‘Tube’ By Zilvinas Kempinas: An Installation Made Out Of VHS Tape
Artist Zilvinas Kempinas uses VHS tape in much of his art and with his work, ‘Tube’, first installed in 2008 and later shown at the Venice Biennale in 2009 he made the most incredible installation with the material. To make it Kempinas strung tape parallel to the ground creating a large translucent tube that viewers could walk through. It was his intention for the participant to have a physical and optical experience while walking through the tube addressing as it does the passage of time and the perception of the body and architecture. As he says himself:
I am attracted to things that are capable of transcending their own banality and materiality to become something else, something more. I like the way that videotape is simultaneously delicate and durable, since it’s meant to last. I can rip it easily with my hands because it’s so thin, but I can also stretch it. Videotape is made to present the world in color, but it appears purely black. It’s supposed to be this safe container of the past, but it is destined to vanish like a dinosaur, to become obsolete, pushed away by new technologies. It’s a familiar mass-produced commodity, but it can be surprisingly sensual and can look almost alive if set in motion. It can be seen as a solid, thick, black line, but it can also disappear right in front of your eyes if it’s turned on its side
I know the installation is three years old but I’d love the chance to walk through it. I must find out more about him
Via Triangulation
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