Time as Perspective was shot in the Texan desert and shows huge oil pumps constantly repeating the same mechanical movement. Their meditative sculptural quality in the vast and arid landscape, counteracts the social and political issues caused by the exploitation of natural resources which the film touches upon. Its temporal horizon is hard to fixate – it could be both, a futuristic vision or a historical document. Yet, the drilling pumpjacks keep running in loops – a symbol for progress and exploitation that has been reduced to a mechanical repetitive rhythm. They move but never change, a monotonous labor that invokes consistency. No progression – just movement that becomes monumental. Thousands of pumpjacks print invisible repetitive patterns into the earth – or onto the film. Their “writing” remains hidden as it seems to travel through ayers of earth. But it also points to the term “Peak Oil”,the moment when the maximum rate of petroleum extraction is reached.
Time as Perspective, 2012
35mm film, color, optical sound; 12 min
Images 1, 2, 3, 4: Film still © Rosa Barba
Image 5: Installation view at Kunsthaus Zürich, 2012 © Rosa Barba
Time as Perspective, 2012 has been on display at the following locations:
Meyer Riegger, Berlin, 2015
MIT List Visual Arts Center, Boston, 2015
Albertinum, Dresden, 2015
Biennale of Sydney, 2014
Bergen Kunsthall, 2013
Gio Marconi, Milan, 2013
ICA, London, 2013
Gene Siskel Center, Chicago, 2013
Filmforum, Gorizia, 2013
Kunsthaus Zürich, 2012
Time as Perspective, 2012 has been screened at the following locations:
Teatrino di Palazzo Grassi, 2023
Lo Schermo dell’Arte, Florence, 2022
Babylon, Berlin, 2022