24’38” | 16mm + 35mm (or Digital if no other) | Color | Sound | 2016
The world is nothing but “world-as-meaning” ―M. Merleau-Ponty.
By abstracting concepts from their concrete properties, Laborde looks to create [virtual] spaces and [regenerate] the image. Inspired by simplicity of expression and economy of detail, her practice is a meditation on physical presence.
Conceptually informed by artist Manuela De Laborde’s active filmgoing, this piece takes as its point of departure prop sculptures which are transformed both through hybrid techniques of framing, lighting, and superimposition and the influence of the silent architectural space of the cinema.
The sculpture’s materiality points to the materiality of film, and their stillness shares the spectators anchored bodies in their seat. The almost absent sound, made in collaboration with Camila De Laborde. Various continuous noise layers offer direction through the film while specific sounds, flirting with the cinematic sync, refresh the image and bring the spectator’s attention to the present moment.
AS WITHOUT explores the possibility that the surface of things is worthy of its own depth – for and in themselves – demanding to be seen and confronted as they exist.
Image – Manuela De Laborde
Sound – Manuela De Laborde + Camila De Laborde
Titles – Freddy Taylor and Minjung Kim
Screenings – Centre de Cultura Contemporànea de Barcelona (2021\) | Toronto International Film Festival, Wavelengths | WNDX Festival in Winnipeg (Best International Short) | 25 FPS Festival in Zagreb GRAND PRIX | 46th International Film Festival Rotterdam – Competition Tigger Shorts | New Directors/New Films – MoMA + Film Society of Lincoln Center | Milwaukee Underground Film Festival – April 20th – 23rd | 24th Chicago Underground Film Festival (JURY AWARD)| 30th Anniversary of Sala Redenção – QUESTÕES DE ESPAÇO | VideoEx – Zurich | FILMADRID Festival Internacional de Cine | 32nd Mignight Sun Film Festival – Finland | Lima Independiente Film Festival | Arsenal cinema program by James Lattimer – Berlin | Singapore International Festival of Arts | Curtas Vila do Conde, Portugal | EXiS festival – Seoul | Uplink Theater – Tokyo | Media City Film Festival’s 22nd – Windsor, Canada and Detroit, USA | 20th Contemporary Art Festival Sesc_Videobrasil | L’Âge d’Or Prize at L’Âge d’Or FF – CINEMATEK, Brussels. | ULTRAcinema.