Film Installation
Two 16mm projectors w/loopers
Duration 7:48 and 5:38
Size variable
The Installation Two Trees consists of two 16 mm projections, each portraying a tree. One shows a Sequoia Pine from the botanical garden in Hang Zhou, brought as a gift and planted by Richard Nixon during his trip to meet with Mao in 1972. The other shows the Bodhi Tree standing at the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya, India, which is supposed to occupy the same spot as the tree Buddha attained enlightenment under, and be a direct descendant of the original specimen.
In 2006 I traveled to China to make a film about the newly opened train line connecting China and Tibet. Working with this project I knew that I could not be looking for a conclusion. I wanted to work processual, let things appear in a normal almost random order, act on the situations, and then reflect. I hoped a sort of confusion would guide me to a more open and contradictory place. Instead of falling into stereotypical and romantic dualities like materialism/spirituality, good/bad, culture/nature, I wanted to find a third place for representation between these oppositions; a place where a kind of meta-representation could vibrate between its falling into failure and potentiality.
Throughout the trip I shot around 30 hours of video. During the work with categorising and archiving the material for editing, I found a special interest in the footage of the trees mentioned above. Standing at the periphery of my travels, outside the reach of the train, the images of these trees seemed able to project a silent tension. Their perpetual swaying creates an almost timeless meditative feeling contrasting the charged atmosphere of the cultural value of the trees.
After I started working with the footage of the trees I soon found out that the material was too limited to elaborate the project around it. I decided to re-film the two trees in 16 mm, and show it as an installation with film projectors to create a more sculptural approach. The constant humming of the machine and the looped film’s circular reappearing before the lens adds to the meditative layer of the piece. At the same time it demystifies the mode of representation and contrasts the “nature” in the project. On a filmic level I wanted to personalise the trees, to get close to their nature. Their cultural value should only be suggested by a short glimpse of the Mahabodhi temple and a plaque at the foot of the Sequoia Pine in one of the many clips. I wanted to let the whole project be epitomised in the contra positioning of the two portraits.
The Installation Two Trees consists of two 16 mm projections, each portraying a tree. One shows a Sequoia Pine from the botanical garden in Hang Zhou, brought as a gift and planted by Richard Nixon during his trip to meet with Mao in 1972. The other shows the Bodhi Tree standing at the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya, India, which is supposed to occupy the same spot as the tree Buddha attained enlightenment under, and be a direct descendant of the original specimen.
In 2006 I traveled to China to make a film about the newly opened train line connecting China and Tibet. Working with this project I knew that I could not be looking for a conclusion. I wanted to work processual, let things appear in a normal almost random order, act on the situations, and then reflect. I hoped a sort of confusion would guide me to a more open and contradictory place. Instead of falling into stereotypical and romantic dualities like materialism/spirituality, good/bad, culture/nature, I wanted to find a third place for representation between these oppositions; a place where a kind of meta-representation could vibrate between its falling into failure and potentiality.
Throughout the trip I shot around 30 hours of video. During the work with categorising and archiving the material for editing, I found a special interest in the footage of the trees mentioned above. Standing at the periphery of my travels, outside the reach of the train, the images of these trees seemed able to project a silent tension. Their perpetual swaying creates an almost timeless meditative feeling contrasting the charged atmosphere of the cultural value of the trees.
After I started working with the footage of the trees I soon found out that the material was too limited to elaborate the project around it. I decided to re-film the two trees in 16 mm, and show it as an installation with film projectors to create a more sculptural approach. The constant humming of the machine and the looped film’s circular reappearing before the lens adds to the meditative layer of the piece. At the same time it demystifies the mode of representation and contrasts the “nature” in the project. On a filmic level I wanted to personalise the trees, to get close to their nature. Their cultural value should only be suggested by a short glimpse of the Mahabodhi temple and a plaque at the foot of the Sequoia Pine in one of the many clips. I wanted to let the whole project be epitomised in the contra positioning of the two portraits.