Sean Capone

Lives and works in New York

Molecular Clock II, USA 2020, 6 minutes, Loop

https://www.seancapone.com

The film was created in response to the media imagery that emerged in the early days of the COVID pandemic. Images of cartoon viruses and efflorescent microbiological landscapes dominated the news, aestheticizing the crisis while almost obfuscating the human face of the social catastrophe. While the title refers to a biological method for tracing mutation events, the visuals make references to Vanitas representations and Ascension imagery of Renaissance cathedral ceiling murals. “Molecular Clock II” is a macabre dance about the cyclical transience of life, which rears up in a brief, magnificent form and inevitably has to surrender to the forces of nature.

curated by Robert Seidel within the programme Phantom Horizons

The on-going screening series Phantom Horizons presents digital as well as analogue works that question the paradigm of linear perspective, seeking a new kind of “status perspective” [Bedeutungsperspektive]. The latter was a development of ancient and medieval painting, in which the size of figures is determined by their hierarchical significance. Extending this approach using the methodology of deconstruction and the possibilities of contemporary film creation, the presented works open up multifaceted, unseen horizons.

Robert Seidel *1977, lives and works in Berlin.  | www.robertseidel.com