Video, 5:54mins
February 2007
Fietscamera – “Bicycle camera” is just that; a journey filmed around the square adjacent to my house on a bicycle.
However, there is more to the matter than that. This film is intended as an exploration of the complex relationship between maker, object, and viewer in the context of art. I am both the maker and the object of this film, and yet I am shown performing a fairly everyday activity not normally associated with art making. In other words, my participation in the work is almost passive, contingent, incidental.
Secondly, the perspective from which the viewer sees the action is unusual; you see neither my perspective, nor that of the passer-by. In a reversal of normal experience, I cycle by but the bicycle does not rush past stationary people, cars, buildings, and bus stops, but instead remains more or less stationary in the frame as these other things disappear in a blur. The viewer is neither the spectator or the participant in this action, but rather somewhere in between.
In common with much of my practice, this work is based upon an “introduced difficulty” – in this case, the home-made apparatus necessary to film from such a strange angle. What is different in this case is that this difficulty is unseen; in fact, the viewer takes the viewpoint of the hindrance. The worried look on my face as I dodge traffic and pedestrians is clearly visible, but the source of this anxiety is left to the imagination.
Fietscamera
