ZAZ Corner Presents: In Between by Michel Platnic

“In Between” by Michel Platnic is a concept of video art exhibition curated by ZAZ10TS and presented on ZAZ Corner where continuous artwork is displayed for 15 seconds at a time on a large LED billboard in the heart of Times Square.

Michel Platnic’s new work draws inspiration from the biblical narrative of the creation of the world, as recounted in the Book of Genesis. Through pictorial, sculptural, theatrical and cinematographic means, Platnic creates a sort of one-man-show where he “recreates” day by day the act of creation. But the artist interprets this story in two parallel directions: from beginning to end, and conversely from end to beginning. One screen shows the creation narrative as we know it, whereas the other screen displays the same narrative, yet inversed. Dependence and interdependence splice the two stories that take place in parallel on a sort of Möbius strip with no beginning or end.

The chronological narrative recounts the creation of nature followed by man’s use of it, which ends in destruction. The inversed narrative seemingly saves nature from destruction, yet as it draws nearer to its end (i.e. the beginning), the world gradually empties. Before us are two video screens that tell seemingly opposite stories, yet both end in the same tone, which may be interpreted either as a despondent end or as the possibility for a new, hopeful beginning. The two narrative inversions are linear yet looped so as to erase any beginning or end.