Dissonance and Reconnect
Two video pieces: a night of losing yourself in techno music and finding your way back through the sounds of the city.
Ariana Gaytan is deeply interested cinematic sound in her work. Two key works presented here—Reconnect and Dissonance—put into relief Ariana’s acute attention to film sound as a major force for cinematic depth. The nuanced shift from internal hearing (of the mind, state of being, and so on) to the multi-layered dimensions of sound that fill an external space (the city, a train station, a nightclub, and so on) Ariana’s films explore what makes cinema cinema: sound and image.
From the Artist:
Dissonance
I cannot speak French and nor can I stumble my way through a conversation. However, I have always been of the belief that music can bond people across languages. And this is the mentality I held as I went to my first techno set only to realize how you can feel connected to the music but feel incredibly isolated in a room filled with hundreds of people. Inspired by La Jetée(1963), I took a series of photos while having a night out at La Gare Le Gore. I hoped to create a vignette and paint a story of feeling out of place whether it be due to a language barrier or my own self-imposed reticence. It’s a story of trying to find yourself, not being happy with what you find, and choosing to forget it once the night is over. The vibe of La Gare Le Gore is created through the use of music, conversations, and ambience while bodies in motion are captured in still photos.
Reconnect
After the party has died, the people have left, and you’re making your way home, you can get the feeling that you’re not all there. You can still hear the beat of the music and still see flashes of color behind your eyes. I wanted to capture that feeling after a party when you’re trying to bring yourself back to reality and back from the edge. The idea of an out of body experience, pictured here with a voyeuristic zoom in, as a person grounds themselves back in place with the sounds of the city all around them rather than the chaotic music in their mind. I was also interested in the Paris tram system and how it connects the city aboveground. I wanted to use the sound and arrival of a tram as a way of demonstrating the character has reconnected with reality and has a connection back home. I took inspiration from Michael Snow’s 1967 experimental film Wavelengthand wanted to apply his use of a slow zoom in to characterize a more personal internal conflict.
Stills
