MEDIA ART IN FOCUS – PART II

The second part of the series focuses on aspects of temporality. In his extremely slow motion study LONG GOODBYE (2007), which shows a woman carrying a tray onto the terrace, setting it down, looking at the camera and beginning to wave, David Claerbout transforms a seemingly banal situation into complex action that preserves the transitory nature of the moment. Paul Pfeiffer's EMPIRE (2004) also puts the viewer's perceptions to the test. In real time - without time-lapses or editing - he films a wasp building a honeycomb hive. During their museum visit, the spectators will only ever see a fraction of the 90-day –long growth process. In our speed-driven society, in which visual information passes us by in fractions of a second, Claerbout and Pfeiffer offer concise counter-narratives, each of which invites us to meditate on the moment.