Two Space

1979

Dir. Larry Cuba, 16mm B/W Sound 00:18:00

Page Contents

Description

Two Space began demurely: small white dots formed tile-like linear figures over the black background, entering a similar but mathematically transformed trajectory at regular intervals. For example, a figure that consisted of an upper-right-to-lower-left diagonal might appear as an upper-left-to-lower-right diagonal during its next reprisal. Each rendition comprised part of a larger cycle, and successive cycles explored increasingly complex originating figures. The repeating array was just large enough to give the impression of an infinite plane of dancing dots extending beyond the screen's limits, and just small enough so that each delicate pattern may be recognized and appreciated as and by itself. To the riveting chime of gamelan music the figures continued their geometrically exacting traceries with a strange ascetic beauty: how could such basic elements converge to inspire such rich satisfaction? It was as though one had been transported to Athenian days, when the coincidence of art, symmetry, and piety was inevitable and inviolate. Indeed, the film's pure abstraction invited far-flung associations from the primal flourish of Southeast Asian batik to the boundless intricacies of Byzantine tiles. Two Space thus approached a state of virtually infinite aesthetic and psychical resonance through the very exactitude of its limitations. [Source:Victoria Meng, iotaCenter website]