My concept is a city is a mechanism dictated by time. I propose to explore this conceptual idea through a series of time-manipulated sequences. By manipulating the way information is played back, I aim to change the perception of the viewer. A series of ordinary events that take place within our city played back at a surreal speed forces the viewer to form a different opinion on the space we live in.
My main artist precedent to influence this concept is Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of Balance, a 1982 art-house film film directed by Godfrey Reggio with music composed by Philip Glass and cinematography by Ron Fricke.
The film consists primarily of slow motion and time-lapse footage of cities and many natural landscapes across the United States. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and music. Reggio explains the lack of dialogue by stating "it's not for lack of love of the language that these films have no words. It's because, from my point of view, our language is in a state of vast humiliation. It no longer describes the world in which we live." In the Hopi language, the word Koyaanisqatsi means "crazy life, life in turmoil, life out of balance, life disintegrating, a state of life that calls for another way of living". The trilogy depicts different aspects of the relationship between humans, nature, and technology.
Koyaanisqatsi was my major influence for this project as tackles the concept of time in both an artistic and political sense. The cinematography says so much about the issues being addressed without saying anything.
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