In the spirit of expanded cinema, I combed through a variety of Westerns and Samurai films, pulling out all of the sweeping, horizon shots in the films. Using these clips, I constructed an expanded space by stitching the horizons of each film together to theorize a new landscape that stretched beyond the film frame. The final product was a screening in a 180° panoramic theater at the Carnegie Natural History Museum (The Earth Theater).
My hope was to construct a sense of vastness and a full immersion into this new landscape, and also to search for “events”; moments where the two genres speak to one another – where large scale events are occurring across the frames. I chose Samurai films and Westerns because of the similarities between the two genres — thematically, formally and culturally. To me, they epitomize the search for meaningful connection across endless empty space and unreachable distance.

PHOTOS

EXHIBITION HISTORY

• 2006 > Carnegie Museum of Natural History (Pittsburgh, PA)
• 2006 > The Brillobox (Pittsburgh, PA) >> Documentation Presentation