So I am in this class called art in context where we go to galleries each week and having visiting artists and all of that. It’s a new class offered at my school and its pretty interesting.

Today we went to the list and saw the work from the video artist who is obsessed with time, David Claerbout. Walking into the installation there is a big semi-mesh screen that shows a picture of a door. As time passes people start to walk by and try to open the door and look inside the building. It leaves the viewer hanging for about four or five minutes and then shadows start to appear. It is a really interesting process of looking at an image and waiting. I felt forced to stand there and wait for something to happen, or actually just hoping something would. It was a totally different gallery experience than any other show I have seen.

As you round the corner you can see there are three videos playing, all different, all huge, all playing with time. One is an almost 14 hour video of the same senario shot over and over again with the same actors, dialog, and camera angles; but it was shot over the course of one day so the light changes each time. The interesting thing is that the viewer is forced to accept that he or she will ever be able to experience the whole video for two reasons. One is the gallery is not open that long, and two people just won’t sit there for almost 14 hours. It is a strange acceptance by both the artist and viewer that has to happen to see what is going on.

Through the three projections you can see the next room to the left through the semi-mesh screen (which is a beautiful transition) and one other room with two more videos in it. Across the hall on the other side of the building there is one of the early pieces of a cat and bird in a cage sitting still away from each other that is extremely interesting, and a video of the artist talking about the work.

The whole experience is highly encouraging because I now know that I can last in a gallery for more than ten minutes without being bored. I always thought that to be an impossible feat. Each room makes you want to stay and also makes you want to return after you have left to see what has progressed in each video. I loved being there for the whole hour and was actually the last one of my classmates to leave the gallery. I highly suggest going over and seeing this very well put together show, if for nothing more than to take in the installation’s size and style. That alone is worth meriting.