In Bruce Nauman's "Walking in an Exaggerated Manner Around the Perimeter of a Square, the things that I found most interesting about the video were in the setting and not in his 'exaggerated' actions. The taped squares on the floor were the first things to draw my attention and I was waiting for Nauman to jump from the outer square that he was prancing around to the smaller one on the inside. The most curious thing about the room was the tiny mirror propped up against the back wall, never really reflecting anything important but obviously placed within the frame of the camera for a reason. Because Nauman was walking around the entire square the viewer was able to see him from every angle, something that a mirror reflection cannot do and something that is not typically expected of a camera projecting a 2 dimensional image. The most interesting thing that I found about Nauman's "walk" was the speed of which he chose to do it. Exaggeration typically implies grand gestures and while watching this I realized that anything played in slow motion could be taken to be an "exaggeration" of the original action. Something about the slow movement, careful reenactment of an action usually unconsciously done implies drama and deeper intentions.
Nauman's "Stamping in the Studio" was dramatically more disorienting and confusing. I did not expect the inversion of the camera and its placement on the ceiling to not have effected my interpretation of the video so much, but I felt like it altered not only my visual perception but my perception and alignment of the sounds as well. At first, before I could get fully accustomed to the visual I thought that the sound did not match up with his steps, that they were somehow delayed as if as an artistic statement. Only halfway through did I realize that the steps did match the sounds and felt stupid, like my vision and its confusions should not have effected the way that I perceive sound.
Monday, October 8, 2007
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