Barbara Hammer (US)

Cinéma Spoutnik


Bent Time
1983, 16 mm, color, sound, 22min

Music by Pauline Oliveros (Rattlesnake Mountain, 1982)

© All rights reserved by the artists / Authorization by Light Cone

Bent Time is influenced by scientists who have noted that light rays curve at the outer edges of the universe leading them to theorize that time also bends. A one-point perspective visual path across the US beginning inside a linear accelerator – or atom-smashing device – and traveling to such high-energy locations as the home of an ancient sun calendar in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico; the site of Ohio Valley Mound cultures; the Golden Gate and Brooklyn Bridges; and beyond. Inspired by this idea, I used an extreme wide angle lens of 9mm and ‘one frame of film per foot of physical space’ to simulate the concept of time bending”. — Barbara Hammer

By repetition,
you start noticing details
in the landscape