"sleepwalkers" at MoMA
On Friday night, we braved the cold to watch Doug Aitken’s “sleepwalkers,” a video installation currently being shown on the courtyard walls at the Museum of Modern Art. Aitken filmed five characters going through the quotidian motions of their days: waking, showering, making coffee, dressing, walking to walk. The films are show on continuous loops, three at a time, linked by match cuts and kaliedescopic images.
Each character seems isolated in his/her urban environment, but Aitken tellingly gives each one a moment of reverie: the character played by Chan Marshall (Cat Power) spins furiously, while the Donald Sutherland character dances atop a taxi and the Tilda Swinton character plays the violin. (The other two characters are played by actor Seu Jorge and drummer Ryan Donowho.) The urban environment might trap us in impenetrable bubbles, the films imply, but as humans we have an infinite capacity to feel joy, if only we let ourselves.
Each character seems isolated in his/her urban environment, but Aitken tellingly gives each one a moment of reverie: the character played by Chan Marshall (Cat Power) spins furiously, while the Donald Sutherland character dances atop a taxi and the Tilda Swinton character plays the violin. (The other two characters are played by actor Seu Jorge and drummer Ryan Donowho.) The urban environment might trap us in impenetrable bubbles, the films imply, but as humans we have an infinite capacity to feel joy, if only we let ourselves.
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