To view on-site documentation of the video at UVP Everson, go to: vimeo.com/69491841
For more information, go to urbanvideoproject.com
Total runtime: 24:44 (1 min excerpt)
2011
Artist's Statement
I’ve been working on photographing moving subway trains for a few years. I entitled that series ‘Stainless’. The title comes from the body of the trains in New York where I started my work. Stainless steel does not corrode, rust or stain. In my images, I always try to depict people as beautiful and pure. It is said however that stainless steel is not fully stain-proof.
Passionate about the devices our modern era provides I often grab sophisticated tools made for industrial purposes, convert them for art use and put them into a human context. I especially love working with the incredible amount of details that only a machine eye can see. Initially, I made the video as an illustration for the ‘Stainless‘ stills. I boarded the subway line U2 in Berlin with a high-speed camera and captured the platform as the train was arriving to Alexanderplatz. When I processed the data I saw an endless row of living sculptures. The film unveiled the beauty that lies in the simplest of scenes and the commonest of situations. Time turned almost tangible. Capturing 1000 frames per second is on the borderline of still photography and motion picture. It reveals a thrilling time dimension and gives rise to new perceptions.
It takes about 12 seconds for a train to leave the tunnel and stop at the station. This is stretched in time to more than 8 minutes. I linked up three arrivals in this short film. In one of them, I am also standing on the platform capturing the train to place you in the position of the passengers in my photographs.
About the Artist
Adam Magyar (born 1972) is a Berlin-based Hungarian photographer. His works have been exhibited in various solo and group shows internationally including Helsinki Photography Biennial in Finland, MFAH Mixed Media event and the Graduate School of Design Harvard University in the USA, Berlin Selected Artists exhibitions in Germany, the Ethnographic Museum Budapest and Faur Zsofi Gallery in Hungary, Rhubarb Rhubarb in the UK and Karin Weber Gallery in Hong Kong. His works are present in the collections of Deutsche Bank, the Hong Kong Heritage Museum and the Bidwell Projects. His photographs have been published in the book In the Life of Cities by the Graduate School of Design Harvard University, Light and Lens by Robert Hirsch, and in photography magazines including PDN and PQ Magazine in the USA, Flash Art in Hungary, Digital Camera Magazine in UK and Katalog in Denmark.