Event

Paterson - Lodz

"Impressions of the ground from Paterson, New Jersey and Lodz in Poland cast into glass and then filmed against the sky as the light changes through their intricately detailed surface. Fragments of voice-overs recounting the history of the two towns at the start of the twentieth century, in particular two events: the 1905 revolution in Lodz and the 1913 Paterson Silk Strike. Soundscapes of the two towns that playback so that their streets seem to cut through the auditorium. These excavated pieces of our world are set alongside each other. They each speak in their own way, and through the friction that builds up around their edges; history, space and representation are invested with a quality both concrete and plastic.

Each time the film is projected a computer selects new fragments of the histories and new sounds of the cities to play over the image. This is a history that goes backwards and forwards in time; that changes according to new sets of connections in the sound; in which beginning and end are unclear. Paterson - Lodz is a reflection on the possibilities and failure of two social movements that opened the twentieth century, and of a present moment still searching for a way to enter into history."- R. Entwistle