Urbandale 2001

Directed by Cory Arcangel

Filmed at Urbandale Plaza in the eastern suburbs of Buffalo N.Y., "Urbandale" is a study of America's suburban sprawl stripped to its barest essentials and void of unnecessary contemporary cultural influence. The film, rendered in text, focuses on the repetitive motion of foodstuffs being cooked in the lobby of a discount department store. Says Arcangel, "I composed Urbandale by creating my own software and using ASCII (text) as the only means of display [...] I have 'frozen' a certain time and aesthetic in computer culture [...] The soundtrack for Urbandale was also composed by myself and recorded with 12 electric guitars".