Montmartre

Maintaining a balance between empathy and detachment, the video works of Emma van der Put look at everyday acts as if they were seen for the very first time. Mesmerizing and slightly alienating, her recordings of a particular space during a limited time span reveal the uncomfortable side of social life. However mundane the observed events may be (a gathering at a festival, a crowd in a touristy square), Van Der Put's keen use of framing, panning and editing lifts the scenes beyond the trivial anecdote. In Montmartre, she turns her camera on the famous tourist haunt in Paris, resulting in a portrait (or caricature) of the square.