Wendelien van Oldenborgh makes remarkable, short, super-8 and 16mm films. In her films, mostly mounted in loop form, asl 'loop', she records human actions which at first seem random and nondescript. They are trivial incidents or seemingly unimportant details from everyday life, which Van Oldenburgh films with an eye for the singular. The story these fragments have been cut from is not told. The context is unknown, the images remain suggestive and intriguing. She uses this technique again in 'Splitsing', a coarse-grained super-8 filmloop in black & white. From a bird's-eye view the camera is directed at a man's body slumped against a lamppost, with outstretched arms, half on the street, half on the pavement. He looks dead, or is perhaps blind drunk and has passed out. The camera slowly moves to the next lamppost where we see a second man in a similar position. The viewer wonders what happened here. Is this a report of a criminal incident or are they scenes from a drunk's story? A third person comes on screen. It is a passer-by who is obviously either wounded or drunk. He approaches, looks, and carries on his way. This action is repeated again and again and in the subsequent repeats the images are just as absurd and fascinating because the viewer's need to understand is not satisfied. The shots were taken in Rio de Janeiro on a Saturday morning in the city centre. The film is about the difference between seeing and looking which is a recurring theme in the work of this artist. Here, the tone is set by the difference between life and death.
– Marieke van Hal
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Wendelien van Oldenborgh ° 1962, Rotterdam (The Netherlands)
Lives and works in Antwerpen (Belgium)
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