Video essay, 9:32 min, Full HD, sound
TOUCHSCREEN is an essay that deals with a shift of observation perspective in a time of isolation and reduced human interaction. Using the 16th-century painting The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger as a starting point, the text traces a journey through space and time, focusing on several human and non-human works of art. As our worlds are reduced to the size of our respective bubbles, the only way out is through the mind’s eye. Zoom out and observe the world from the perspective of a bird or a satellite.
“It is this dual way of viewing, the multiple dimensions which make me leap out of my first-person perspective and ascend into a bird’s viewpoint. From this viewpoint, the Ambassadors and all the other three-dimensional objects become anamorph, and the skull becomes deliciously sculptural with all its richness and depth. This out-of-body experience, the looking down, makes thinking about the places I can’t visit and things I cannot touch bearable. I open my browser and take myself on a digital journey, visiting a few places close to my heart, and far beyond my sight.”
