A video monitor stands on a pedestal. The screen displays the face of a person saying “A”. This “A” however soon turns out to be exceptional. It never comes to an end. The man on the screen ought to twinkle. He ought to run out of breath. But no! His eyes keep staring stiffly, and his face stays motionless like on a photograph. Nevertheless a never ending sound floats in space like a slight indication of eternity.
The work causes a conflict in perception. Here, it is impossible to decide how time should be comprehended and described. On the one hand, the spectator sees a completely frozen face, which seems to be paralyzed in the eternal present of the photo-optical exposure. On the other hand, time flows as usual in the steady and linear stream of the articulated sound. In addition, a subtle, almost unperceptible, artificial noise in the video image produces the impression of movement and change. Furthermore the psychological factor of habitual perception reinforces the presumption of video images being moving images. And really: In a technical sense it is a “real” video. The gap between the chaotic movement of the micoscopic pixels on the one hand and the frozen rigour of the entire image on the other hand, are accordingly mirrored in the sound. Its tiny modulations cause the impression of spoken words to rise. Its global uniformity however represent frozen time.
Strictly spoken no formal equivalence between image and sound is given at all. It is just a perceptual analogy. However, the perceptual level is especially important, because after a certain time of further contemplation, the mentioned contadictions are intensified by fatigue of eyes and ears.