The video uses a split screen, so two films are always showing simultaneously, leading to strange and unexpected contrasts and connections. The dreamy music — which was also collaged together from vintage source material — lends a whimsical, wistful effect to the piece.

“We wanted to show the connection between the two kinds of films by presenting them together at the same time, and to present them together can sometimes bring about a third meaning,” said Vicki Bennett, the artist known as People Like Us, in an e-mail exchange with Wired.

The video is part of a larger series of audiovisual collages by People Like Us and Ergo Phizmiz called The Keystone Cut Ups. “It is a pun on ‘The Keystone Cops’, plus ‘Keystone’ is an editing term, as is ‘cut ups,'” explained Bennett.

Bennett said the project, which was originally performed live in 2010, was designed to “challenge perceptions of high and low art, by questioning limitations and perceptions of taste.”

“The 1920s avant-garde established many of the genres and forms that shaped avant-garde film, and use of collage and montage was also first seen in this era,” Bennett said. “Hollywood silent comedies have been revered within the high arts, and although many avant-gardists have seen their position as opposing high art, we believe that the further pigeonholing of ‘high’ versus ‘low’ is a prohibitive barrier in itself. In response to this, we would like to demonstrate how one can bridge the gaps between audience and art form.”

The Keystone Cut Ups will be released on DVD in the coming months by Illegal Art.