OSMOTIC

Jan Verbeek's video Osmotic was made in the South Korean capital of Seoul. In the first take, the camera slowly closes in on a young parking garage attendant wearing a grey trench coat who is directing passing cars alternately toward two exits. The green floor of the garage seems like a wet meadow - an association that is further heightened by the sound of falling raindrops. In this painting-like composition, the sky is formed by a large blue sign in the background. The grey figure of the parking attendant stands out with his clear, almost choreographed-seeming movements against these intense contrasting hues. The central motif of the work is Verbeek's exploration of movement and stasis, of sound and silence. The noise of the rain mixes with other acoustic elements and is at times drowned out by deep, synthetic tones as well as the sound of squealing tyres. In a series of cross-fades, the camera perspective changes several times, until the protagonist is finally duplicated in two overlapping, half-transparent shots and thus ends up facing himself. What was once a functional stance becomes pure performance, the parking attendant an elegant dancer. (Thomas Jantschik)