Anleitung No. 3 (Person M.)

A black reticle on a white background. A woman enters the picture, positions herself in the center and begins to spin on her own axis. Faster and faster until she drifts out of the frame, pulled by the speed of her movements. An off-camera voice can be heard, repeating: "Imagine there is a center. Fix your gaze on this center on the floor. Now press PLAY." This sounds like the instructions for a game. Instructions for an experimental dance with the camera.

The soundtrack is reminiscent of early video games and of the static, whistles and crackles of electronic devices. The protagonist´s movements gradually seem to be automated: She resembles a piece in a board game which is being controlled by a computer program. And this program seems to have a bug: Problems with the sound and picture build until everything is caught in a time loop, as if someone had pressed fast forward and rewind simultaneously.

Miriam Bajtala´s video is a light-footed study of herself through the film image, and therefore also about the recording process itself. The space in which the action takes place remains fragmentary. The monitor´s rectangle forms the playing field upon which the medium´s potential is tested in a show fight. The result is a somewhat unconventional instruction on how to use a video camera. (Andrea Pollach)