I caught this video selection at Seattle’s Western Bridge (http://www.westernbridge.org ) in 2007 and am writing about it now because I still think about it, two years later. To paraphrase whoever writes for Western Bridge—Marclay builds a forty-foot synchronized four-channel video quartet by sampling musical pieces from the history of sound cinema. Video clips from famous pieces of music in film are projected along side of one another, cutting in and shifting over the course of 14 minutes. The visual and cultural impact of the piece is staggering. If you ever encounter a chance to see this work I highly recommend it—this is coming from a person with little or no tolerance for “experimental video installation” or aural garbage.
A 2 minute sample of the piece can be seen here—keep in mind this does little or no justice to the actual impact of the work…