BLOCKS (After Jamie Nares)
After Jamie Nares' Block (1975), which traces a city block from avenue to avenue at five frames a second. Where Nares measures anonymous urban space, I attempt the same operation at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, a site whose meaning cannot be bracketed. In the film's insistence on a simple form, in its repetition, and in its aestheticization, I undertake a measurement of a monument that insists on measuring me. The film passes as formal exercise, and in that passing, asks what it means to aestheticize this ground at all.
Thank you to Mono No Aware in Brooklyn, NY and Sasha Mink for camera operation.
Super 8 transferred to 4K video, film-out to 16mm; 8 min, silent (2025)
After Jamie Nares' Block (1975), which traces a city block from avenue to avenue at five frames a second. Where Nares measures anonymous urban space, I attempt the same operation at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, a site whose meaning cannot be bracketed. In the film's insistence on a simple form, in its repetition, and in its aestheticization, I undertake a measurement of a monument that insists on measuring me. The film passes as formal exercise, and in that passing, asks what it means to aestheticize this ground at all.
Thank you to Mono No Aware in Brooklyn, NY and Sasha Mink for camera operation.
©2025