“The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life’s most intense fulfillment. The heavier the burden, the closer our lives come to earth, the more real and truthful they become.”
– Milan Kundera in The Unbearable Lightness of Being. 1984
Inspired by this passage from The Unbearable Lightness of Being, this motion activated video installation invites viewers to be present.
When no motion is detected a TV displays the view of a camcorder pointing into the room. As the viewer approaches a proximity sensor slowly changes the video feed from the camcorder to a VHS tape playing a video. The video is a non-linear montage of found footage, collected and sequenced in response to the book. The video speaks to the human experience in the world, the friction and the smoothness. The glitches and ensuing temporal chaos reveal the "ghost in the machine." These artifacts disrupt the seamless high-definition illusion of the present, revealing the fragile, decaying signal underneath.
The collected images of human experience in the video can only be witnessed when the viewer is standing very close to the screen. The video is not intended to be watched chronologically nor in its entirety. Like life, moments can only be witnessed when being present.