A selection of video works:
Train Journey (2019, 9:01 minutes, looped) captures the textures of a Polish landscape seen through the window of a local train as it slowly labours through forests and open land. During the first half of the film, colour footage of trees, meadows and signages scrolls past whilst reflections and bits of conversation make us aware of passengers on the train. As the loudspeaker announces the next stop, the train slows down allowing for visual elements to come into focus. Then, unexpectedly, silence as the imagery turns black and white and the footage scrolls backwards.
Rehearsal (2016) shows a scene in an urban park where pathways and plants seem to constitute a map (almost in a two-dimensional way) as filmed from an elevated location. Here, dance movements are presented literally as the camera records the rehearsal of an amateur dance group. In addition, there are various figures traversing the terrain whilst walking, cycling or being pushed in a wheelchair or buggy. The sound track incorporates a composition by Todd Harper (¿Are spiderz friends?) and ambient sound from the viewing location where the video was shot (top floor of De Yong museum in San Francisco). The main focus of this piece is between the perceptions of a two-dimensional ‘board game-type’ space and a more visceral three-dimensionality enhanced through sound.
“There was a moment of serendipity when whilst positioning the camera to get footage of panoramic scenes of the park and the hills of the city, I realized that the filming coincided with the start of a dance rehearsal within the confines of a semi-circular space recalling the stage of an antique theatre.”
Thoma (2017), Conference Paper “Rehearsal – the video camera as ‘abstract machine’”.
Josefle (2017) is a film that I made after my father passed away to reflect on the time he spent between worlds before moving on. When I was looking for a sound that could suggest the regular, mechanical breathing aided by a hospital machine, I found that the movement of my hand across a tablecloth would do just that. It also seemed like a caress, a gesture of staying connected. The moving images are interspersed by still images of mountain landscapes, images my father might have seen with his inner eye as he was travelling across worlds. This work has been included in the group exhibition ‘What Comes After’ at 601Artspace https://601artspace.org/Loss-Empowerment
In Red-Green-Red (2017), the abstract colour spaces of complementary hues within close-up footage change to reveal the intricate structures of the cotoneaster bush.
Andrea Thoma 