UN | Bella

When I first viewed the film, my initial interpretation of the piece was that its intention was to “creep out” the viewer with its seemingly random display of light and eerie high-pitched sounds whose origin was unknown for a brief period of time. As it progressed and inevitably concluded, however, I began to admire the manner in which the director divulged the information throughout the piece. By initially having the focus be on the refraction of the water bowl combined with the vibrations imposed by the amplifier, I found myself watching with an immediate sense of intrigue trying to decipher exactly what I was watching and what was the cause of such imagery and sound. The manner in which the image’s malleability changed on a dime immediately gave me the idea I was watching some sort of visualization of the noise present in the film.

It was only after the reveal of the water bowl placed adjacent to the light source did the projection of the image upon the wall begin to make sense. I also found the layout of the piece to be quite intriguing, with first the focus of the video starting from the reverberation of the water image refracting from a light source upon a wall to then showing the apparatus itself along with the person manipulating the sound equipment. By choosing which information to place first, it lets a natural illusion start off as a near mystery for the unknowing audience and as the film progresses and begins to overlap the images of the bowl, the light, the woman, and the sound equipment is when things that seemed to have no relation begin to take a mold as one cohesive piece.

Upon my first viewing of the film, I didn’t initially connect the setting for which the piece inhabits to also share the theme with the other set pieces. A seemingly abandoned warehouse, once a place that was commonly known for industrial manufacturing is now once again in use through a now different form of human manipulation amongst equipment and natural resources. The women’s utilization of the sound equipment initially seems to be random but as the film progresses it seems as though she is purposeful in her manipulation of the sound, the light, and the water in order to create specific refraction upon the wall of the warehouse; in a way connecting the old to the new; the natural with the seemingly unnatural.  

UN | Bella