Objects with Destinations

Running 4m, Objects with Destinations (1979) is a film in the 123movies catalog. Gary Hill directs. Objects from the artist’s studio (hammer, cathode ray tube, circuit board rack, chair, clip light) constitute the subjects for a series of short sequences in which a single object moves through a series of overlapping transformations. These are electronically altered in such a way that their coloration and contours continuously morph. As the transparent images are superimposed one upon the other and faded in and out, they become slightly displaced, giving the impression that the objects are “wandering” across the image plane. In some sequences, the contours and colors of the objects dissociate, or newly arising color fields spread across the pictorial surface. The superimpositions and cross-dissolves result in a minimal amount of action, consistent with the ‘destinations’ implied in the work’s title.