For A Moment Between Strangers, 2001

Two-channel video Installation, aspect ratio 4:3, 19 min 5 sec, Hi-8 tape, stereo sound

In this video performance, I invite strangers on the street to give me a kiss, while recording their responses with a concealed video and sound camera. Employing the kiss as a metaphor for intimate exchange, the work is situated at the intersection of public space and private activity. It aims to ask, whether moments of intimacy can occur between strangers in public, whether the anonymity and phobia of urban space can be interrupted. Set up as a staged documentary, the work operates as both observation and performative scenario, perpetuated like an endless ritual.

The work consist of two distinct edits - Version A, longer and more narrative/Version B, shorter and more formal in its endless loop of short clips of people leaning forward to kiss or receding in denial. In a 2-channel installation, the two edits are shown simultaneously, referencing back and forth between these two modes of viewing. In a single-channel screening only the longer, narrative version is presented.