P A N T E L I S M A K K A S
Blinds, 2008
Video installation, Three projections, 12 min, color, sound
Blinds is constructed of three projections. Although these are synchronised, there is no direct narrative coherence. Each of the three shows individuals who find themselves isolated, alone in a strange space, performing purposeless actions there, or sitting apathetically. On the central screen, from a sort of engine room an older man now and then looks at a monitor on which images from one of the other screens are to be seen; sometimes he turns a large knob as if he has the others under his control, but nothing changes. For this work Makkas studied the movements of people who suffer from memory loss. He then instructed the actors in Blinds to imitate such movements in spaces he had constructed, which the actors had not previously seen. These spaces are anonymous; they are non-places, like a barren hotel room or an empty space with a kitchen unit. This reinforces the vacuity of the images, the futility and apathy; the people are in a state in which the few impressions from outside no longer have any effect.
with Shana Moulton
Photos and Video by PMStudio