yours,

Test Film

In Test Film (2017-2026), visual artist Katja Mater once again explores the boundaries of the film medium. The work consists of hand-drawn ‘interpretations’ of graphic 16mm test images, known as SMPTE tests, originally intended for calibrating film images with the aim of achieving an ‘optimal’ or ‘correct’ reproduction in print or projection. Mater’s drawn and subsequently filmed versions bring this objective of film as a representation of reality into sharp focus. Test Film emphasises the concept of film as an ephemeral construct of image and time.

Searching for White

Referring to Newton’s theory of colour and light, Searching for White uses 16mm film to mix colours. We see a white wall in an industrial building, on which a three-metre-high (imperfect) colour wheel has been painted. Slowly, the image begins to tilt and rotate around its axis. This acceleration almost mixes the colours of the wheel, creating green. As it rotates, a black spot appears in the image. Mater begins to paint the wheel and changes the colours one by one, shifting the wheel from green to blue and eventually, after accelerating, to almost white.

As Much Time as Space

16mm film shot at the Van Doesburg house in Meudon. Projected in a special split screen with an eight-second delay between the two projectors. The timing difference creates a new framework of constant dialogue between the architectural details and Katja Mater's own drawings.