Video

Static

Nik Forrest

1995, 07:00 minutes, colour, English

TAPECODE 512.02

In defiance of the background noise of homophobia, a series of dreamlike images evoke the interplay between private and public spaces, and the continual disintegration and reconfiguration of queer identity within (and on the periphery of) dominant culture.

The soundtrack combines a litany of voices from a radio talk show which fade in and out of background electronic noise, processed underwater sound effects, and the following poetic text: "You turn on the radio, or it could be television, or you could be watching a movie or just walking down the street. You have never seen yourself through your own eyes. There is something in the air. It comes into your apartment. Now it's inside your head. Inside and outside separated by a thin porous skin. The sound coming from the radio reverberates through your body. Your feet stop automatically at the street corner. To prevent yourself from disappearing you make these gestures. In the process of disintegrating and reconfiguring, edges become permeable. Tendons and veins shift under the skin. Spreading."

The images repesent a movement from the interior space of dreams through intimate private domestic scenes, out into the public urban spaces of subway station and street intersections, and finally to the city skyline as seen from across the surface of a body of water.

Contre le bruit ambiant de l'homophobie, une série d'images oniriques évoquent une inter-relation entre les espaces publics et privés. La vidéo explore la désintégration entre la reconfiguration de l'identité gaie dans la culture dominante. La bande sonore combine une litanie de voix d'un talk-show radiophonique d'une intensité variable avec du bruit électronique en arrière fond. Nous retrouvons aussi le texte poétique et des effets sonores fabriqués sous l'eau. Les images représentent le mouvement d'un espace intérieur de rêves, par des scènes domestiques privées intimes pour ainsi se transporter dans des espaces urbains publics de station de métro et d'intersections de rues. Et finalement, elles se déplacent dans la périphérie de la ville vue de l'autre côté d'un corps d'eau.

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Critical Writing

CineCycle show probes age of edited identities
by Peter Goddard. The Toronto Star, Feb. 8, 1996.