Lydia Hannah Debeer
undertaker
Lydia Debeer _ video _ Undertaker
Undertaker | 2014
video with stereo sound, 09'53"
“The scenes in the video film 'The Undertaker' (2014) are like riddles: they are unreal and intriguing. Initially you think you are in a machine plant. After having climbed up some stairs you arrive on a floor higher in an unwelcoming living room. In the following location you have the impression you have ended up in a church. Slowly you can connect up the various places and it dawns on you that you are in a crematorium. The way in which the spaces have been successively brought into view — like a journey through the building — is particularly effective. The actions of the man who is being followed by the camera betray little about the nature of his activity. The building plays the leading role and the successive spaces have been recorded in an oppressive manner, with little light, making it seem as if the image is black and white, reinforcing the solemn atmosphere of the scene. The musical accompaniment — especially the sound of the double bass — adds a barely perceptible, yet powerful dimension to the image. The movement of the camera through the building is careful and its direction is compelling. The opening shot, in which the man comes walking towards you, and the final shot, whereby he is moving away from you, looks like the closing of a circle.”
- excerpt from the text of Frank Lubbers for The Empty Foxhole publication
↳ full text
credits: performance: Boris Bonne / music: Lydia Debeer and Pieter-Jan Van Assche / special thanks to Crematorium Hofheide
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