Second Sight/Split Second brings together many of my various interests in art, science and the wonders of nature. Ever since my stint producing science videos at MIT with Walter Lewin I became amazed by Doc Edgerton’s high-speed photographs and films. For this project I had a rare opportunity to use one of the labs high speed cameras for this installation.
In Split Second I am interested in exploring basic human gestures to interrogate what we think we understand of them and to subvert their meanings. In the project I am interested in challenging notions and perceptions of time and the relationship and tension between stillness and motion. I filmed re-enactments of quotidian actions or gestures for a length of .5 to 2 .0 seconds and recorded at 2000 fps. When transferred to standard video they play back over the course of 60 to 120 seconds transforming them into something that is at once seductive and repulsive. I present the work as a series on 14” flat screens, mimicking the traditional size and proportions of classical photography exhibition.