The presented outcome of the project is a recording of a long term process based on transforming movie constituents into an object. In my photos I am presenting a movie as an artifact in a different state.
The whole act enabling the transformation of movie constituents was quite simple. The object was created by rewriting the script of a movie „The Case for a Rookie Hangman“ using a mechanical typewriter and standard A4 paper. In the center of each paper, I wrote the most possible number of words that fit in one line. I did not split the words that got to the edge of the paper as I was trying to be utmost precise and accurate. I had spent on month on the transcript - couple of hours a day. Gradual layering of individual sheets formed a block of papers - an object.
Fixed typeface of a typewriter along with a width a standard A4 format paper and the thickness of the layered sheets have become the unit of measure, which is attempting to demonstrate the volume of information we absorb during a feature film. The typewriter itself is a safeguards the act, each stroke creates an original imprint of an individual letter.
To illustrate this I will introduce a scene from Kubric’s movie The Shining (1980). The wife of Jack Torrence, a close to being mad writer, enters his study room and in his typewriter she finds a sheet of paper with a recurring sentence written on it „All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. Immediately, she notices a box full of these sheets. The volume fills her with anxiety and fear.
The plain act of such defined transcript enabled me to dwell inside of the movie for the entire month. That is the essence of the whole work. In opposition to standard circumstances, when we are given about 90 minutes to watch the movie, the perception of the movie changes based on the provided circumstances.
The slowed-down reception affects the brains’ role, which rests upon rendering visual and other stimuli into a train of thoughts. This principle can be also observed in, the iconic work of Scottish artist Douglas Gordon, 24 Hour Psycho (1993). Author presents a different take on Hitchcock’s familiar classic. Extremely slowed-down projection disables the recipient’s ordinary perception. Opposed to standard viewing, Gordon gives the story a new dimension, by unveiling concealed details that are under the common perception threshold.
In my own work I am also attempting to accentuate the perception of an art work. I transform my own perception into an object. From plain film watching I create a real record. I am verifying the fact, that all consumption is a production. Marcel Duchamp used to say: „It is the spectators who make the pictures”. We are producing new substances by using artifacts, even in the role of a spectator we are not completely passive. I am trying to materialize this non-standard angle of perception and I make it into something seizable, at the same time I give myself time to come to terms with these facts. Here I get to the issue of relation between an art work and the information it carries, relation between artwork and author. In my work, the artificially created record is a point on the path, where the information travel - with the participation of other authors. The motion towards a new art piece transforms these information.
Thanks to the directors diary records I could follow the origination of the script and consequently the film (which I picked intuitively) itself. The film is perceived as an iconic piece of work of the „new wave“ era. I examined the impact that Juracek’s personal experiences had on his work, his sources of inspiration and the atmosphere of the sixties, which he lived through in Prague. His work and his inner world fascinated me to such extent that I undergone this exploration and I partly attempted to put myself into his role. I was willing to spend weeks rewriting his unusual and exalted work.
Although, I am more concerned with presenting my idea and my personal stance to existing artifact, my work also has a visual form.
The documentation developed simultaneously during the process. Resulting from this process the photo documentation and its presentation is yet another layer of this work. I worked steadily on capturing my working environment and the creation of the object.
It is not necessary that the installation always looks the same. There are possible modifications in reaction to a given gallery space.
Jan Lesak, Prague, 2010
česká verze textu - http://foodlab.cz/udalosti/jan-lesak-pripad-pro-zacatecnika