Katleen Vermeir

• CV
• Texts
• Links
• Contact

This video was made during a 1 year stay of the artist in China in 1998. The video was made in 2 parts, in the beginning and towards the end of the stay. The work started by a find of a book on Vermeer in Chinese. Struck by the new context she had to live in in China, she decided to stage herself in Vermeer-like portraits, working with all the elements available in the cramped room she was living in: a chinese thermos, a world map with China appearing in the middle, curtains etc...Time in the video is the real time of reading a letter or filling a cup with water. The artist ads 'the making of' fragments in the video, apparently filming herself, setting up each scene and trying to guess the best place for standing or sitting in front of the camera. This heightens the awareness of the camera and the artificialness of the scenes. Outside this peace-full setting we can hear some Chinese screaming outside of the room, indicating the artist is not at all in her home environment. The vertically filmed scenes in the video are also shown horizontally, making the water that is poured from a thermos run horizontally, adding a slightly absurd element to the video.