Crawlspace
2023
Short video fragments are distorted and form a dark stream of almost comical bitterness. Someone is hidden in his room, devoid of any contact. He bitterly resents the people around him, or he would - there’s no one around. The only things he resents more than others is himself. He’s the man from the underground.
подполья it’s the Russian word for the space under the floor, where rats and bugs thrive. it’s not a space fitting for human beings, it’s a space for creatures that needs to be removed from sight.
Crawlspace is a narrative A/V piece based on Notes from the Underground by Dostoevkij. It tries to render the corrosive irony of the novel through the disconnected juxtapositions of incompatible sound objects. Mimicking the character self-awareness, every section tries to negate the others, as if the piece is trying to ridicule itself.
The piece was realised with Max MSP, both the audio and video. The aim was to dehumanise the performance as much as possible, rendering the movement mechanical and stiff, as in a Buster Keaton short. Every scene employs different techniques: moire, random slicing and distorted sampling. Each of this technique moves independently, toward chaos.
Every layer has its own rules: pre recorded materials clash with improvisation that crashes with the machine that crushes its own byproducts.