8 March - 14 April 2007
in association with
16mm Film with sound, 7min 30sec
Daily screening times: 11am - 1pm and 3-5pm and on request
Two Rooms has great pleasure in presenting the New Zealand premier of Be the First to See What you See as you See It, by British Artist Runa Islam. This work was shown in Rosa Martinez’s Arsenale exhibition, Venice Biennale 2005
Runa Islam uses cinema as a source of information and inspiration. Her film and video installations use overlapping layers of narrative to explore notions of truth and fiction, subjectivity and authorship. Her work aims to blur the distinctions between film and sculpture, art and cinema, and encourages a range of interpretations from viewers.
Be The First to See What you See as you See It, is an hypnotic, slow-motion film, portraying a young woman walking through a gallery of fine white china displayed on pedestals. After toying with the objects, the woman begins gently pushing the plates off their stands and watches them smash on the floor. Filmed in slow motion and based in part on the first slow motion test film which showed a man shattering a jug of water, the piece is, in part, an attempt to capture the un-recordable moment of transformation as the objects break into pieces.
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