Rhythm is the theme as well as the form of the
videotape "Tramage".
Its elements are constructed and played out through a time measure
resembling the busy tempo of city life. To begin, stripes of light
are drawn through the two sides of the black empty screen; their
unpredictable crossings and untimely collisions lead to the appearance
of an opening and closing tramway car door in the picture. Simultaneously,
the rhythm unfolds in an unsynchronized sound bar. Squeaking, sucking,
the noise of a passing train : all these different noises put together
a soundtrack that sometimes falters, sometimes accelerates, diminishes
and increases in volume, or simply falls into silence. The pictures
unfold through this discontinous sound arrangement. In the repeated
sequences of passing buses and trains we fleetingly catch the glance
of a woman loooking through a window, who immediately turns away.
All there is to see is caught up in its own passing. "Tramage"'s
interruptive and disruptive repetition of the city dweller's impressions
revives the moment of experience in our perception. |