DENISINED - SINEDENIS

 

I sat with Dennis Oppenheim in Kassel and he gave me a working photograph of a drawing for his installation Mind-Twist-Wandering - I asked him to sign it for me - now in a little clip frame in my studio. While we talked I took four photographs on a very low resolution Palm organizer. I liked the pictures and made them into a repeating sequence 1-2-3-4-3-2-1-2.... and so on - a first level palindrome - then I copied the sequence at different levels of increasing speed until they animated - next I copied the whole sequence, reversed it to a second level palindrome. In a reference to Duchamp’s ANEMIC CINEMA – a partial palindromatic title - I devised the palindromatic front and end title (losing an N as there were too many! Sorry Dennis).

 

I wanted a sound track and liked a Bach sonata - I put this on and treated the speed in the same way as the picture (holding the pitch level) - also I treated this as a palindrome - reversing it for the second part of the video. When I showed this to Steven Devleminck and discussed the palindrome he told me that Bach had written a palindromatic work known as the 'Crab Cannon'. I then decided I would re-make the piece using this music which I located with the help of Al Rees and Nicky Hamlyn (who sent me a copy of the sheet music). I keyed the piece into my computer MIDI programme - and voiced it for strings - then treated it in the same way of speed changes and reverse repeats. The current version of the video has this constructed track. Another reference point is Forwards Backwards Minute Waltz by Ladislav Galeta.

 

All this and it is only three minutes