video
'The Park' is based upon a single shot video registration depicting a wide range of free time activities within the scenery of Zongshan Park, Xiamen, China.
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Video, 2014 - 2015 10 min.
'The Park' is based upon a single shot video registration depicting a wide range of free time activities within the scenery of Zongshan Park, Xiamen, China, 2014. This film explores the many happenings during a particular time span. The video focuses on the relationship between experience and observation and how detail relates to the whole and what is necessary in order to comprehend a certain situation within a certain frame and time span.
Through isolation and reframing we gain insight into the individual scenes that take place within a larger spatial whole. The sound acts as a sort of anchor in time: one can recognize a certain moment in time by, for example, the call of a soy seller. Memory plays a significant role when it comes to understanding. That way we get an overall picture of the moment with all events, but it remains difficult to experience the whole from the concatenation of events. On the other hand, you can take fairly little detail from the whole without zooming in on the various events and detaching them from the whole.
This particular edit was part of a total installation in solo exhibition ’40 Titles’ (II) in 2015 (Cacaofabriek, NL).
This video is closely related to my photographic projects that are a way to fathom the scenery through a sequence of moments, concentrating on every aspect, mapping it bit by bit.
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Being invited for an artist residency at the Chinese European Art Center in Xiamen, I immersed myself in the way the country and it’s history was portrayed by western tourists, before I visited China. I came across old private movies and (outdated) documentaries. Being aware of the fact that the outside vision is restricted, this was the starting point for my investigation regarding the complex interplay of various factors that play a part when it comes to creating an understanding about something we’re not familiar with. Even during the residency, when I was walking the streets or tried to communicate, it was hard to comprehend what I encountered. Comprehension seemed to reach me through indirect communication.
Photo: Total installation '40 Titles II', Cacaofabriek, NL, 2015