David Haxton

David Haxton started making films in 1969 as a result of his involvement with visual art. He became interested in examining the nature of the medium including light, movement, and the formation of a three-dimensional illusion on a flat surface. In order to make films within this context he has restricted the use of aspects of the medium. The camera remains in a static position throughout the films. Actions of the performers are limited to the description of the filmed scene through activities within the scene. Action takes place as movement back and forth in the scene and across the scene parallel to the picture plane. Real time continuity is retained throughout each film. No editing is incorporated. These restrictions enable him to record a performance which is the process of describing a three-dimensional space in terms of its two-dimensional representation on the film surface. The film screen is a newly primed canvas which becomes a spatial image when the light beam of the projector is interrupted by the film image. The spatial image is carved out of the illuminated rectangular surface by the performers' actions. The performers' activities are organized to produce a constant interaction between the physicality of the screen illumination and the illusionist image of a space produced by the film image.