UNU Fall Conversations

This Fall, I had the privilege to work in collaboration with the United Nations University at the United Nations, New York. I directed and edited the videotaping of this conversation centering around the all day conference "Prevention of Mass Atrocities - from mandate to realization" on October 10, 2007. The conversation is between Jean-Marc Coicaud from UN University, Francis Deng from SAPGMA, and Tori Holt from the Henry L. Stimson Center. Our excellent production team from New School University included myself, Dawnja Burris, Gisela Albuquerque, Jomchanok Aswavibul, Laura Van Schendel, and Laura Thies. Opening titles designed by UNU.

Telescope

I created "Telescope" in the Fall of 2007 with the assistance of Bev Wilson. Bev and I made the N-train trek to Coney Island to collect footage and sounds. "Telescope" explores the fragmentary and mesmerizing nature of memory. Images and words interweave to tell the story of a fixated voyeur from her own perspective. "Telescope" is comprised solely of still images. The vastness and clarity of each image is echoed in the expansive sound of the wind. This is the story of an individual isolated and disjoined from society, from an old lover, even from her own experiences. As the viewer experiences the voyeur's gaze, one comes to understand "Telescope" as the mutable expression of memory. What are our relationships to past experiences? How is memory constructed? Is memory a movement, a frozen image, a fragmented phrase repeated? Or, is memory a landscape altered and haunted by our own sub-conscious? I am thrilled to report that "Telescope" will be included in the NSSR Memory Conference "Is an Interdisciplinary Field of Memory Studies Possible?" to be held February 7-9, 2008 at the New School for Social Research.

(Photos in this post by Bev Wilson)