71
- 71, 2005
Deborah Phillips
Germany 2005
7 min. 30 sec. , 16mm, colour, sound
The material that became “71” was shot during a five-day stint in Taipei on super 8. Careful experimentation with chemicals transformed passages of this footage into painterly, abstract compositions that were then combined with unmanipulated images, resulting in a super 8 film entitled “Run, Don’t Walk”, that was first screened in Brighton (UK) with live accompaniment by the band URBAN MYTH.
The motivation for this film was the film-maker’s inability to find her bearings in Taipei. A helpful German diplomat suggested that she concentrate on the pedestrian signals…
By re-working the super 8 footage on an optical printer (a Neilson and Hordell) and, in the process of transferring the images on to 16mm, adding slide and photo-negative images, the artist was able, in a manner similar to her previous works, to use multiple exposures and fades to relay the feeling this journey left, accompanied by music by “Urban Myth” and the “Betel Nuts Brothers” (Taiwan).
Details melt into each other and observations of daily life in an urban context are layered to relay the feeling the artist had while in Taipei: contemplating the absurdity of travelling across the planet for such a brief period without ever really getting acclimatised.
Compositions of various types of material are combined to create lush textures in deep reds, elegant yellows and delicate blue tones, echoing the range of colours that bombard a visitor to an Asian metropolis, and continuing to shimmer in the viewer’s imagination long after the film is finished.
