Lamelas conceived of his early films as sculptural forms without physical substance; Time As Activity - Düsseldorf is the first film in the artists four-decade Time As Activity series. In this body of work, shot using a stationary camera in several different cities, the artist relates the concept of time, as a human invention, to architectural and urban structures. Upon first glance, the work appears to merely document the daily rhythm of the city from three different locations. But before each shot, Lamelas informs us of its exact duration; with this gesture, he posits time as both subject and medium. The artist has described the work as a "time projector" that superimposes another time onto the "real time" of the viewers present moment; in this way, Time As Activity points to the impossibility of an unmediated representation of the world "as it is." The work is at once highly structured and markedly formless, opening up a space for the viewer to consider the production of meaning.
Gallery label from Images of an Infite Film, September 7, 2013–March 2, 2014.
