Stine Bidstrup

“A three part video work Double Visions reveals the power of context and point of view in constructing our understanding. Bidstrup built a model of a section of New York City from mirrored sheets of glass fashioned into small boxes. She then filmed it in three contexts using a small automated camera which moved among the 2 inch tall buildings. Sometimes Bidstrup’s feet can be seen in the background, but the films are easily read as much larger than they are. In addition, the infinite maze of reflections of itself incorporates colors and shapes in the environment, giving the three films of the same objects in different contexts a distinctive character.
One was shot indoors in the artist’s studio; one on the roof of a skyscraper in the city; and one in the dessert. Bidstrup sees this trio of videos as a turning point in her work, as it suggests how “modernist cities create and control communities where many people live together. Good intentions can turn out to have the opposite effect,” she observes. The context—whatever it is—is important in shaping what it contains from living people to solidly constructed glass boxes.”