Yves Coussement, "Wheel." 2011, video, color, 05′27″, stereo.

Moving Image was an art fair of contemporary video art that was open to the public from March 3 – 6, 2011 at the Waterfront Tunnel event space in Chelsea.  It was a show that I will not likely forget for a long time.  From the moment I walked in, I was surprised at the many forms of modern art that were on display.  I have never been to an actual art fair before, so I was completely amazed by my experience at Moving Image.  The most eye-catching exhibit was undoubtedly “Exploded View” by Jim Campbell (video of the LED sculpture is here).  It is very hard to describe: dozens of tiny miniscule lights blinked on and off to create the impression of a street with people walking by.  The people’s silhouettes could be seen clearly passing through the lights.  It was very beautiful, and a spectacular demonstration of the wondrous work that can be done with LED lights.

The first work of art I saw when I walked in, however, was of a mechanized broom thumping the top of a TV in an effort to smash it.  I saw at once that the art on display at this fair was very symbolic, and could get downright weird.  I definitely noticed this as I ventured deeper into the room – where a variety videos were playing on TV’s in two columns. 

There were two videos that particularly interested me.  One was titled “Wheel” by Yves Coussement.  It depicted a golden necklace with miniscule decorations being dragged along the murky streets at nighttime.  What was particularly attractive about this video was that it was very easy to see the necklace – even though it was filmed in the late evening.  Everything was lighted in such a way as to let the viewer see exactly what was going on.  Even though I could tell that it was nighttime in the video, I could still see the necklace, the streets, and the red buildings with surprising clarity.  In addition to this, when I watched the video (which was filmed so that the cameraman following the necklace at the moved along the street), I felt immersed into the urban landscape featured in the film.  By watching it, I felt like I was right there in the video.

Amparo Sard, "Spacing the Impasse." Still from the video.

The other video that interested me was was titled “Spacing the Impasse” by Amparo Sard.  In it, a woman in a flowing, white dress was filmed carrying various pieces of space age-like furniture into a green pasture.  The film took place in either the morning or afternoon, and it was very brightly and naturally lit by the sun.  The two pieces of furniture that the woman worked with was a multi-faceted mirror and a white, net-like piece of plastic that had hundreds of holes in it.  One thing that drew me to this video was its lighting.  The cheerful landscape – including the sun, the bright green grass, and the trees – reminded me of the cartoonish scenery in children’s books.  Another thing that attracted me to continue watching this video all the way to the end was that I was never quite sure what the woman was doing.  She plays with the over-sized mirror, unfolding its pieces and such, drags the next piece out, and even connects the two to form an enclosure at one point.  The whole spectacle is very mysterious and leaves the viewer wondering “What is she doing?”  Since the woman also moved very slowly, I remember thinking a few times, “Hurry up!”  Afterwards, I realized that perhaps the artist is trying to make a statement about modern culture with this piece: instead of rushing from one thing to the next in life, people should instead stop and take the time to try to enjoy nature.