A Property of Memory

Concept, video, dance
Konstantin Grouss

SPACE programme
Dublin, 2008
Quest for Silence project
Moscow, 2014

Memory is inherently silent. The further away it recedes, the quieter its overall backdrop becomes.
The video footage was recorded in Ireland in 2008. The process of making it was part of the SPACE programme artistic residency.

I subsequently made several versions of this video. The original version had sound. This version is dedicated to silence — as a property of memory, and as something as unattainable as the horizon line.
In the first part of the video, the eye glides along the endless horizon line in central Ireland. In reality, silence does not exist; in our memory, this line glides soundlessly.
In the second part of the video, the horizon line is positioned beyond a window, and its presence inspires the dance. The movement within the frame is composed so as to affect the camera as much as possible, shifting focus and exposure properties. The movement, too, remains in complete silence.

This version of the video was created for the Quest for Silence project, held in October 2014 as part of the PovArt program of the "Art-Residence" International Culture Project.