A Seed Is Planted

A Seed is Planted immerses the viewer in the materiality of forms as they flow, merge into each other, and drift apart – pulsating surfaces and polarized refractions of light. Complex field structures mysteriously emerge before disintegrating again or forming interference. Dancing drops crystallize out of heavy, reflective liquids, only to dissolve and melt away in the next moment. 

The experimental film is an homage to liquid crystals. Accompanied by Stefan Németh’s atmospheric sound and a poetic-theoretical lecture which excerpts Esther Leslie’s book Liquid Crystals: The Science and Art of a Fluid Form, Gregor Eldarb devotes himself to the visualization of this technical phenomenon. In fascinating images, and with the help of the attractive, AI-generated voice of the writer Kenneth Patchen (1911–1972), he unleashes the essence of a substance that results from the interplay of the inherently opposing properties of fluid and crystal. Guided by invisible, waxing and waning forces, diverse formations emerge. The film’s allure comes from their constant reformulation and metamorphosis. 

Although the images were generated using an analog, experimental setup, the film penetrates deep into the core of our digitalized world. Through their use in flat screens and computers, we encounter liquid crystals almost everywhere in everyday life. They are therefore elementary building blocks in the creation of images, as they shape our perception and view of the world. Read in this way, the film is a journey into the interior of the screen. It shows us the screen not only as a carrier of information and dreams, but rather as a constantly changing, bizarrely autonomous, and seemingly lively material. (Annette Südbeck)

(Translation: John Wojtowicz)