Yasmin Davis

Following You Following Me No.1

Video, HD, 10:22 min, 2016

Following You Following Me is the title of two video works; No.1 (10 min) and No.2 (5 min). The point of departure for the making of both of the video works is the relation between the camera movement and the image of the photographed object; in its peak, a reversal of movement is created between the subject and object. The photographed artist becomes passive, mannequin-like, while the camera becomes animated. These works can be presented as a series composed of two video works or as two separate and individual works.

In a dark studio, against a black backdrop, the artist walks in place on a conveyor belt hidden outside the frame. The facing camera is mounted on a dolly which limits it to forward and backward movement only. Although the artist walks in place, the combination between the camera's movement and the dark space creates the illusion that it is the artist who moves in the space.

Video No.1 was shot in one take. At the outset, attention is drawn to the artist's chase after the camera: she tries to approach the camera lens, as it moves away from her. With the basic means at her disposal— walking steps and breathing—the artist activates the camera and controls its movement. When she inhales, the camera move towards her, as if it had been set in motion by the intensity of the inhaled air. When she exhales, the camera is pushed back again. The length of the encounter is determined by the artist's ability to hold the air in her lungs. During these moments, while her breath is held, the movement freezes between the artist and the camera. They are close to one another; they look at each other, until the air bursting out of the artist's lungs pushes the camera away from her.

Initially, the artist's steps are quick and determined. As the video progresses, however, they lessen, until reaching a standstill. As her steps and movement diminish, attention is centered on the movement of the camera, which draws near and away from the artist's immobile body. This movement is adjoined by a soundtrack of male steps and breaths, attributed to the presence behind the camera. The incessant camera movement becomes more intense and conspicuous vis-à-vis the growing desistance of the artist's inanimate figure.

Video No.2 is composed of one take, doubled; one take plays forward, from start to end, and the other take plays backward, from end to start. In the video’s second part, by reversing the cut from end to start, the camera and the artist too reverse roles. The artist, who at first appeared determined to near the lens, here seems to try and outrun the camera – now cashing her. The chase becomes an escape, exhales become inhales, and inhales are now exhales. Playing the cut backward instills the walking movements with mechanic character, while the artist’s breathing now sounds metallic; an inhuman sucking and emitting of air.

In both videos the camera is no longer construed as a documenting device, and becomes a presence with a human point of view. The artist, who previously appeared active and real, is revealed as a body controlled by the camera. Ultimately she remains a mere image, and the attempt to capture it is a-priori doomed to fail.

Click for Avi Pichon's review in Ha'aretz (Hebrew)

Click for Ran Kasmy Ilan's text (English&Hebrew)