This video work is divided into three 10-minute-long sections titled: “Well Made,” “Badly Made” and “Not Made.” In the “Well Made” section, which was filmed in black-and-white, the artist executes a series of orders given by a blindfolded image of himself talking on a monitor screen. In the “Badly Made” section (presented in color) he is reflected in a mirror to the right of a monitor, smoking and watching himself perform the “Well Made” section on screen. Finally, in the “Not Made” section, he turns to the viewer to explain the concept underlying the three sections.
He subsequently announces that these three sections will now be composed into a new “Well Made” section, a new “Badly Made” section and a new “Not Made” section. These three 30-minute-long sections, he continues, will then form a third cycle, composed of three 90-minute-long sections, “And So On, End So Soon”…
The geometrical progression envisioned by Filliou serves as the basis for an endless cycle lasting until the end of time, which might be interpreted as his own version of the act of creation.
G. L.
Robert Filliou – born in France, 1926; Deceased in France, 1987.
Less Reading...