The work is shot out of a train driving down the Connecticut coastline and slowed down resembling the state of mind of a long drive: not being in a specific place – a liminal, in-between, time stretched, bored and somewhere else with one's own thoughts – a transitional moment. The analog 16mm material is intersected with additional computer-generated frames. 9 out of 10 frames are generated by a machine learning-algorithm – these are artificial, a construct, reflecting the original material, which also is a construct itself, reflecting some moment in time and space – a situation, reducing the moving image back to a series of static images. I never planned to take the train – but we crash the car coming down two days before. This is me leaving. This is me working through.
The Autofriction video series is a set of three films shot in a similar manner but dealing with different approaches to the evolving topic. They are shown in chronological order. The work looks at the subject and otherness (as part of the subject) through deconstructing the idea of film and camera asking questions of space and reference. The scenes are shot from the passenger seat of a driving car and slowed down resembling the state of mind of a long drive: not being in a specific place – a liminal, in-between, time stretched, bored and somewhere else with one´s own thoughts – a transitional moment. The analog 16mm material is intersected with additional computer-generated frames. 9 out of 10 frames are generated by a machine learning-algorithm – these are artificial, a construct, reflecting the original material, which also is a construct itself, reflecting some moment in time and space – a situation, reducing the moving image back to a series of static images. The two mediums, one old and one contemporary, inform and deconstruct each other vice versa. Between the first and second film I was in a car crash in Harford (CT) which changed my relationship to this work completely. While I wanted to continue the work with filming in New England suburbs – wealthy neighborhoods which are intrinsically bound to the function and idea of cars, and discursive cultural space of coming-of-age – there was a need to inform the work through my own, autobiographical experiences. So, the second film is shot out of the train I took after the car was totaled in order to continue my trip down the east coast. Weeks later I revisited the train ride with a camera to document it.