Meditation on the Ouroboros (Organ)

The 'Ouroboros' -- a snake biting its own tail -- is an image that goes back to at least ancient Egypt and Greece, and expresses the unity of all things, material and spiritual, which never disappear but perpetually change form in an eternal cycle of destruction and recreation.

The ouroboros appears frequently in Gnostic and Alchemical literature (see Carl Jung). 19th century chemist August Kekule von Stradonitz struggled for years to solve the puzzle of the structure of benzene, had a dream of the ouroboros, and awoke with the insight of the Benzene Ring.

This video is another in a series of 'studies' I've been doing to figure out how to do chroma-key/green-screen -- being able to put video of myself into imaginary settings -- in this case an alchemist's study. I filmed myself in my office -- nowhere near big enough for the usual rule of 'subject is at least 10 feet from the green screen' and the complicated lighting that is generally necessary. I'm sure it IS necessary for Hollywood grade green screen, but I think I was able to accomplish green screen that at least meets YouTube viewer standards in spite of my constraints.

Ultimately I want to use green screen with the glass armonica (which is especially hard, because glass is transparent).

The music is an improvisation.

For an intro to Green Screen/ChromaKey, see    • Introduction to green screen - What i...