Solemnity Moment
Video loop, 2005, format 4 : 3, colour, stereo.
The camera focuses on an old woman, who is twisting wool into a thread in one hand and winding it onto a spindle with the other. Accompanied by her cat, who is stretched out luxuriously, the woman embodies a timeless situation, which stems from an age before the advent of modern times, before work and leisure became separated and time-saving machines speeded up all processes and activities. In its motif and colours the video is reminiscent of the atmosphere of traditional genre painting and of undisturbed duration; however, the sound track communicates the immediate presence of current events. Romanian television is reporting on the finalization of negotiations for Romania and Bulgaria to join the European Union. Although in an almost casual way this announces the approaching end of the traditional world seen in the images, the woman continues her spinning, unimpressed. Questions about the future, about what is lost and gained by change, are only posed by the artist and the observer — the old woman steadily continues to spin her thread.
