words

Do we have to remain silent about that which we cannot speak about? Or should we, instead, spy it out, track it down, set it to music, observe it, or eavesdrop? Words by Jan Machacek deals with the incommunicable by x-raying, multiplying, celebrating, abbreviating, undermining, refining, and making it ironic. With the steadfastness of a game of luck, the incommunicable is delivered here as an internal game of ping pong.

It is a simple game, the mother of all computer games: A point. Jumps. Here. And. There. We simply have to catch it - the jumping point (of the matter). The game is on and we´re there.

The filmmaker faces us from the screen as a flickering image with bars of light on his chest and a jumping point - heart. His chest is our playing field. Not catching the point costs. Points. A game. The game is on and you´re there.

Who is that facing us? An opponent, an ally, one´s own shadow, the other "I", one´s own self, an animator, a projection? The point jumps. The game is on. We do not have any clues. The person facing us keeps silent with words. The point jumps. Access unfortunately not possible at the moment. The game. The game is on and we´re there.

In Jan Machacek´s video we sit before an eternal slot machine - the person facing us - and must watch, captivated. As the phantom point jumps. Here and there. As the point count grows. But for whom? As the words do not arrive. As the person facing us, together with the jumping point, multiplies. Catch it, simply catch the point: The crux of the matter, the most important point. The game is on and we´re there.

(Radostina Patulova)

Translation: Lisa Rosenblatt