the principles of Structuralist film. Each of his works lasts roughly as long
as the shortest reel of commercially available film stock. Lewis respects
the notion that historically the art gallery has been the space of the silent
pictorial tradition. His uninterrupted shots without sound produce what
can be described literally as moving photographs. In this his films connect
as much to painting and photography as to the single-reel films of the
Lumières or Warhol’s long takes. They are often set in the in-between
parts of the city, the ‘no man’s land’ that has neither the dynamism of the
centre nor the stillness of the neglected periphery. Shot on Super 35 mm
film and transferred todvd,Queensway: Pan and Zoom( 2005 ) presents
three different framings of the same almost still scene within one take.
The first, held for about a minute, appears to be an establishing shot of a
nondescript roadside building. A woman in the middle distance stands
40 rummaging in her bag. A sharp pan to the left reframes on a second
27 GillianWearing, video still
fromSixty Minute Silence(1996).
Rear projection video, 60 mins,
colour, sound.
28Three frames fromQueensway:
Pan and Zoom(Mark Lewis, 2005).
3 minutes 3 secs. Super 35mm
transferred toDVD.
