3922frames

Video work from Bogdan Aleksandrov, 2012.

"3922 frames" is a video work made from the record of a performance by Bogdan Aleksandrov. The performance and video alike represent a confrontation between man and the relentless progression of time; in so doing it deals with the issues of mortality/eternity, the progression of time, and the human desire to "make a mark" that will endure beyond a lifetime. The symbolism deployed to encompass these elements begins with the location of the performance, the clock tower of one of the largest and oldest cathedrals in Bulgaria: the religious location invoking simultaneous thoughts of man's mortality and desire for eternity, the clock(which has run continuously for over 100 years) keeping an impersonal and steady beat to the passing moments of generations of men. The next element to the work is both the material chosen for and particular location selected by the artist for the screen on which the performance happens: clear plastic nylon(ironically cheap and disposable), and placed directly in front of the clock. The time is only a few seconds before high noon, the stage is set for a confrontation between the artist(representing mortal man) and the clock(representing the impersonal tyranny of time). The clock sounds off the passing moments, the man makes his mark in defiance. The final act is the creation of this video, the title another reference to time, in the form of the number of frames in the film. The drama continues and the end result is not certain, time continues to assert itself over the artist, and yet the video itself gives a form of immortality that perhaps cheats time of a portion of its victory .