En Route

En Route is an example of a conceptual video. The audio-visual experience is of equal importance to the technical conception of the video, which is compiled from a selection of 64 separate sequences arranged in ever-changing order. These sequences are put together by a computer programme in a different way each time the video is played, according to specific criteria such as length, colours, direction of movement, the way images are framed, or the typography of text that appears. Thus, the number of possible videos, varying in length from 5-8 minutes, is virtually unlimited. The images and sequences of the video, shot during a two-week tour through Italy and France in 2002, usually out of the window of a moving or parked car, show street scenes and industrial buildings from the 1960s and 1970s. The parts of architecture shown are frequently chosen in such a way that the three-dimensional images tend to be read as two-dimensional (coloured) surfaces. This effect, together with the length of the sequences in which these objects are shown, creates a minimalist aesthetic. Each scene is accompanied by music, ranging from chanson to hard techno beats, which supports the mood of each clip and the aesthetic of the images. (Nadia Ismail)