Swing depicts an austere interior scenario of several adults and a child where something has happened or is about to happen. Nobody moves.
The scenario is filmed in two dissimilar ways with a camera that oscillates between the actors in space, bouncing left and right, approaching the actors and pulling back again. Sometimes the juxtaposed images are almost identical, or slightly dissimilar at other times very different.
The two juxtaposed images are fragmented and seem to slip away. Their dissimilar movements and views create friction and spatial distortion. At moments views of the scene are doubled, at other times parts of the scene are left out. As a result new spatial relations are made between the represented persons.
The low camera point of view corresponds with the child's perspective. Some adult's heads are outside of the frame, only visible at fleeing moments in the mirror's reflection. Visible are just their lower body parts and hands that give them an uncomfortable presence.
In Swing I am reflecting on unequal group situations and relations depicted in the large number of adults against a single child.
The soundtrack is mixed from fragmented dialogues. Repeated and deprived of their original chronology and context the spoken words become demanding questions, orders, justifications or thoughts that allow for ambiguous interpretations. |
