Performance with remote control, found vhs player and malfunctioning vhs, in darkness during self-isolation/quarantine, 3 min.
(March 2020)
The following excerpt is taken from Manifattura Tabacchi: If I woke up one day / Laura Besancon view:
“This is about something that cannot be played. No matter how much we try to play it, whether we play slowly or aggressively – we probably only worsen its malfunction. Some things are beyond our control, or else we have some form of remote control. Sometimes the only thing we can do is to be still. To slow down and accept that some things are just not working. If something does not work, we cannot play it, ultimately we will realise that…It is up to us whether we can see this, or make this, the beginning of something else or the end of everything (00:00:00). It can be worthwhile seeing seemingly negative things in a new light.
Still, Play! /Play Still (2020) is a work I made during my recent 14-day self-quarantine, upon my arrival back home in Malta from a trip to the UK. The place I stayed in, during this quarantine period had a vhs player & its remote control. My father delivered a couple of our home videos from the 90s. I played a few of them until I got to one that I had really wanted to watch, but for some reason it did not play. I kept pressing play impatiently with the remote control with no effect except the words “Play..Still..Play”.
“Remote Control” – these two words interested me, especially in this moment. I was also thinking a lot about “The Great Pause” that is happening, and my ongoing thoughts on stillness & slowing down. Play is the other. The work is about being still or playing within the constraints/confinements. I also reflect upon our relationship with technologies and look back at older, “slower” mediums.