Bertrand Lamarche - 1988 Le Haut du Lièvre

LE HAUT-DU-LIÈVRE, 1988-89
Super 8 film transferred to DVD, 3 min, sound
Ed. 4 + 1 AP

Bertrand Lamarche - Le Haut du Lièvre, 1989 - videostill
Bertrand Lamarche - Le Haut-du-Lièvre, 1989 - videostill

The film consists of a tracking shot across one of the biggest housing projects (400 meters long) ever made in France. Located on a hill in the city of Nancy, this project by Bernard Zerfuss is an idealistic gesture, typical of the 60’s, a project between land art and architecture that would soon be stigmatized among other giant projects and considered a mistake in many ways. The film was made ten years before the building project would be transformed to a shortened proposal. Half of it was turned down.The curves and the wavy moving image, due to the fact that the on-ride video was shot by the artist riding a bicycle, give the film a sense of fluidity and vertigo. The soundtrack is a Kate Bush song played backwards, emphasizing the rubbing like feeling in the image, like being in a melancholic nightmare.

Bertrand Lamarche - Le Haut du Lièvre, 1989 - videostill
Bertrand Lamarche - Le Haut-du-Lièvre, 1989 - videostill