A R C H I E F1 9 9 6  
.14
  Phylis Baldino
Unknown series
  USA 1996
Videotape, 11:00,
How do you make a spoon, in which you have drilled some holes, into a potato grater and a propelling pencil all in one and then make notes with it? Watch ‘Unknown series’ and you will see how simple, quick and easy it is. You will also see other super rapid examples of alternative domestic inventions and handy combinations. The maker’s hands, which you follow per shot from a fixed camera position, do the ‘lessons’ with a certain aggression and brutality. Despite the same approach, the maker’s personality seems to change in each scene. Her vocabulary in action-inventions and design ideas is not particularly rich, but certainly effective. One favourite is her obstinate and in some ways elegant use of an electric drill.

Willem van Weelden

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