rue de vaugirard, 1909 at yale

m swiezynski: rue de vaugirard, 1909, 1998

recent screening at yale university school of art (november 5, 2007) of an older video by the unrecognized polish film-maker.

this video was originally shot on 16mm, then transferred to video, then back to film and finally to video again (under the spell of lucier's i am sitting in a room). slowmotion techniques were used for visual accuracy, and a contact mic was placed on the screen to decipher the many colours and textures.

the original footage was of trees and a fountain, all within range of: a. a place of worship, and b. the california st cable car with its lovely drones. the idea (failed) was to record the city in a way that it might have been perceived by atget if he had been here, or by the cable car tracks themselves.
and in addition; a process of looking at the present as if it was an image from an old book (an atget book for example), or from an old film. to dwell in the past so that you can no longer see the world around you as it is, but as it was or could be, to be modern and archaic at the same time.