The Incessant Metronome

In Isolation, the hand is an anonymous character – becoming either a ‘working’ or ‘creative’ storyteller. The ‘working hand’ is a character that endures the task of building, constructing or assembling our everyday built surroundings, while the ‘creative hand’ makes, invents, and produces, decorating our everyday surroundings, often as a form of internal or emotional expression. The two are very different, but what they both have in common is the ability to bring security or comfort either objectively or subjectively.

The Incessant Metronome presents film footage found in the archives at the Lviv Center for Urban History. While clips of isolated hands, either ‘working’ or ‘creating’, play on repeat, instrumental sounds, and domestic chatter echo to each action. The hands’ repetitiveness becomes familiar, predictable, and hypnotizing in the static of the unpredictable, menacing noise score,  communicating directly not only the hands’ ability to bring order in an otherwise chaotic environment but also indicating its timeless presence to all matters of life– bringing rhythm and pattern to all past, present and future. 

Lastly a big thank you to Rehina Zhelezniakova, Pavlo Olefirenko, Ivana Joseph, Kelly Cook and Simon Ward for helping me bring this work to its full fruition. 

See 360-degree view of the exhibition at DCCC.