Bokker

The video Bokker by Christine de la Garenne was created as part of a double projection for the project Beijing Case - Kultur des High Speed Urbanismus in which the artist participated while on a study grant to Peking.

The loop shows a Chinese boy turning round and round on a vaulting horse. Clad only in shorts, the athlete concentrates every muscle fibre on the act of artistic body control. The rhythmic sound of his hand movements combined with the rise and fall of his breath underscore the magnetic mechanical force of the seemingly endless repetitions. The continuous frontal eye-to-eye shot of the gymnast shows his head and rotating feet in alternating frames, lending the composition a symmetrical equilibrium. In chromatic terms, the intense blue of his shorts stands out, echoed in the colour scheme of the background. The superficial monotony of the movement is broken up by fine variations in speed as well as by an oscillation in the synchronicity and asynchronicity of the soundtrack. By exaggerating a banal act through ad absurdum repetition, Christine de la Garenne succeeds at crafting a subtle work that not only unnerves the eye and ear, but also offers an opportunity for political reflection. (Frederik Geisler)