Fourteen Seconds
Within a matter of seconds, a kneeling body is crossed by a series of evanescent images.
The work draws on Les dix-huit secondes by Antonin Artaud – a short screenplay in which an inner experience condenses into a brief span of time – and on Johann Sebastian Bach’s St Matthew Passion, approached as a fragile journey within the soul.
Published in issue 3 of Drome Magazine, an independent Italian publication devoted to contemporary art and culture, the images appeared in small format, scattered irregularly along the margins of the layout, and the narrative gradually revealed itself as the reader moved through the issue, page after page.
00:00
A man kneeling. Images run only through him. In a few seconds the drama will be over.
00:01
What shall I say to my soul, questioning me anxiously?
00:02
Which way did your steps go?
00:03
Pain and torment are in my heart.
00:04
Neither my crying nor my tears touch you.
00:05
Then rip my heart out.
00:06
May it become the chalice where the blood of my wounds is poured.
00:07
Drink plentifully from my heart.
00:08
You will be the sepulchre where he sleeps and rests.
00:09
Oh smiling sleep, come and close my eyes.
00:10
In your arms I surrender.
00:11
You save me from death through your death.
00:12
The pain you suffered for me tears my heart apart and opens it.
00:13
Let me watch at your side.
00:14
When pain is too heavy, you’ll help me carry it.
Work