Walking the Line | 2012 | 10’34” in loop
Creators: Gabriel Klasmer and Shira Klasmer
Sound Composition by: Tom Tlalim
Editor: Haim Litani
Both Gabriel Klasmer and Shira Klasmer have interests in the human hand, the human eye and all the systems of mediation that generate perception. The two bring these interests and their separate mediums into one in this new video work – ‘walking the line’. ‘Painting’ as material, photography as light, Gabriel and Shira have collaborated to create sequences of imaginary paintings and frozen photographic images, sweeps of light and form.
The ‘painting’ is performed by the artist holding a ‘brush’ made up of a line of LED lights. The act (of painting) is photographed by two still digital cameras creating a single still frame of long exposure, capturing the traces of the action on to the camera’s sensor. A sequence of frames is edited to a video format, where each frame is the recording of one act of ‘painting’. Transforming the still frames into a video format was done by exposing; scanning each frame from left to right, similar to the direction the images where made.
When working on these sequences in the darkness of the car park, ‘painting’ is transformed to a work of performance. With no physical material engagement and resistance, ‘painting’ becomes a work of memory and repetition – the reconstruction of a mental imprint, counting steps, rhythmical gestures, movement – a task in the memorisation of the act which was never seen.
The artists collaborated one more with sound artists Tom Tlalim to create soundtrack. The video is intended for a gallery viewing environment.
Exhibited at:
Givon Gallery, Tel-Aviv, Israel 2012