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Film, time, and movement are inextricably linked. But how can you experience the passing of time when each individual frame of a film has been printed on paper? Having studied philosophy prior to going to art academy, Dario di Paolantonio (1992) approaches his films, photographs, and texts from a philosophical perspective. ‘Film is the perfect medium for philosophical questions. Its layered structure allows information to be interpreted on various levels, with complex issues communicated in a forceful, yet accessible way,’ Di Paolantonio explains. For his work he finds inspiration in the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze’s writings on film and time.
Reminiscent of the way in which early silent films could only be archived as separate images in the past, Di Paolantonio experiments with transposing film to different media, including stone and paper. For his work at Prospects, he printed every single frame of his film on paper, with each image representing the passing of a millisecond. He thus grants each frame – in the film merely a fragment of a suggested movement – autonomous status. At the same time he researches how the passing of time can be experienced through stationary images that are actually film frames. By hanging them next to each other on the wall, time is literally taking up space here, prompting the spectator to actively experience this movement for themselves. The coarse-grained prints simultaneously evoke a sense of melancholy that seems to emphasize the passing of time as well.
Text: Esther Darley
Translated from Dutch by Marie Louise Schoondergang (The Art of Translation)