Walking in the Plane of Disappearance explores the materiality of images and the space where they appear. Filmed during an episode of fog after an acqua alta surge in Venice, the experience of fog suddenly allowed us to perceive the meteorological atmosphere. Atmosphere connects us to our surroundings, and water in suspension in the air, fog, opens the depth of the plane of perception, where perception inside the body matters as much as outside. The experience of water is an intimate encounter. If, through fog, water is the material of atmosphere, then can it also be the material of emotion?
While filming fog, the camera’s electronic lens could not set focus, as if the camera eye could not decide on where to settle; there was no background or foreground, no scale, no depth, and no closeness or distances. What do we lose when something invisible becomes visible? The image on the camera’ screen kept coming into focus and out, disintegrating and reappearing. The film extends the perceptual phenomena, composed of layered images in transparencies; the succession of scenes oscillates between near and far and from one place to another. Walking in the plane of disappearance is about being with the image, rather than looking at an image, in a space where the felt and perceived, distance and closeness fold into each other.
Thi Phuong-Trâm Nguyen