This video is an experiment in the representation of space as experience. Its near sundown, and a single hand held shot traces the edge of a body of water while riding on a bicycle. The construction of canal walls contains the water and makes the tracing possible. The video is an experiment in collage through engagement of a body and tools that extend its action and its perception.
This work draws on the ideas explored in Dalibor Vesely’s, ‘Architecture in the age of divided representation’. This video experiment attempts to consider a poetic approach to representation of space as a method of inquiry into understanding that space.
The music accompanying the ride is borrowed from the album Spaces, by Nils Frahm. The track is ‘Said and Done’. I know the album very well and rode along the Rideau Canal frequently, close to sunset, while listening to these performance pieces. I felt I understood their rhythm and mood. While the crafting of the musical performances documented on Spaces occur in an entirely different context than this one, it speaks to the talent of the artist, as well the capacity of great music, to weave itself into the fabric of many different but very specific realities.