The 16mm film Two Rods is based on one of a series of experiments on the visualization of volume by means of movement and light. The experiments were carried out at the Bauhaus academy in Dessau by the head of the sculpture workshop Joost Schmidt and his students Heinz Loew and Edmund Collein.
For Two Rods I copied the image of one of those experimental set-ups four times and attached them to each other in such a way that the sheets form a cross, similar to a revolving door. For the 16mm film I set the “revolving door” in motion, with the images being subdued to perspective distortions. In the original set up two rods were made to rotate and by means of long exposure create the photograph of a solid shape. In my 16mm film the depiction of this shape is transferred from the two-dimensional sheet of paper into a three dimensional cylinder made visible in film time.
At the Villa Merkel Two Rods was projected into the niche of a little prayer room and the projection was photographed. The photograph was printed large and mounted to a wooden wall. The wall concealed the entrance to the niche it depicted.
The 16 mm film was projected onto its wooden reverse side during the exhibition.
