DEMOLITION / CHAIQIAN / 拆·迁 (2008)
Directed by J.P. Sniadecki
62 minutes
Using a waist-high camera pointed at the ground and a drone that follows above, Nadav Assor's GROUND EFFECT takes its name from the phenomenon by which drones and helicopters, in the process of mapping the environment, alter the landscape by displacing the ground's surface. The objective visual recording thus becomes subjective in its effect on the land. Merging the camera footage into one, Assor points out the unique flaws and irreconcilability of objective and subjective ways of perceiving. Likewise, J.P. Sniadecki's DEMOLITION / CHAIQIAN, produced in association with the Harvard Sensory Ethnography Lab, shakes loose a firm cinematic sense of perception. Shot over the course of three weeks and following a group of migrant demolition workers and city dwellers in Chengdu, China, DEMOLITION / CHAIQIAN imbues heavy demolition equipment with awkwardness and humor and turns cameras on cameras, all while a city is disappearing underfoot amidst a sonic tank of grinding metal, bursting concrete, and electronic beeps. Conversely, in Viktoria Schmid's W O W (KODAK), structures reappear as demolished portions of the Rochester Kodak factory emerge from towering dust clouds, rhyming with the Lumière brothers' DEMOLITION D'UN MUR made over a century prior. Preceded by: Viktoria Schmid W O W (KODAK) 2018, 2 min, 35mm-to-DCP Nadav Assor GROUND EFFECT 2016, 14 min, digital