all the time in the world

An imaginary sightseeing tour of Market Street, San Francisco, made using vernacular material over one hundred years old. Market Street is of particular interest to The Selle Circle, a loose collective mentioned earlier, interested in study and repurposing the work of a street vendor photographer. It’s the place many of his photographs were made, starting about 50 years after this source material was created.

tea

The routine of acts performed often should not be cause for boredom. This small film demonstrates that much lies beneath the surface, behind the scene.

paradise

Within each person lies a walled garden, a place where all that’s learned, lessons about soul, happy memories and much more reside. This tour is of one such place, but it’s not much unlike your own.

Etymology: The word 'paradise' is charged. I refer to numerous online definitions that refer to a "walled enclosure" or a "walled garden". The skull is the wall, the mind is contained within.

The project paradise may be seen here.

completely bizarre

Suggested by Andy Eskind, we see the same person, probably the same photographer capturing the subject at the same angle, but with different clothing and on different days. We don’t know how much time has past, only that alignments are weirdly and unexpectedly correct. The project may be seen here.

A fine essay on the topic of Joseph Selle was written by Andy, who includes essential reference to The Selle Circle, a small group interested in what of the Selle archive that remains: at least one million negative images. It can be found here.

experiments can have unexpected outcomes

A similar method used in 2 ladies reveals something unexpected: a group of four men who appear to start floating away. The work four guys can be watched here.

the still picture that moves

One property of 17523 Pictures is that it demonstrates human incapacity to absorb all that goes on around us, leaving a vacuum of incomplete memory. In the experiment 2 ladies, the minutia in 1/8 second of the lives of two ordinary people is explored in piercing detail. Like watching the minute hand of a clock, very subtle movements can be seen. If any of us could have stood on that San Francisco street corner 60 years ago, it would’ve been impossible to notice all those little parts of life. Yet they did happen and 2 ladies shows the fullness of time is actually made of tiny moments.

2 ladies may be viewed here.

ps.

 

In the entry “memories that never formed”, there was a slight introduction to my motion media work 17523 Pictures. A more nuanced explanation of that work, along with works by my colleagues was written by Chris Burnett. It can be found here.
 

A two minute excerpt of the work may be viewed here. The whole piece is about 10 minutes long and is exhibited as a continuous loop without title or credits.