Week 8_Response_Sam Glover

This week, I chose The Coasting by Omer Fast.

I was honestly really intrigued by the video. I think it might even be one of my favorite videos we watched in class so far. I thought the concept was really interesting. It was a two-channel film with narration and characters, yet, the images were static and almost photographic. The actors stood as still as possible in each frame. In the attached interview, Fast described that the concept behind his work was how we remember and retell our memories. What moments we remember, what moments we don't, and how we choose to re-tell them. I believe that the static, frozen nature of the actors mimics how these moments are "frozen in time."

There are three separate narratives throughout the video: an interview, an unstable relationship, and an event during the Iraq War. As the storyteller narrates his way through each topic, they blend seamlessly into one another. It would be difficult to tell where one story ends and another begins if it weren't for the visual supplements. I think it's symbolic of how our memories sometimes blend together, especially after years of the actual event happening.

This piece was shown as an installation. On one side, we see the footage that I have mentioned so far. On the other side, we see the "behind the scenes" of the artist conducting the actual interview with his narrator. We can see how the artist has cut and combined the audio to create the overall story. With this, we are invited into the mind of the artist.