the video: Trap
This work originated in the period I worked as a teacher and counselor at a summer school for the Arts in Elmer, New Jersey.
In the simple videostudio of the school I played with a videotape of "Night of the Living Dead," a horrorclassic from 1968. It struck me that dialogue played an important role in a large part of the film. Two characters speaking were often simultaneously imaged. Each representing its own position against the other, trying to persuade one another. By dividing the image into two equal parts, one positive and one negative, the opposing views became visually apparent.
In addition, the above and below - from house and cellar - plays a a role in teh film. The positions that the characters took to each other, were particularly about whether they should entrench themselves in the basement of the house or not. The basement was in the movie accessible by a staircase. This fact made me think of Freud's conscious and the unconscious. Also against yourself, facing your unconscious feelings and thoughts, you hold a position. The stairs can be seen as a metaphor for migrating from one position to another: the bridge you - perhaps reluctantly - can go on, cross over to another position. From the conscious to the unconscious, of which you can become aware doing so.
This work is also about understanding yourself and others. For each different point of view is often something to say. It depends on what position you take on against an opposite position, whether it is a position that you occupy against yourself, or against the position of another.
The title has the ambiguous nature of a position that can one can take. In this case, the title means in English: trap, and in Dutch: staircase. The language in which you understand the title determines how you understand the title.
In the simple videostudio of the school I played with a videotape of "Night of the Living Dead," a horrorclassic from 1968. It struck me that dialogue played an important role in a large part of the film. Two characters speaking were often simultaneously imaged. Each representing its own position against the other, trying to persuade one another. By dividing the image into two equal parts, one positive and one negative, the opposing views became visually apparent.
In addition, the above and below - from house and cellar - plays a a role in teh film. The positions that the characters took to each other, were particularly about whether they should entrench themselves in the basement of the house or not. The basement was in the movie accessible by a staircase. This fact made me think of Freud's conscious and the unconscious. Also against yourself, facing your unconscious feelings and thoughts, you hold a position. The stairs can be seen as a metaphor for migrating from one position to another: the bridge you - perhaps reluctantly - can go on, cross over to another position. From the conscious to the unconscious, of which you can become aware doing so.
This work is also about understanding yourself and others. For each different point of view is often something to say. It depends on what position you take on against an opposite position, whether it is a position that you occupy against yourself, or against the position of another.
The title has the ambiguous nature of a position that can one can take. In this case, the title means in English: trap, and in Dutch: staircase. The language in which you understand the title determines how you understand the title.