Desert

1985
© Nan Hoover
Artist/s
Nan Hoover
Title
Desert
Year
1985
Category
Video
Format
Analog video
Material / Technique
Betacam SP, color, silent
Dimensions / Duration
00:12:57
Description
“I never thought that »Desert« would be appreciated by the general public because I felt it was so slow...” (Nan Hoover) [1]
Like a mirage, the golden dunes in the video work »Desert« seem to peel themselves out of the dawn. A piece of fabric and light are the only actors with which Nan Hoover creates the illusion of a fictitious desertscape. The camera is static and no editing or sound enlivens the scenery. Only the constant change of light serves as a variable element through which the New York artist makes the passing of time tangible, and evokes a subtle play of colors and forms. In an almost somnambulistic way, the contrast between light and shadow of the sandbanks evokes intimate and abstract associations with the curves of a body. The world of thoughts and pictorial reality, inside and outside meld into one and thus, in their indistinguishability, enable the reflection of one’s own perception in a poetic way.

[1] Nan Hoover in: Rob Perrée, »Dialogue: About Nan Hoover« (Cologne: Salon Verlag, 2001), 25.

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