Captive Horizon

Copyright artist(s) and courtesy argos

Artist(s)

Year

2015

Duration

00:14:38

Original format

DIGITAL FILE

Color

col.

Color system

PAL

Availability

Distribution
Collection

Captive Horizon operates on a delicate line between reality and illusion. Lukas Marxt´s favourite motifs – barren landscapes, seemingly untouched by humans, but at the same time suggestively apocalyptic, and subtle changes in perception that play tricks on the observer – construct a peculiar narrative filled with mysterious angles and twists.

The first clue is in the eye of the camera, slowly rising in the air and twirling, as if to announce a disorienting journey. Then there is the terrain – an alien land saturated with unknown circles, lines, veins or geometric rock-like formations. The sound brings its own palette of puzzling clues into the drama. We are gliding through the air with birds and wind, the (un)human footsteps are treading rocks, waves are hitting the invisible shores... It is not only about deciphering what we see, it is about finding the real culprit of this spatial thriller; someone who is creating the tensions between perspectives and is capable of obscuring our perception.

And then we see it. It emerges slowly from the landscape, becoming more and more visible as it elegantly glides over the massive horizon. Without an explanation or reason, it gradually disappears into another mysterious vista. Why was it obscured in the first place, and what does it want now? Is it just watching itself, making itself visible so we can see who we are dealing with, or is there something else projecting a strip of dark energy over the abstract plains? The spectacle of this dark alien shadow is not a coincidence: it communicates power, control and a possibility to bend reality. And so the thriller ends with a true drama: who is the real captive here? (Source: Mirna Belina)