The touch of proximity


single channel video, 12'00", loop
2011

 
The gradual unfolding of a gesture
— Paul Virilio, The Vision Machine
In proximity touch is an infinitely intimate lightness
— Cathryn Vasseleu, Textures of Light, Vision and Touch
Rather than being apprehended by the subject, proximity is a signifying of an expositional ‘there is’ that is alien to but suspended in presence.
— Cathryn Vasseleu, Textures of Light, Vision and Touch
 
 

Two bodies perform an endless cyclical action that develops at their own slow and suspended rhythm. As breath does, it is a cycle that inhales and exhales, expands and contracts, following a series of micro events contained inside a sustained scheme that swings between closeness and distance.

A movement driven by a kind of magnetism that compels them to lengthen in order to touch each other, and establish a point of contact. But when the elongation comes to its peak, being only a sixteenth of an inch away, the moment of touch never gets accomplished.

They will get closer and almost blend, but will never get to touch. Their relationship is defined by an infinite continuum of proximity, and by the impossibility of coming into contact.

A touching gesture, that never gets to culminate but nevertheless becomes eternal, resulting in two bodies in a state of constant vulnerability and exposure, open to each other at the same time that they are alien to themselves.