Past exhibitions

AGNSW Contemporary Project

Shot recently on location in Berlin, this two-channel video installation presents a curious sequence of events that take place between a film set, a cameraman’s apartment and an artist’s studio, involving a camera lens imbued with mystical qualities. One channel of the video conveys the action of the film set and its protagonists; the other interweaves the perspective of the film being shot – the ‘film within the film’. For the viewer, the experience is one of traversing the realities of multiple screen-worlds, and registering the ‘slippages’ between them.

Australian artist Sam Smith has long been interested in the capacity of moving images to manipulate our sense of time and space and to absorb viewers into fictitious realms. This project is the first time he has shot on celluloid film in addition to video, bringing a new dimension to his exploration of cinematic conventions in an era of digital production.

AGNSW Contemporary Projects are supported by Andrew Cameron.