Marcel Broodthaers

Today I went to see the Marcel Broodthaers show and it was really interesting. I initially was unsure of what to look for or what to expect when entering the gallery but i was instantly drawn to the projections on the wall. There were two different films projected on the wall, one was a black and white image i believe projected against a map. The other was a film projected on a wall of white, with black writing in boxes that said 'fig 12', 'fig 1', 'fig 3' and so on. From there i was confused, i was trying to imagine what his methodology was and what was the message being conveyed.  Even though i was trying to figure out, what his work was really about; the setting of the gallery was very engaging , some walls were black, some where white and the floor was like grey/tannish. When i say engaging, i felt very comfortable looking at his work in the space it was in, which is important i believe. Art in any medium is about presentation and the environment its placed in. For example, something good may be projected but if the environment isn't supportive of the essence in what is being displayed, the content of work, looses an important quality and aesthetic. I think the experience i had was interesting and important, because in this culture today, we are so used to knowing what a show or movie is about before even visually seeing it we may bring pre-judgements or ideas, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but sometimes being thrown into a story or narrative in the mist of it all, activates other tools within ourselves. Without much insight on Broodthaers history, i just had to use my own senses to interpret what i saw and take as much of it as i could, and even use what i saw as inspiration for myself. I went on to another part of the exhibit where there were about four projectors that you individually turn on and the film projected on the wall. The first one i saw was clips of maps, followed by dates, followed by words, then followed again by close up shots of maps and other shots. I was trying to understand maybe the dates correlate to the locations on the map that were being shown, then words would follow such as mystery, death, shark, cook, knife.... I then began to think when the clip of the map was shown again right after those last three words( shark, cook, knife) that maybe Broodthaers found some really good shark in that region of the world, but then thought no there has to be something more behind all of this... I then went to another projector and started that film, which was different content, there were mechanical structures which it appeared like tools and shelves, that over a period of time became clearer and clearer as the shot was really beautifully done to gradually form the object. Unfortunately the show was ending, but i really enjoyed the experience. As i left the gallery, i felt like i was thrown into another world when walking  back amongst the busy streets of nyc. It felt like while being in the gallery, was another world, very surreal like. Now when im recalling the feeling of being in the gallery, it didn't even feel like i was in Ny anymore or the U.S for that matter, i guess because of the content of Broodthaers films which projected maps and imagery not seen everyday in the nyc lifestyle. I just thought the aura and sensuality that film can bring upon us, just by environment and how we relate to it visually and with our senses is really amazing. It takes us out of the context which we are really in, and when a film or visual is strong enough to make us forget where we really are, i think it has accomplished something whether or not we understand what really happened or not. There are so many levels to film and video that its like diving in the depths of understanding, and Broodthaers work is one of those depths, i'd like to understand and hopefully visit his work again.