Statement
…Light: The ability to see hinges on the availability of light, but what is illuminated is not always understood. The use of light and shadow, and the interaction between what is known and not known, seen and not seen is explored in the installation Attraction (2012, two channel SD video projection). Filmed in the Water Tower Place mall, I wanted to document a loop of actual movement in the world occurring in a post-modern space created for the activity of shopping. The consumer is observed shopping and becomes the observer within this work. Through medium and close up shots the camera movement is fixed and focused onto two locations: interior, within a glass elevator; and exterior, on various floors following the elevators movements. The materials of the actual environment such as glass, marble and steel are framed to create superimposed layers where bodies enter and exit the image. The final composition is split allowing for the interior and exterior perspectives to be compared––highlighting the loop of human and mechanical activity and referencing back to the mechanics of film and image reproduction.
An act of loosening happens through the projection of these impressions that are presented to the public. A spatialization of the moving image occurs by its physical projection onto surfaces and forms. As the moving image is displaced into a new environment, it has been loosened and detached from its original place and time, placing the viewer in between image and object where their subjectivity becomes a new focal point. My films and videos explore the formation of an elliptical loop between image, expression and viewer while reflecting back conceptual ideas I’ve formed from the experience of confronting place, time and self. I believe that through loosening the attachments we have to images of place and time, and their accepted ways of being seen and experienced, a new space for feeling and thought can be created.
…My exploration with this process can be seen in Attraction where the Water Tower Place is deconstructed through the projection on two objects/screens. Composed of 1” thick painted white MDF material, each object stands 7’ (h) x 3.5’ (w) and are placed side by side with a gap in between. Together they compose a flat screen like surface on one side where the video is projected. On the other side, two panels of the same size and material are joined at two different intervals acting as supports for the screen. Here the same video is projected but the images are slightly distorted, creating a feeling of slippage. Through the spatialization of the projected image onto the object, the light from the projector displaces the image through cuts and gaps between the objects, bleeding over the surface––extending light and shadow further, along the ground, and against the walls of the room. Within the enclosed silent space the displaced images allow the viewer to move in and out of this altered experience. This process references back to what is occurring within the images they are seeing, and in turn comments on how we are affected by our interactions within a specific place and time.
– Extracts from Marco G. Ferrari MFA Thesis Abstract 2013, Department of Visual Arts, University of Chicago
Projected Film
– Attraction, 2012-13, standard-definition color video, silent, 15:11 minutes, USA, Marco G. Ferrari (personal, film, installation). https://marcogferrari.com/work/attraction-distraction/
Exhibitions
– Sway: 2013 Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition (Ferrari, Harris-Trevor & Somers), Logan Center for the Arts Gallery & Screening Room, The University of Chicago, IL, USA, May 18–26, 2013. Exhibited Attraction, 2012; D(z)iga, 2012; Ferragosto, 2013; Skyway, 2012–13; and Parabola, 2013. https://marcogferrari.com/exhibition/sway-2013-master-of-fine-arts-thesis-exhibition-ferrari-harris-trevor-somers/ | installation: https://marcogferrari.com/work/attraction-installation-ii/
