Nov. 27, 2010 - Jan. 22, 2011
Quad I and II, 1981, video, black and white, colour, 15:00 min.
Arena Quad I & II features four hooded figures whose age and sex remain unidentifiable, and who are seen walking across an enclosed square, or quad, in a seemingly obsessive, ritualistic manner. The figures advance along an apparently random yet pre-established course, turning endlessly in what amounts to an incessant and unsuccessful effort to “exhaust space.”
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The work is composed of two sequences with a similar structure: the first sequence is in color, and is accompanied by percussion music that is coordinated with the movements of the characters. The second sequence is filmed in black-and-white, and is not accompanied by sound. It is characterized by a more somber, minimalist quality, which emphasizes the essential aesthetic of the movement.
Quad is also the title of a play that Beckett wrote for German Television in 1981. The video Arena Quad I & II is based on this theatrical text, and blurs the boundaries between theatre and the visual arts.
G. L.
Samuel Beckett – born in Ireland, 1906 ; Deceased in 1989 in France.
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