‘Counterweight’ depicts the installation and exhibition of Chris Burden’s sculpture/installation ‘The Flying Steamroller’, which took place in October 2006 in London, UK. Initially the film focuses on the building and construction of Burden’s work showing the various stages of assembly of the sculpture/installation and by focusing on details only provides the viewer with a gradual insight of the emerging construction and conceals the final ‘operating’ stage until the last third of the film. Concepts like e.g. balance, weight, speed and movement, which are part of Burden’s installation, were used as a basis for the construction of the film itself. There is no use of dialogue and, except for a short megaphone announcement, there are no spoken words in the film at all. The enfolding narrative of the construction and operation of ‘The Flying Steamroller’ is purely told visually and sonically through the use of close-up cinematography, on location sound and rhythmic pacing of the editing.
Filmed at Millbank, London in 2007 by Thorsten Knaub & produced by the South London Gallery.
DVD, running time 29 min.
