Created by Muriel Paraboni
A face approaches the surface of the water. The deeper it looks inside, the more the water stirs.
Passages of tension, fear, despair and relief soon emerge, revealing its own image (and reality) as nothing but reflections.
Short | Videoart | 4′ | 2022
Production, Concept and Images by Muriel Paraboni
Performed by João Spalding
Editing and Sound Design by Muriel Paraboni
Statement
In a scene from Stalker, by Andrei Tarkovsky, we see turbid water stirring at the bottom of a vat, while off-screen we have the protagonist mons monologue, which starts like this: ‘let them laugh at your passions’.
Based on an installation held in 2019, this video brings a face like a distant reflection at the bottom of a barrel, crossing the most varied moods, from joy to indifference, to discouragement, to despair, to relief, to redemption.
Not everyone is willing to look deep inside to probe the darkest and chaotic dimensions of the soul, but some have a vocation in it. That’s the artists as well as the Stalker’s passion: he follows his destiny despite the difficulties and what other may think about him. To skeptics and critics he indulges, and simply lets them laugh.
Exhibitions
Tryst Alternative Art Fair | TAM Art Museum and The New Museum of Networked Art – Los Angeles, USA – OCT 2023
Peace Letters Winter Marathon East Asia | Hara Museum of Contemporary Art – Tokyo, Japan – FEB 2023
Art for Freedom | 12a MADATAC Biennial of Audiovisual and New Media – Madrid Spain – OCT 2023
Peace Letters Winter Marathon USA | Torrance Art Museum – Los Angeles, USA – FEB 2023
Art for Freedom | ARCO Madrid International Contemporary Art Fair and MADATAC Biennial – Madrid, Spain – FEB 2023
Kosma International Exhibition – Real is Unreal – Pier Contemporary – Seoul, South Korea – FEC 2023
Peace Letters to Ukraine | Torrance Art Museum – Los Angeles, USA – JUN 2022
Peace Letters to Ukraine | The Museum of Networked Art – Cologne, Germany – APR 2022
Experimenta Transformação Audiovisual | Barreirinha BC – Funchal, Portugal – JAN 2022
