it was even a subject of a master's thesis in the University of South Florida. (channel @apn201movies)
These guys rock! To my amazement they answered and fixed it. Super!
update: after a thorough review from our policy team, your video has been reinstated but we have age-restricted the content per our Nudity & Sexual Content Policy: https://t.co/MzhzFO2f5u appreciate your understanding of our need to make this tough call
Exactly 10 years after the making of my 8-hour long Warhol remake, Sleep, it gained unexpected traction. For reasons unknown to me, YouTube algorithm decided to suggest this movie (from my dormant secondary channel) to hundreds of thousands of viewers.
Sudden surge in views.
Before long this abandoned channel was alive again. It was getting hundreds of followers and comments and thousands of views every day. From the comments it seemed like especially the members of gay subculture, “bears” were interested in the channel. Sleep was the champion, but my other films started also getting views – especially those where I’m naked or almost naked.
This all seems to connect with trending of sleepstreams – people live streaming their sleeping. Sleep was not really a stream, but somehow it was fitting this trend. Of course I decided to ride the wave. I’m not interested in streaming, but I figured, that somehow I need to feed the YouTube algorithm and deliver content to my new fans.
Man sleeping on an antique rug
I took my camera from the closet and started shooting myself sleeping again. I did not want to make live streams. Instead I wanted to improve the concept of original Sleep – to have interesting images of a sleeping man. I used my vintage Soviet lens, sat down in my Design armchair and let the camera roll. When I woke up, I moved the camera and did it again, and again and again, until I had about an hour of material. Then I quickly edited it, applied some sounds, grain and heavy color grading and uploaded it to YouTube. The “premiere” event in YouTube gained some live fans chatting with me. Soon the video had over 5000 views. We needed more and better sleep.
I made another one when I sleep on a small sofa. I added more scenes and faster cut. It become 1Ā½ hours long. I set it premiere in a couple of days time (Saturday 21. January) so that possible fans can make the time to watch it.
Next night I set my camera up again. This time I decided to sleep on an old Persian rug. This time I graded it differently. I did not desaturate the colors that much. Just enough to catch the night atmosphere and vintage feeling. I can not wait longer, so I set it to premiere on Sunday a day after the sofa movie.
Let’s see what happens with the premieres and how long I have the interest in filming myself sleeping. Maybe when I have 8 hours of footage, I can edit Sleep 2023 – a sequel, to celebrate the 10th anniversary.
My main focus now is the World Premiere of Natura in IFFR Rotterdam next week. Therefore I decided to harness the success of my sleep to promote Natura. It has worked quite well. The Natura trailer in IFFR YouTube channel has already 1000 new views now. You should watch it and comment it NOW! (Or even better come to the world premiere in Rotterdam 29th January 2023)
APN201 is a lifeform. It's an art project and a person. A normal IT-guy who wants to become artist. A guy who takes Nike slogan "Just Do It" seriously.
