Robert Arnold: Zeno’s Paradox
Robert Arnold, Zeno's Paradox, 2003/2005, DVD-R/NTSC Video, continuous loop, Lent by the Artist
Arcade and Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport Media Space
September 10, 2005 – January 8, 2006
Opening Reception: Friday, September 9 from 6 – 9 pm
Robert Arnold is one of New England’s most accomplished media artists, using computers in the creation of his short looping videos. His short pieces, combining wit and elegance with an intellectual rigor, sometimes take years to complete. His stunning work The Morphology of Desire—a linear collage of morphing romance novel covers to the accompaniment of a human heart beat—has been exhibited at DeCordova Museum on several occasions and remains a perennial favorite.
His most recent work, Zeno’s Paradox (2003) is both an intellectual exercise in visually demonstrating a philosophical concept and a thrilling roller coaster ride of a short video. The result is simply a tree in a park, seen from a certain distance. A photograph hung on the tree depicts the same scene—the tree in the park. By dissolving between a series of zooms and then by morphing between stills, we appear to approach the tree until the picture fills the frame and we are back where we started, over and over, forwards and backwards.
Arnold is currently Associate Professor of Film at the College of Communication at Boston University. He received a BFA from the University of Illinois, Champaign Urbana, and an MA in sculpture and a PhD in film theory and production from the University of Iowa. His teaching career began at Syracuse University in 1985, and he has since taught at Ithaca College, the University of Toledo, Florida Atlantic University, and as a visiting professor at the Poznan Academy of Fine Arts in Poland. He has produced several award-winning short films and videos which have appeared in festivals around the world and has published articles in leading film journals.
