Time Frames

A performative essay-film about the ways in which time frames our experience, perception, and the bounds of what is, and what isn’t possible. Made using a rules-based constrained creative process, the film ties together three perspectives – that of a fictionalised Italo Calvino, a petulant contemporary artist, and the archetypical joker (as described by Alan Watts), to create a new collage which reflects on our present relationship to time.

This is the second film (after Network/Intersect) to be created using the Reflexive Scripted Design process I developed during my residency at Palais de Tokyo, and described in detail in my PhD. In this process, two textual elements, and one contextual elements, are combined via a series of absurd rules, which are followed at every stage of production to create a piece of work. In this case, the works are:

• Context: Artist in Rotterdam, 2023 (my own life!)
• Text: Cybernetics and Ghosts, Italo Calvino
• Text: The Joker (lectures), Alan Watts

Which led to the rules:

• RULE 1: Everything is a game
• RULE 2: The aim of the game is to reveal that everything is game whilst also keeping the game running
• RULE 3: The voices of the corresponding elements of this work must be presented independently
• RULE 4: Granular and continuous must be presented at all times
• RULE 5: Everything is black and white

The result is a 25-30 minute long performance-film with live dialogue.
Bear with me, this is my first time…