True North

MAK Center/LA



Why show only the still images from a video work?

In isolating the forms, immobilizing them Julien enables the viewer to concentrate on the exoticized environment, a space akin to Flaherty's exploration of the north, (Presently the temperature on Iqaluit, Nunavut is 9 degrees C. While it's currently 55 degrees F in Reykjavik, Iceland. 55-32=23 times 5/9=approximately 13 degrees celsius.) Although the photos themselves depict a cold place they aren't grainy, scary...at all like Nanook. Obviously a stylistic replica isn't what Julien was going for. The photos are too clean at times recalling expensive photospreads in fashion magazines in exotic locales. The asian assistant, let's call him Nanook's distant cuz looks cold down to his skivvies despite his hooded haute couture fur coat. But the assistant (unlike in the DVD Installation with three screens), looks like a model, statuesque and oddly warm.
This confidence/comfort in the facial expression/posture is both inviting and disconcerting.
Will continue organizing my thoughts on this later...