Artist Series: Adam Cahoon

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Artist Series: Adam Cahoon 〰️

Are you ready for a wild ride? Adam Cahoon’s colorful psychedelic wasteland trip is premiering this Saturday for the first time. Made right before the pandemic hit —this is not one you’re going to want to miss.

**We caught up with Cahoon to discuss his 25-minute experimental narrative short, Ophidian. Read below and we’ll see you in the sludge.**

THE INTERVIEW

How would you describe yourself to someone who doesn’t know you?

My name is Adam and I’m an addict. Addicted to making bad life decisions in order to pursue being an artist and musician as opposed to the pursuit of financial stability or a career. But this allows me to make the art I want, when I want to make it.

Do you think certain life experiences have affected your artistry?

“So filmmaking always seemed impossible to me, the same with electronic music. Even though I was extremely passionate and obsessed, I thought I’d never be able to afford a formal education or the means to even be able to access the tools needed to do either one. I took a super 8 class on a whim and discovered that like anything else if you’re persistent you can make it happen.”

I grew up in a very small town, so being creative or different was very frowned upon by the community. Everyday was kind of a battle to be myself, sometimes literally as my walks to school in the morning consisted of getting bottles thrown at me by passing cars for example and being told to leave the town by adults. I think it makes you learn to work harder and be persistent under pressure.

We live in an age where due to unhinged capitalism, to be an artist you generally have to have a trust fund or generational wealth to even have the time let alone resources to create. Since I don’t have that, my teenage years were a good training ground for coping with negative resistance and learning how to appreciate and utilize any free time towards my goals.

How has film impacted your life? How has being a musician impacted your life? What are the similarities and differences between these mediums for you?

Growing up I didn’t have much exposure to culture beyond my town which consisted of white wealthy conservatives and a few patches of suburbs and trailer parks. My parents were both very busy teachers and I was a latchkey kid with unlimited access to cable television. That was my window into not only the world at large but also into other dimensions. Horror, sketch comedy like “Kids in the Hall” and “Monty Python” and then MTV and “Liquid Television.” That developed into staying up all night and watching IFC and Sundance, which introduced me to things like “Gummo,” “I Shot Andy Warhol,” Basquiat, Sid and Nancy, and Greg Araki. That really warped my mind and sparked my imagination! But this was all when I was very young, probably way too young so I couldn’t really experience much beyond taking acid and wandering around the local trailer parks to look at yard junk.

Music on the other hand was the means to meet others and travel outside of that bubble. I graduated early at 17, moved to the city and tried desperately to find any signs of life. I had an older friend of a friend move in and he introduced me to DIY culture, art, and music, and after begging to make music with them, they eventually caved and let me in. That basically led to several other bands and tours around the world for the last decade or so.

How does being involved in the local punk scene affect your life? How has access to the global punk scene (touring Europe, Mexico) impacted your life?

I think travel in general is necessary and key to understanding the world around you. Every time I travel I learn something new about not only other cultures, but myself and all that affects the art that you make and the way you choose to live your life. So it [the global punk scene] is probably the most positive thing I could be a part of. The local [punk] scene on the other hand is a place that tends to breed strange hierarchies and cliques, I love it even at its worst though. At its best, it is the avenue for outside influences to plant new ideas into what can sometimes be a stagnant petri dish, from that comes some incredible artists that I’m proud to call my friends! They in turn go on to reciprocate and expose other brains to new ideas. That’s what it’s all about I suppose.

What is your connection to Motion Media Arts Center?

So filmmaking always seemed impossible to me, the same with electronic music. Even though I was extremely passionate and obsessed, I thought I’d never be able to afford a formal education or the means to even be able to access the tools needed to do either one. I took a super 8 class on a whim and discovered that like anything else if you’re persistent you can make it happen. So the Austin School of Film really showed me that it was possible and swung the doors wide open.

How does creating in Austin affect your artistry, as opposed to other places you’ve lived or worked? Has art or film been more accessible to you here? Less?

Austin has a lot of problems, Texas fucking hates art and culture and even though Austin pretends to be better it’s still a challenging place to exist unless you’re a tech billionaire. That said, there are a lot of really great theaters and the Austin School of Film is here so in that way it has a lot more going on than most places.

**If you are interested in attending Ophidian, you can RSVP for free here**.

18+ only because things will be gettin’ weird.

Written by Emma Johnson (they/them), Social Media intern

Emma Johnson is a 20-something year old white, queer, nonbinary filmmaker who is interested in independent film engagement and marketing. Their films and creative work center queerness and question how systems of racial capitalism affect interpersonal relationships. They have a background in Sociology and are interested in creating art that questions dominant power structures such as whiteness and heteropatriarchy. Their creative content includes visual poetry, narrative, and documentary film styles as well as poetry and film photo collage. Outside of film and writing, they enjoy bike rides, reading memoirs, and sharing food with loved ones.

Behind the Scenes Photos of Ophidian by Faiza Kracheni

Surrealist Filmmaker Adam Cahoon On Punk, Experimental Film, and the Underground