Installation Museum Essl, Vienna

Traverse


In this video installation perception and recognition are essential in finding a link between the act of looking, the sensation of experiencing and the time and space we define as memory. Through the enigmatic use of visual and verbal flashbacks and mirrors, and using the highway as symbolic location of the in-between, Kleinjan transforms his viewers into passengers and witnesses simultaneously. Even though we come to this video equipped with our own pair of eyes, we soon find that we are fixed upon the perplexed gaze of the protagonist as he drives on an empty highway. This character is experiencing what can only be explained as a kind of mirage, and there is a peculiar suspense in his resulting actions to find out what it is. The compelling mystery of this video work can be found in its exploration of time as a phenomenon and in the strange mental space created through its narrative. The complex story shifts between a childhoods anecdote offered in the beginning of the video and the visual narrative that follows, as told through the road images and the driver’s complex and mysterious vision.
Video, 07:37 min, 2002




meer van Arthur Kleinjan