Bridget Walker.

Le Spectre Silencieux du Mouvement

Date: 2012
Length: 06:27 min.
Format: 4:3
Specifications: Colour, Sound, Single Channel
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Rauchfeld, Paris

Können Animation und Realität nicht nur als Idee im Film, sondern auch im realen Alltag miteinander verschmelzen? „The Silent Spectre of Motion“ spielt mit ebenjenem Gedanken, indem die Künstlerin, als Gespenst verkleidet, ein Vexierspiel mit den verschiedenen Medien treibt. Dabei werden die Bildgattungen Zeichnung, Comic, Animation und Dokumentation förmlich durcheinander gespült. Die dreiteilige Videoarbeit beginnt mit der Diskussion und der Lösung eines Bilderrätsels zweier Wissenschaftler, begleitet von abstrakten, an aggressive Videospiele erinnernde Abfolgen geometrischer Muster. Im zweiten Teil des Videos erfolgt die Verwandlung der Künstlerin in ein Gespenst. Walker schneidet aus ihrem weißen Umhang ein Stoffstück heraus, welches sie zu einer Manuskriptrolle formt. Daraus entsteht eine Vielzahl von Manuskripten, die immer wieder neu ausgebreitet werden. So offenbaren sich u.a. Pläne kriegerischer Geräte, die durch Animationstechniken lebendig werden. Den Abschluss bildet ein dokumentarischer Teil, der das Experiment der real gewordenen Fiktion festhält. Personen aus dem näheren Umfeld berichten im Interviewstil über die Transformation der Künstlerin zum Gespenst und lassen so die verschiedenen Welten von Wirklichkeit und Fiktion ineinander gleiten. Die Fragen nach der Möglichkeit und Unmöglichkeit des Gesehenen bleiben offen.

Alexander Pütz

Interview:

► 1. Your work has been chosen among over 2000 festival entries to participate in VIDEONALE.14. In which context do you prefer to present your work, festival/cinema context or exhibition? And what kind of difference does the respective mode of presentation mean for you / your work?

My video work is generally suitable for each of these three formats, but over time I have come to prefer that these works be installed or presented as single-channel works in exhibitions and festivals.  Working within a space allows a response to space itself.  It also provides an individual with a freedom of movement that lends itself to the reception of works that employ atypical time-based structures.

► 2. Art can be seen as a mirror that registers and reflects life or as a tool that transforms it. Is there a particular theme, concept or problem your art addresses the most?

Recently my work has been addressing ways in which fictional narratives alter or inform real world belief systems; the origins that give rise to these narratives, the autonomous-agency narratives may cultivate, the transformation an individual, group or culture may undergo when incorporating or reincorporating such a narrative back into their belief system and the consequences of doing so. This is something I’m currently exploring further, in the creation of a fictional research organization.  One activity of the organization combines art with scenario planning, mixtures and variations of existing psychology techniques and futures studies, to offer hypothetical scenario’s in response to individual concerns of existential risk.  This draws upon mankind’s dream of prophecy and misconceptions about the relationship between scientific laws and scientific prediction. In employing a policy of radical inclusion under which any conceivable risk is considered a possibility, an individual is offered a form of relief by being able to share their concerns and engage in a dialogue with others.

► 3. In which way is the video medium an excellent possibility to express your intended subjects, especially in contrast to other media you use? Or do you work exclusively with video?

I write, make drawings and objects that often end up in my videos.  My videos combine early animation techniques with digital technology, video and sound.  I find the video medium, particularly conventions of video pervasive in popular culture an interesting possibility in that, in acknowledging these conventions, one can potentially speak to an audience in a language that is widely understood, and at the same time explore its role as a dissemination tool and the cultural conditions that have given rise to that language.

► 4. If you have the chance to ask the visitors of the VIDEONALE.14 exhibition questions about your own work, what would be your question?

Would you like to participate in my next project ?