Exhibition text
Play, Pause, Record, Stichting Outline, Amsterdam, 2004
Curated by Huib Haye van der Werf
The work of Rune Peitersen
The work of Rune Peitersen is focussed on controlling time and movement rather than present the fundamental relationship between moving and static images. Thematically his aim is to condense the moment of symbiosis between two people into a seemingly singular fragment in time; coming as close as possible to setting time and motion still – by compressing a process into one brief, repetitive moment – without immobilizing the subject. In Shower004 (2004) it is that moment which is depicted and repeated infinitely for the viewer: a melting of two figures whose actions have been reduced to an endless perpetual movement, or ‘movement-image’. In the case of his photographs, his approach is very much similar, only taken from the other end: by presenting a plurality of form and symbiosis on a two-dimensional plane, he insinuates motion to the viewer without revealing it. This investigation into the boundaries and control of motion is also evident in the manner in which Peitersen constructs his works. For example Bed002 (2004) started as thirty minutes of film which – by repeating and reducing motions from that footage through digital manipulation – has been condensed to five seconds of actual motion. However, concentrating on the formal aspects of his work alone would not do justice to the strong symbolic and thematic quality that dwells within the formal properties that initially fascinate. Works such as Flashlight001 (2003) reveal that the symbiosis which is presented so overtly in this – and other – work(s), becomes an aesthetic and emotional experience once the viewer has past the moment of probing through its explicit shell. What seems grotesque and disproportionate becomes natural and familiar, thereby confronting the audience with its own prudence and speculation. Ultimately Rune Peitersen is not out to shock his audience but rather to overwhelm them with proverbial portrayals of the symbiosis of physical and emotional beings. He does so in a fashion that pays heed to the aesthetics and process of his endeavour, without presenting his audience a profane image or an intangible illustration. One could almost say, ‘normal’.
Huib Haye van der Werf
