KVT – X Eyes Wide Open

X Seconds is a mini film ‘festival’ at Goethe. Fourteen video artists collated 104 silent, thirty second glimpses of Vietnamese life for continuous projection.

You enter the gallery and the walls and floor, all swaddled in white, are pulsing with different, non stop images from various films. Sometimes the films overlap or are projected on opposing places.

Because there is no sound your ears, usually assailed with noise, are given a break and only your eyes are assaulted. But the assault is one of delight.

Because we are continually having images thrown at us, naturally or mechanically, the visual sensation in the gallery is not at all confusing. For those who walk through life with selective or tunnel vision they’ll focus where their brain dictates. Those who are able to compute images from all directions… the hedonists, as one example… will have fun. Perhaps if you’re prone to epilepsy you’d be advised to stay away.

The experience is much more valid than if it were used in a disco or club… as it could easily be replicated… or as part of a sound installation, because it’s the lack of noise that is the bewildering, yet ultimately pleasing, component.

My favorite part was having the gallery to myself and being able to sit, lounge, lie, rotate or dance wherever I wanted to be and have that delightful, soundlessly flickering imagery surround me.

In retrospect, I walked away with a great empathy for the deaf population. This is life for them.

A really good experiment by the HanoiLink Independent artist group and I can imagine them taking over all sorts of inside and outside spaces with innovative exhibitions.

Only on for a short time and I’m thrilled to have grabbed it with both eyes wide open… especially mot minh.