The Tyranny of Distance
David Lamelas, Time, 1970-2018
Performance in Angers and in Los Angeles
"Anna: On this theme of measurement we can also speak about the project of David Lamelas. So it’s an adaptation of a piece he did in the early 70’s, which is called Time. So this version will be performed live on Saturday November 10 at the same time in LA and Angers and connecting online between the two spaces at noon in LA and at 9pm in Angers.
Sébastien: So we will have 10 people in Los Angeles, and 10 people in Angers, and Lamelas will organize a line pointing in the direction of Angers, and in Angers there will be another line with ten people also aligned. So after counting sixty seconds, David Lamelas will pass the time to the person next to him and this person will count sixty seconds and will pass the time to someone else on his side and so on until the tenth will send the time to Angers, and the first on the line in Angers will receive the time, count sixty second and so on.
Anna: So in the installation the piece is represented by the lines we see here on the floor pointing the direction of Angers, or inversely from France, towards LA.
Maud: This piece emphasizes the impossibility of communication across distance, but also uses technology as a way to bridge between the two locations. The desire for a common ‘now’ is still frustrated by distance as the time is passed from atomized individual to individual, but it is hopeful as well, since the enchainement of the work is continued across distance by way of the mediating abilities of technology."
This text is an excerpt from the performance The Infiltration by Joshua Schwebel whose project was to infiltrate the curators’ position in the exhibition. Read more