Pivot, Forward, Collapse is a single channel video of the breaking point of the human spirit and the analog video image. The video depicts a figure skater gliding through a backdrop of white video feedback. Through the manipulation of a VHS tape, the image of the skater crumples onto herself and eventually into nothingness. Lost in the blizzard of snowy white video feedback, this collapse represents the moment wherein one has fallen one too many times, where the lessons learned from mistakes do not change the outcome, and the temptation of giving up to the nothingness is far greater than a will to move forward. It is edited to be repurposed as a looping video, creating the cycle of pain anew.

The piece was created through analog video machinery: a VCR and a video mixer running internal video feedback. The point of no return for the skater mirrors that of the VHS medium used. As the image of skater folds, there is increasingly little use for the VHS tape. It’s image quality corrupts and distorts, unable to compete with digital archiving and the vast superior quality of modern codecs. Once it collapses into the void, the medium is merely remembered as a relic of difficult times, at best a fetishized piece of nostalgia for those who never interacted with the medium itself.

Under non-exclusive distribution with Vidéographe. For screening consideration please email info [at] bleunuitvideo [dot] com.