USA 1985, video, col, sound, 5:46 min
- realized by:
- Dara Birnbaum
- cast&crew:
- camera:
- Dara Birnbaum
- editing:
- Dara Birnbaum, Rick Feist
- music:
- Mike Nolan, Paul Jacob
- appearance:
- Caatje Cusse
- production:
- Dara Birnbaum, The Contemporary Art Television (CAT) Fund
- available copies:
- Neuer Berliner Kunstverein e.V. - Video-Forum:
- available for view
- Video Data Bank:
- available for rent
- LUX:
- available for rent
- Electronic Arts Intermix - EAI:
- available for rent
- synopsis: Video Data Bank, Chicago
- The second part of the Faust project centers on the development of Marguerite, the female character in the Faust legend. Masterfully composing image "memory" fragments in elegant 19th-century Japanese compositions, Birnbaum traces the process of deception and abandonment through the heroine's mournful description of her state of mind. The tape is suffused with light, as passing images are obscured in a blinding brightness, signifying forgetfulness.
- synopsis: Copyright Electronic Arts Intermix, New York. See the EAI Online Catalogue for further information about this artist and work
- A woman gazing through a window, reflecting on a romantic loss and betrayal, gives voice to Marguerite, the female character from the Faust legend. "Will-o'-the-Wisp", the second part of Birnbaum's trilogy, is an eloquent reverie on memory and reality. A woven construct of deception and abandonment is created from the heroine's monologue, which alludes to the absent male, and the haunting fragmentation of visuals and sound. Using sophisticated electronic technology as a poetic language, Birnbaum creates elegant formal devices inspired by 19th-century Japanese visual motifs, including "diagonal rain wipes" and "transitional fan wipes." Internal (psychological) and external (real) worlds are lyrically conjoined. The woman gazes from her window while the object of her gaze - children on the street below - appears simultaneously in "window" inserts. The layers of illusions become poignant visual metaphors, as the woman's gaze is directed both inward and outward, onto memory and reality, past and present.
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