Destruction Quartet

„Destruction Quartetwas an answer to Liutauras Psibilskis’s request to participate in a show in Sidney that he was putting together around the theme of destruction. I reviewed all the film and video footage that I had regarding “destruction.” The four pieces that I chose from my material cover a wide range of destruction: political, terroristic, and artistic.“ (J.M.)

The Destruction Quartet features four video loops depicting historical circumstances of violence, which bring together fragments of symbolic, artistic and real acts of destruction. A commentary on the mutable relationship between creation and destruction.

Each film, of varying duration, is played on a continuous loop. The first documents a 1997 Nam June Paik performance in which he destroys a piano, the second observes the demolition of the Berlin Wall in 1990, the third is Mekas' footage of Danius Kesminas' fire sculpture, (New York) Consequence, presented in New York in 1991, and the last graphically records the September 11 destruction of the World Trade Center. Mekas filmed 9/11 from the roof of his SoHo-apartment building.