973 Frames for 7 C-Stands
Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts
December 6th-17th, 2015
973 frames of clear 16mm leader are woven through a maze of C-Stands and stitched into a loop. A projector then pulls this loop through the maze over and over and over again. Functioning simultaneously as a sculptural piece, a moving image installation, and a live process of visual generation, the apparatus generates a constantly evolving sequence of 973 frames. With each iteration of the loop, the microscopic deformities of each of the seven horizontal crossbars trace themselves in the laterally shifting film. The initially blank clear leader slowly fills up with swaying layers of vertical parallel lines etched onto the film by the metal while dust is also attracted to the surface through static forces. The projector, clear leader, and c-stands form an assemblage that doubly articulates the image by simultaneously inscribing it and projecting it. Rather than being viewed as unwanted degradation, the entropic artifacts of projection are re-positioned as live, dynamic forms with their own morphological properties worthy of focused attention. By transforming what might normally be considered the residue of the framing device into the framed object, this piece aims to extend the work of sonic pieces such as John Cage's 4'33" or William Basinski's Disintegration Loops.