Le perpétuel mouvement dans le Voyage
An installation combining Super 8 film and video material exploring travel and movement.
Both installations run in continuous loops.
The silent video projection follows a plastic bag carried by the wind.
The Super 8 projectors present two other forms of movement: animals in flight and atoms in motion.
« L’air du voyage en plastique »
(The Plastic Breath of Travel)
A video rear projection with no sound
For me, travel is synonymous with movement. Without movement, travel is impossible — except perhaps in the digital realm.
L’air du voyage en plastique is a silent video rear projection. Humans use a variety of means of transport, while animals rely on their natural abilities. Objects, in contrast, are usually moved by external forces such as people, water, or wind. Whereas water carries things along a current, wind creates unpredictable and improvised trajectories.
While filming a plastic bag, I encountered precisely such a journey and followed it with the camera, never knowing when its silent dance would come to an end.
« Bewegungsprinzip »
(Principle of motion)
Super 8 and Normal 8 mm film projection
Two Super 8 projections run as continuous loops at 6 frames per second. Loop 1 presents abstract objects in pure motion, while Loop 2 shows animals in flight — movement as compulsion and survival.
More
« L’air du voyage en plastique »
(The Plastic Breath of Travel)
Apart from their own two feet, humans have a wide range of means of transport at their disposal. Travelling on foot, on horseback, by bicycle, car, train, boat, or airplane all imply movement.
Animals, on the other hand, rely solely on the abilities nature has given them: legs, whether two or four, wings, or fins.
Objects generally move according to their form and through external forces or human activity. These include motor vehicles, sailing vessels, or objects propelled in different ways — such as a pram pushed by hand while walking, or a football set in motion by a kick.
It goes without saying that a football does not embark on a journey simply because it has been kicked — at least not in the usual sense.
Elements such as water and wind can also propel objects of different sizes and weights, according to their own natural forces. Air and water currents move these objects in ways that are often unpredictable and seemingly random.
The movement of air, in particular, creates unforeseeable shifts in direction for lightweight objects. What emerges is a form of dance whose choreography has never been rehearsed by its principal choreographer — the wind itself. The movement remains spontaneous and improvised; one never fully knows when it begins, nor where, when, or how the journey will come to an end.
As I filmed the plastic bag, I stood there with my camera in hand, without intending to capture a spontaneously choreographed performance directed by “Mrs Air.” It was only when I noticed the movement of the bag against the facades of the buildings that I became aware of the journey it was undertaking.
I immediately followed it with my camera, attempting to frame the scene as precisely as possible. Since I could not know when this improvised choreography without music would come to an end, I kept the “leading performer” in focus until the very last moment, hoping the movement would reveal a memorable finale.
But where does the journey of a plastic bag truly end?
« Bewegungsprinzip »
(Principle of motion)
The endless loop of Super 8mm film forms a circle, a rotation, a state of perpetual motion.
The gaze is held within an uninterrupted sequence of images.
The principle of the loop is repetition — at once unsettling and beautiful.
We are unsettled by its unchanging rhythm, while simultaneously drawn to and fascinated by the ever-emerging details that reveal themselves through repeated viewing of the sequence.
The films are presented in a continuous loop at 6 frames per second.
Loop 1: Neutralisation
The images depict abstract objects moving at an unusual speed. These are movements of objects resulting in, or driven by, a change of position.
Loop 2: Animals on the Run
Flight is forced movement — an escape from a life-threatening situation caused by violence, whether human-induced or natural.