David Lamelas’ first film, A Study of Relationships between Inner and Outer Space analyzes the architectural, social, climatic, or sociological data that make up the exhibition’s spatial environment, that of the institution and its geographical location. Beginning with the empty exhibition hall, the description is neutral and analytical. It progresses in ever larger circles, placing emphasis on all the important functional elements, from the electronic devices in the exhibition space, to the city’s traffic regulation to the communication and information media and finally, to the climatic conditions of the London environment. The film concludes with six interviews regarding the big news item of the day: the future “landing” of the first men on the moon.

BIOGRAPHY

Born in Argentina, Lamelas was originally a sculptor, but came to prominence when he represented his country at the Venice Biennale with a piece called Office of Information about the Vietnam war on Three Levels : The Visual Image, Text and Audio. It was here that he met Antwerp-based gallerists from Wide White Space and Marcel Broodthaers, and the contacts he made helped to precipitate his later move to Europe. After Venice he moved to London, where he studied on a sculpture scholarship at St Martins School of Art. It was during his time in England, whilst using photographs and text as material, that Lamelas began working in film. Through a desire to "produce sculptural forms without any physical volume", the core concerns of his work emerged: time, space and language.

During the subsequent years Lamelas has lived and made work across Europe and in America, each location exerting its specific influence on his work. And it is this personal experience of relocation and his efforts to understand and assimilate new cultures, that gives his conceptualist concerns a warmth and humour. For Lamelas, location and place are primary: "space has a reality, it exists". Yet about time he asserts, "Time doesn't exist, our consciousness constructs it. Time is a fiction."

Related to the exhibition: Priorities