Four screens of decreasing size in a row on a socket, each one of them fed by a camera. As you approach the piece, the camera on the first screen films you and feeds the images to the smallest screen in the back. Each camera, placed on top of a screen, in real-time, films what appears on the screen right behind and displays it on the screen. The result is an increasing distortion of the original image from screen to screen. So what you see on the first screen is yourself. But you won’t recognize yourself anymore.
„Why me, why here, why now, why not?“ uses the viewer as a central momentum. Only the viewer himself can see his own reflection, and he can never see the „real“ image, as the last screen is out of sight, barred by the bigger screens in front. There is only the distorted perception of the self which is simulated by the result of the process of filming, projecting, zooming and projecting again.
„Why now?“ is certainly the central question of this work, when it comes to interpreting the title. Jens Kull’s work is very much driven by the experiment with time. This piece works as a kind of time-machine as well: for when you see the result of the filtering by technology, you see what you have become. The spectator sees himself delayed. In this way, the piece depicts a moment from the past. This moment appears distorted. And the same happens when we remember.
What is the self – and most of all: When is the self? What do we see, when we perceive ourselves? Is there any kind of objective reality? Jens Kull’s most recent piece is humorous, highly philosophical and deeply disturbing at the same time.
Image courtesy of Jens Kull. All rights reserved.
>> Read review on „Untitled, 2008“ by Jens Kull
>> Read review on „Vergangene Gegenwart“ (2006) by Jens Kull
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