At first we see an old man smoking, it's the grandfather (father-side) of the author (Roelof Broekman), we see the face of the author at the age of 44 as a still-life painting, a self portrait, we see words of a poem the author once wrote, we see the author as a 3 year old kid in the arms of his grandma (mother-side), we see words relating to musical interest in his teens, and we read 'a cell of space': a key expression in the work of the author, as well in his video-art as in his work as a novel writer. The contemporary composed music emphasizes the 'now', it's pointillist as if to try to catch the moment in a single gesture.
The brain is like a point-in-time. Through memory it contains all the different times of one human being ‘at the same moment’. It’s whole structure is within one timeframe, one moment. The video ‘A moment at 44’ wants to put forward such a moment, the author at the age of 44, although in itself it is a linear time frame, which is insurmountable within video making. This video-manifestation of ‘a moment in time’ includes ‘words’, ‘memories’ and ‘images’ melted together to create the illusion of a point-in-time. But then it suddenly resolves into unknown territory: that of the next moment, the future, which seems nothing more than an almost silent gesture, unfilled as it is: an elusive element not yet present in our moment right now, but already hidden in the present, maybe in the foretell lines of our hands...
The copyright signature at the end is essential to pinpoint the fact that it’s the author's unique ‘next moment in time’.
In the case of utopia-thinking one can say that the next moment is empty, and therefore ‘free’ to become whatever it wants: utopia. Or one can say that the presence of memories, words and images of the past ‘dictate’ a certain future and therefore resemble the same aspect as looking at it from a dystopia kind of perspective: controlled. ‘A moment at 44’ as such can be seen to represent the individual problem of an utopian or dystopian future, similar to the extracurricular way of looking at it.
Exhibitions
A moment at 44is selected by curator Alberto Guerreiro for the Transborda Videoart Gallery (part of the Books and Movies Festival in Alcobaça, Portugal). 1-10th of June 2015. Festival contains music, film and literature.
A moment at 44 will be shown at the International review of video art on the 21th DokumentART European Film Festival for Documentaries 16-20 November 2012, Neubrandenburg / Germany / and Szczecin / Poland (157 page catalog available)
A moment at 44 is selected for the 6th Streaming Festival in The Hague, The Netherlands, december 2011
A moment at 44 is part of the permanent collection of the International Streaming Festival