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BLIND SPOTS, LIGHT TRICKS/TRACES, FLASHES AND FAILURESMoving image installation, mixed media, variable dimensions
2023-2024

Two cameras chase each other in a deserted, misty landscape, a human figure is sometimes caught in between. A conversation between a father and a son about a genetic disease causing blindness. Lost eyes of classical Greek sculptures caught on analog film and state-of-the-art technologies for retinal implants.

BLIND SPOTS, LIGHT TRICKS/TRACES, FLASHES AND FAILURES articulates in an installation form a reflection on the blurred, multifaceted spaces between vision and blindness, visibility and invisibility, technologies of image-making and experiencing, subtly merging personal, political and formal concerns, lingering on thresholds, interfaces and moments of failure.

It displays an overview of the way my practice unfolded in 2023/2024, exploring recurring topics and fields of interests in a fragmented yet complementary way, through a speculative and sculptural approach to making (moving) images.

BLIND SPOTS, LIGHT TRICKS/TRACES, FLASHES AND FAILURES is composed of four parts:

1) A choreography for two cameras, a body and a landscape
Digital video, 2-channel projection, dimensions variable 12 minutes, color, sound, looped

On a deserted Dutch beach in the middle of an industrial area, two cameras chase each other in the mist. One is an automated webcam, live-streaming the surrounding landscape 24/7. The other is a cinema camera on a tripod. A human figure appears, sometimes behind one of them, sometimes in front of the other,sometimes caught in-between the two. An absurd quest to see, and to see what? A layered reflection on gaze, visibility, technology, image-making and experience.

2) Glaucoma, they said
Digital video on 7’’ LCD screen, 9 minutes, color, sound, looped

A blurry text scrolls in front of two blinking eyes. As a dialogue between a son - the artist - and his father, it tells the story of a family’s genetic retinal disease and questions the possibility and consequences of losing vision.

3) Sensors I
16mm b/w film loop, 16mm film projector on floor, custom-built projection screen on floor and hanger/roller device from ceiling, dimensions and duration variable

Classic Greek sculptures (V sec. BC) would often feature detailed representations of eyes, either by means of miniature paintwork or with inlays crafted with precious materials. This was intended to make the statues look alive, real. Over time, these eyes turned into faded traces, holes, scratches. Shot in the Greek section of the Louvre Museum, this piece is a first attempt at capturing the decay of such realistic depictions of eyes through the material specificities of analog film, crafting a layered reflection on representation and its materiality, and a contemplation of a deeply human relation between seeing and being.

4) Sensors II
Digital video on 4’’ LCD screen, 1 minute, color, no sound, looped

The NanoRetina NR600 is an experimental device intended to partially restore vision of visually impaired people through its implant in their retinal tissue. It was considered the most advanced example of such vision technologies until the recent discontinuation of its development in late 2023. The video features a simple animation of the only image of NR600 found online questioning its scale and resolution, its materiality and visibility.

Presented in 2024 at V2_Lab For Unstable Media, Rotterdam (NL) as part of CURRENTLY CURRENTLY CURRENTLY, graduation show of the Lens-Based Media Master Department of Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam (NL)