My talented husband, Steffen Holzkamp, has once again created a video to document my latest site-specific nature art installation. A big thank you also goes to Hans-Peter Wollmann, who has kindly provided us with his video material to use in combination with mine.
In this short video clip (1:49min) you can the ‘making-of’ and get an impression of the artwork itself.
But – it is still much better to experience it in person! If you can, please go and visit it.
I got so much wonderful feedback from the visitors while I was working there and even afterwards. All saying what a lovely surprise it was for them when they first noticed it on their walk through the forest. And then as they came closer and realised how long it was, how it was winding its way down the hill and crossing two paths, they got even more excited. It brought them so much joy, they said.
For those of you, who cannot go and visit the forest and my installation yourself, this video gives an impression, adding to the photographs in my previous post.
Enjoy! And do let me know in the comments what you think. I would appreciate it.
My last post was about the blue, blue skies with beautiful white clouds…
But, do you ever walk through the night sky? Touch the stars with your toes and breathe in the darkness of the universe?
I do.
Sometimes.
(Title: Walking Through the Night Sky, 1:16min, by Imke Rust)
Just press play to start the video.
It is soft and bouncy. Just me on my journey through the stars which sometimes tickle the soles of my feet, when I pay close enough attention…
I made a video of it, the old-fashioned, stop-motion way. My camera did not catch the amazing Namibian night sky with its plethora of little stars, but you can at least see some of the big ones.
This post is dedicated to the awesome poetess Indigo Spider(if you have not checked our her fine spider web-weaving, delicately crafted and powerful writing, please do so), who commented on my last blog that she prefers the night skies over the day skies.
So I thought, wait a minute, I have something very special to share with you. An artwork, which also still needs to see the light of day…
Thank you, Indigo Spider, for being a kindred soul, virtual blogging friend and continuous source of inspiration and support!
Enjoy watching the short video!
PS. I miss the warm summer nights of Windhoek, when I can be outside and play like this forever.
2013 has been a transformative, beautiful and challenging year and I hope that you too can look back with gratitude for its blessings.
Here is to wishing you a spectacular, happy, loving, healthy and abundant 2014.
Even with the best wishes, each year we will have some challenges to deal with. We have prepared a fun video message for you on how to best handle life when it gets rough.
(duration: 1:45min – watch it till the end!).
We hope you enjoy it!
Please feel free to share it with your friends and family, too. We would also love to hear your comments 🙂
Usually I either do not understand it, or it is boring or I just do not feel like watching for what feels like a lifetime to ‘get’ it. And yet, I have been lured into making my own video art. At least I hope that my video art is short and easy to understand. And if you do not understand it, at least it will have been so short, that you hopefully will not feel like you have wasted half your day on it.
And so, today I would like to introduce to you one of the works of my last exhibition, Walking in Circles. The work is conceptualised to be running continuously without any stops. So much for me disliking long videos… 😉 Don’t worry, in reality it is only an 18 second clip, looped and presented to you here in a bite-size piece of 3 minutes (or shorter if you press the stop button 😉 ). After you have watched the video, please feel free to read on, as I share my thoughts behind the work below.
A Meditation On Life and Change
This is a meditative work, where seemingly nothing changes, no matter how long you keep watching. When watching a video, we somehow expect that something new will happen, that there is a story to be told, a new action introduced or at least a beginning and an end. This video is moving along, but nothing changes. I could have been walking for 10 minutes or 24 hours, but you will not know. And there is no end, unless you leave the room or press the Stop button.
This could have a calming effect. Just like the cycles of nature, or day and night following each other without fail. So if you have a lot of turbulence in your life, this video could bring calm to it. It provides repetitive, calming stability and presence. Step for step, circle for circle you can let yourself be drawn into the moment and know that the important things will always remain constant. The cycles of nature will turn. The sun will rise again. You can rest, slow down and trust the process.
This could also have a very different effect on you. You might feel stuck in a rut. You might yearn for a change. But the video does not provide that, no matter how long you stare and wait. In this case, watching the video could be a meditation, leading you to the understanding, that if you want something to change, YOU need to change. Unless the person walking in the circles actually makes the conscious decision to step out of that ring into the next, everything will stay the same.
Are you willing to step outside of the circle? And change the course of history?
Still image from ‘Sowing Salt’ (Art Video / Performance )
Have you ever sowed salt?
No? – Why would you?!?!
Any sane person would know that that would be futile and at the same time dangerous, poisoning and destroying your piece of soil.
But how often have you done something like sowing salt? Investing your energy (or money) and only later realising that you have done more harm than good? And how often did you do something stupid, because somebody told you that “that is what we have to do” or “It is a sure way to get rich (you can substitute ‘rich’ with whatever else you desire)”? I guess we all have at least once sowed salt and been utterly disappointed, asking ourselves why we did not think it through before we invested in an idea, and before it was too late…
It is up to us, to stop sowing salt. Stop whatever “get-rich-quick” scheme you are onto.First think your choices through to the end. Think about the larger picture and what impact it will have on others or your environment. If you are not sure, get informed and educate yourself. It is so easy in today’s world to have easy and free access to information. Share your knowledge and urge people to stop following “get-rich-quick” promises of their leaders. That way we can restore our earth and lives to its natural fertility and beauty.
In 2012 I have made a video art work / performance entitled: Sowing Salt. The work is a contemplation about people blindly following their leaders without questioning if it is right or wrong, and thinking about the long-term effects of their actions.
It was first shown as a video installation in December 2012 at my exhibition “…and I sensed an infinite scream passing through the Namib” (Swakopmund, Namibia). If you have missed the exhibition, you can now get a glimpse of this video work.
To get a brief impression of the original video installation, please follow the link below. In the exhibition the video continued in loop endlessly. Watch the video in the highest quality possible and remember to switch on the sound.
Imke Rust 