CYTOMOTION
Films & Installations
Planetary space begins in our cells
CYTOMOTION - amniotic architectures of light, colour, structure and movement arise and disintegrate in a luminous world.
From when I was a child, I have been fascinated by the world of microscopic, shape-shifting organisms that exists parallel to ours. These life forms as seen through a microscope - strangely illuminated and stained with colour - inspired the film's visual language. Cytomotion explores the physical possibilities & inner spaces of the human body, and how these could be amplified into architecture.
Cytomotion is an analogue-digital hybrid and was created using specially designed camera set-ups, filming & editing processes developed over a year of research. The amoebic quality of movement in the film is drawn from my practice of Butoh and Contact Improvisation.
Cytomotion has been shown as a single-screen work at film festivals & events such as Kinofilm 2002 in Manchester, and the Lux Open Film Festival 2003 in London, and site-specific installations have been created for galleries and other locations, for example -
Makeshift Body : Cytomotion
A sculptural video & sound installation at Lucent, a show of works by 4 international artists at the AVIT Audio Visual Festival 2003:
Floating in the centre of the darkened space, a translucent sculptural element captures a video loop projection of Cytomotion, drawing the audience into a microscopic world. Smaller translucent elements in the form of microscope slides are suspended from the ceiling and are lit to reveal and refract still images of the film trapped inside. Sound environment by Testcard.
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Tabula Rasa
Artistic statement for Tabula Rasa, a large-scale urban projection event in 2002, where my films Cytomotion and Plant Life were shown:
"My films often play with dimension, from microscopic to cosmic. By projecting them onto the skin of huge buildings, I hope to make a direct, physical connection between different scales of perception, and to trigger a re-imagination of the urban environment:
Out of the corner of the eye, there's a sense of change in the familiar brickwork - an office high-rise vibrates with cellular movement, and is transformed into a shifting architecture of bones and light. Passers-by become explorers on unknown territory, wandering into the frames of an unknown film ..."
Unbekannter Ort [Unknown Place]
A sculptural video installation with two screens and rubble field at Sensuous Structures, an exhibition at the East London School of Architecture curated by architect Conrad Margoles. Sound environment by Testcard.
The exhibition included works by Bucholz/McEvoy, Cassion Castle TCA, Christo & Jeanne-Claude, Balkrishna Doshi, Durbach/Block, Neville Gabie, Herman Hertzberger, Susanne Hofmann, Steven Holl, Mecanoo, Martin Moller, Juhani Pallasmaa, Michael Sorkin, Allan Schwarz, and Ushida Findlay.
Unbekannter Ort [Unknown Place] |
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Unbekannter Ort
An einem unbekannten Ort |
![Unbekannter Ort [Unknown Place]](img/unknownplace001.jpg "Unbekannter Ort [Unknown Place]") |
Unknown Place
In an unknown place |
Cytomotion continues to evolve ...
Projects in development: Eaten [working title], a self-consuming interactive film installation mimicking the destructive activity of malignant cells. Eaten will include a series of films, workshops and installations.
Cytomotion - credits
Film
Directed, performed, edited & produced: CiCi Blumstein
Camera: Christopher Hornzee-Jones
Soundtrack: Testcard
Installations
Concepts, texts & designs: CiCi Blumstein
'Unbekannter Ort' produced by: Conrad Margoles
Sound environments: Testcard
All photos / video stills: CiCi Blumstein
For more information please email: cici@ciciblumstein.com