Sponsor
U-M Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies
On Time is a selection of moving image works from the recent decade. Over the past ten years, we have been faced with the unexpected. The demands from all sides became monumentally heavy. looking through the viewfinder is my way of being in the moment. Editing becomes a new way of rediscovering / investigating the experiences and measurement of time.
Because the Sky is Blue
Wenhua Shi
Wuhan, China | 2020–2022 | 4 | 35mm
Muybridge captured the galloping horse one hundred forty years ago in a brief 12 frames. The durations of today’s social media video clips are similar to Muybridge's brevity. Wenhua tries to reimagine what subject Muybridge would capture today. All source footage is from Wenhua’s social media feed. He used the cyanotype method to reprint the individual frames, creating the final short videos.
Senses of Time
Wenhua Shi
New York, NY / Boston, MA | 2018 | 6 | 16mm
”Senses of Time” depicts the lyrical and poetic passage of time. The work focuses on defining subjective and perceptual time with close attention to stillness, decay, disappearance, and ruins.
Walking Cycle
New York & Hamilton, NY | 2016 | 8 | digital file
Walking Cycle is an abstract audiovisual piece that celebrates the line, its quality, and its movements. Sound by Wang Changcun. Created at the Signal Culture artist residency, Owego, NY.
Die Nacht
Wenhua Shi
Boston, MA | 2017 | 4 | digital file
A prelude to Senses of Time, dedicated to Phil Solomon.
The Rose
Wenhua Shi
Wuhan, China | 2019 | 4 | digital file
Shi's most recent experimental piece, The Rose alters the space of a newly planted rose, overgrown through an iron fence. The film explores the perception of the relationship between foreground and background. The process of editing pays tribute to the thaumatrope, the bird-in-a-cage optical toy from the pre-cinema period.
Monosabishii
Wenhua Shi
Boston, MA | 2023 | 5 | double 16mm
A visual poem was composed when no one is at home.