For 'lit' nothing was recreated or staged (because Mati did not perform as instructed and so she was captured as she usually behaves). But for 'listen' this was different. I did not accidentally encounter grains of sand jumping around in the city center of Lisbon, neither did I find those underwater clouds in a glass served to me in a café. I made those intentionally. And there are a few more videos that I staged. They come from things I have seen, so yes, from memory. They were not at all accurate retakes of what I saw the first time around. The sand in 'listen' comes from the Cymatics videos from Hans Jenny. He shows how certain sound frequencies create different geometric shapes. Very interesting to watch and I decided that little jumping grains of sand corresponded with other small wiggles I had seen in videos I had previously shot, so I gave it a try. Because I did not want to show geometrical shapes, but wanted to focus on the jumping particles (like atoms maybe), I took a different angle than Hans and filmed it as a landscape. The watery clouds come from sinking tea leaves, very soothing to watch, but somehow not interesting enough when turned into a video. And so, I poored some other stuff found in the kitchen into a class of water and full grain flour gave the best result. And then of course there are those terrible moments when you are not quick enough to grab your camera. This happened to me this morning. I took the train at the same station I take it almost every day, going in the same direction, but instead of taking it at 5 in the afternoon, I was there at 11 in the morning. And instead is being in the front of the train, I was in the back. It is a whole different view and it needs to be filmed at 2 certain parts of the journey. They are shots of maximum 20 seconds, by the time I would have gotten my camera set, the moment would have long passed. So I enjoyed the view and I will make sure to go back again on another day. This happens rarely and usually when returning, things are not exactly the same. Still pretty, but just slightly different.
So then, if I usually do not use memory, how come the videos look like memories being told?
In case of 'lit' it is part of the story and very early on it is announced by Anya's words that she is looking back at something that happened in the past "I felt like in a dream." Words are amazingly powerful and so her voice right away sets the tone for the rest of the film: it's a memory. Then there is the little glitch in the film, which also often appear in memories, they deform over time and you start to wonder if it really was the way you remember it. Last there are the shots that are played in reverse, that seem to trow you back in time. For the other video works the sense of memory has to do with their stillness and their abstraction. Like memories they are partly frozen and no longer as sharp as when it really happened. Also, there is a slight distance between you and your memories, you are no longer taking part in what happened, you become the observer. That's also how many of my videos are shot, from the observer point of view. This all creates a little nostalgic feeling which then again connects back to the words of Alain de Botton: “A feeling of sadness arises in people, when looking at a beautiful work of art or being in a beautiful piece of nature. It reminds them of the absence of this beauty in normal days and they wonder, why not everyday life can be like this.” and my desire to remind people to see the beauty in daily life. When you are not able to see that anymore, what can help you to believe? Memories.
What is the role of technique in your practice? In particular are there any constraints or rules that you follow when creating?
By education I am a photographer and I think it shows in my videos, especially in my first works. I basically used the video camera as if it were a photo camera. It's just that the photo's I took, were videos.
When I studied photography the change from analogue to digital became a serious thing and we were asked to buy a digital camera. A simple one (non reflex) was alright. So I had this tiny digital camera that I could take everywhere, that came with a video function on it. One day I had pointed it on a TV, switched off, and sunlight was dancing on it´s screen. Magic was being shown on TV, while it was switched off. Now, as a photographer, you are more or less looking for that ultimate shot, when all elements from the scenery come together in such a way that they create ultimate perfection (or imperfection, but if that is what you are looking for, it becomes perfection anyway). After shooting quite a lot of pictures of these sunbeams dancing on the TV screen I switched it to video mode and presented the pictures and the video at school.
After this experiment it took me more or less till my final year to realize that the ultimate moment does not exist. That the ultimate is found in everlasting change, in knowing the delicacy and preciousness of each moment, in being present in every moment of the day.
So, all of that to say that I never was educated in the field of audiovisual production and what I learned was by trial and error and reading online. This is one of my restrictions and one reason why for so long my technique was extremely basic. Next to that, video accessories and editing programmes are also not cheap. And third, I do not want technique to take the attention away from the grandeur that I am filming and the story I am telling.
Therefor I love to keep camera movement at a minimal and often use a tripod, a fixed camera position, so that all that is fantastic, is just the filmed scene.
In post production all I might do is add a bit of contrast, for sometimes I loose a bit of that quality with the tools I use. Still my aim is to show reality, therefore I do not temper with color and fancy things I don't even know exist. In 'lit' for the first time I reversed some shots so they play backwards. This was to add to the effect of going back somewhere which is part of the story told.
So basically my one and only self imposed rule and restriction is to keep things real, once again to prove that daily life can be beautiful, just as it is.