What if we are just not accepting our structure of time? What if we explore the possibilities of video techniques instead, in search of new structures regarding time and space? Can we get closer to our imagination, to our dreams by that? – Or why not just repeat the moments we like, make them loop and leave others out?

In the video work The Door, Hasan Daraghmeh is creating an architectural structure through the repetition of a single movement. The act of opening a door and entering a small room is repeated to the limits, to the edges of our screens. And although it’s obvious that the widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9 or the edges of our screens will define the size of the architecture in the end, we do not stop watching the video. So, it’s less about the specific space that is created. We don’t expect an arising narration to surprise us. It’s more about the rhythm we are falling into, the sound that is structuring the process of creating and dismantling a space. We become aware of the meditative effect repetition can have. Alexander Isaenko also uses the method of repetition in his video work Existo minima, but differently. Existo minima shows a scenic view of a calm beach where people are walking. Very soon we realize that the artist lets the walkers disappear once in a while. Just for a few seconds, people vanish into thin air, like there would exist black holes on this beach. In the beginning it’s astonishing to see that but what’s really interesting then is that by repeating the surreal moment of letting people appear and disappear naturally we stop wondering about. The phenomenon becomes normal. The boundaries between the real and imaginary world seem to be fluid. In Catherine Radosa´s video Motherland we can even see two different spaces at the same time. We know that the video shows a very intimate space, a close-up of the belly of a pregnant woman. But the use of certain camera perspectives, lights and the specific framing make it possible to see another space in another dimension at the same time, an outer space actually, a planet. It’s the very specific use of video techniques meeting our desire to imagine new spaces that let them – if only briefly – appear.

Texto: Julia Tazreiter