Anguish
A study of the behavior of a person in front of a horror movie. We are confronted with the harnessing of a situation and its recording through video image. The off-field has become field: the presence of the known and the unknown are reversed: we see the spectator but we know nothing of the images she sees. There is an “over-presence” of the spectator since she is both in the video as well as in front of the movie. The principle of the reception is found inside the work, the catharsis is dedoubled. This work suggests that the (real) spectator is an almighty actor, as proven by the “spectacular” reactions of the young girl in the center of this work. The principle remains somehow sociological (reminding the dancers studied by Rineke Dijkstra in her first video The Buzzclub, Liverpool, UK/Mysteryworld, Zaandam, NL (1996-1997)), but the editing here is done with very short shots: it underlines firstly and foremost the formal interest of the behavioural reactions of the subject, reinforced by the fact that we cannot hear the sound of her voice. The sound surroundings do not include the young girl’s.
Reiner Gabrielle
