Synaesthetic Anaesthesia (2004)

• 75%
• 2004
• John Kneller

The optical printer is used to manipulate archival imagery from the colonial era, forming a layered tapestry with contemporary images of landscapes, architecture and phenomena. By means of montage and optical recombination the film takes these historical fragments and builds them up to a frantic pitch. The film seeks to depict the frenetic digital information age but entirely through traditional photomechanical methods, a reversal of the norm. The sound design enhances the film's transformations, and provides a sensitive counterpoint to the "colonial eye." The role of the colonist as exploiter of natural and human resources is evident, the filmic mediation brings these images into a contemporary context.