1
2001, 3:12 min

Texts | Images | Video

'The world will devour you....'

A group of cops laugh and talk, while scanning the street for suspicious activity. An extreme close-up of a sensuously exposed neck; a soft pink fleshy ear turns to reveal an inquisitive hostile eye....

1 is a short tape about longing, threat, power and seduction, with the camera functioning in turn, as aggressor, mediator and confessor. The split-screen image as well as the eerie sound track, made up of two versions of the same Miles Davis song run simultaneously, underline Silver's ambivalent take on the controversial subject matter, as well as calling the work's title into question.

written, directed, edited: Shelly Silver
music: Miles Davis, "Nuit Sur Les Champs-Elysées" from Ascenseur pour l'échefaud

selected exhibitions & screenings:
Video Jam, Palm Beach Institute for Contemporary Art, Florida; X-ing the Line, The Queens Museum, NY; Is Too Much Ever Enough? Plug-In, Basel, Switzerland, CTRL [SPACE} die waschsame Gesellschaft (International Media Art Prize), ZKM, Germany; Festival Int'l du Cinema & des Nouveaux Medias de Montreal, Canada, Dallas Video Festival

selected broadcasts:
Schweizer Fernsehen SF DRS, SF2, WDR, Arte, SUDWEST-TV