MMI (Seven Variations) | 2:39 min | MiniDV | sound, color | 2001/21
In 2001 I used a MiniDV camcorder to record my first digital videos, creating accidental juxtapositions without knowing where I was on the tape when I pressed record. In 2021 I started remixing my old footage to imitate this process. These clips combine shots from a MiniDV [MiniD(ziga)V(ertov)] tape from 2001. Thirteen years later I used Vine for this kind of thing. Because of its hybrid quality—digital video stored on tape in a linear sequence—DV camcorders enable a chance-based editing process I call "Swiss-Cheesing"— scanning back and forth on the tape at random to record new video "holes" through old footage.
Text response by Varvara Spilt for the exhibition A FANTASIA MATRIXIANA, 2024
Day after day, and the grass still needs to be watered, and the dishes still need to be washed and you still want to play your music and it is never repetition but always continuation. And your hair looks the same, your face changes only slightly, you go to sleep and from time to time you feel good. Memory is tricky because you cook, drink, do tricks, jump and fall, watch TV but in what order? And scream too! How fun it is to shout and always shout the same and suddenly it becomes understandable and the words you whisper slowly start making sense.