Before the Sun

 

Before the Sun

Karthik Pandian

2010

Medium:

• Two 16mm film projectors 
• Two mirrorpane glass columns
• Large dirt base 

External Information:

• Has had solo exhibitions at Richard Telles Fine Art,Galerie Meyer Kainer, and Vienna 
• His films have been showcased at Bidoun Video, UAE, Anthology Film Archives, and the Hammer Museum.

I was very annoyed when i entered the museum. I was 30min late and the first thing i see is a pitch black room. The room smelled like dirt and the concrete floor made me think of walking in a basement. Once my eyes adjusted I noticed that there was a film being projected onto the corner on my left. The film appeared to be coming from the center of the room. The film projector was housed in a huge mirrorpane glass column directly behind a second projector that was facing diagonally opposite of the other one. The mirror columns are standing on top of a huge dirt plaza. The dirt plaza felt very cold and it had what appeared to be shells all over the four sides of the plaza. In one of the corners the film would show the sun rising. In the opposite corner the film would show the sun starting high in the sky and then it would slowly descend until it was completely covered by the Indian mounds. At first I did not like this piece but it slowly grew on me. The thing that pulled me in the most was the ability to interact with the work. Being able to sit on the dirt plaza really helped me understand more about the work. Instead of just standing and watching the film for a few seconds, I actually sat there and started to brainstorm about the possible meanings behind the two films and about the placement of everything in the room.