A quick transmission from Portland. Had a fantastic couple of days with Leigh-Ann
Pahapill and Lisa Zaher, as usual.
Extending our ongoing conversation/continual questioning of
how/when/where meaning is located within experience and representation. They had their first chance to see the
triple-projection of Goldfields installed in a gallery, as opposed to on the
screen of a computer. Lots of good talk
about the nature of experiencing the simultaneous streams within one space, but
without the body having to be fixed in any one position. And subsequent chatting about the role of
focus in relation to both the camera eye as well as the spectator’s focal
shifts.
Discussing the relationship between subject matter (the
particularities of the space – the Goldfields region) and the broader subjects
of the work led to more thinking on framing and positioning (both literally in
terms of camera placement as well as culturally, conceptually, methodologically
– negotiating within particular histories of photographic practice). This I think is going to be helpful as I
continue with my recent work (see my earlier post, Frame Follows Focus) which
seems to be moving toward working in these kinds of long strips of space,
butting “isolated frames” up next to one another and in some instances
overlapping and pressing in a manner that is a bit disconcerting (both
optically and psychologically).
Yeah, lots, lots, lots to think about again. I’ll close with a portion of a Hollis
Frampton quote that seems to almost serve as a metaphor for the manner in which
the conversations between Leigh-Ann, Lisa and myself seem to unfold – looking around
in all directions and grabbing thoughts from one another, adding them to the
ever looping strip of film, occasionally plucking out the perfect snippet.
“A polymorphous
camera has always turned, and will turn forever, its lens focused upon all
the appearances of the world. Before the invention of still photography, the
frames of the infinite cinema were blank, black leader; then a few images began
to appear upon the endless ribbon of the film.
A still photograph is simply an isolated frame taken out of the infinite cinema.”
