Cuts/ Elements of Observation

The video Cuts is a project dealing with the city which examines the concepts of inner space, the private sphere and the public sphere on the basis of a contrapuntal arrangement of sounds, images and serial montages. The first part of this two-part work illustrates the interior/exterior dynamic by combining a 45-second shot of the street from an apartment window above it, combining this with the chance sounds that can be heard inside the room. This interior/exterior perspective is then reversed in a 45-second shot of a room´s interior as seen through a window, which is accompanied by street noises. The second part of the video is a serial montage of sounds. The camera shows the building´s entire façade, and a sound montage has been assigned to each window. Each of these windows is accompanied by individual sounds which suggest curtains behind the windowpanes. As a result, each window serves as a kind of loudspeaker which broadcasts the private sphere into the public space.

(Roswitha Mueller)