OLYMPICS FRAGMENTS

of SANBORN John, FITZGERALD Kit

UNITED STATES, 1980, 00:10:35

Production : The National Fine Arts Committee of the 1980 Olympic Winter Games
Genre : Video art
Keyword : Sport, Homage, Movement

Summary :
Commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York, Olympic Fragments is a taut, expressive reinterpretation of athletic movement, a tour-de-force of dynamic editing and post-production techniques. Through sophisticated visual and aural juxtapositions, Fitzgerald and Sanborn isolate the gestures and movements of athletes in a controlled, powerful display. Eschewing the "thrill of victory" tradition of broadcast television sports coverage, they allow a portrait of individual skill and grace under pressure to emerge from their manipulation of highly fragmented and choreographed imagery — what they term the "skill, beauty and sheer joy of kineticism."

 

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