Salt Creek (1998)

With Salt Creek, Seoungho Cho turns his hypnotic camera eye on the harsh terrain of Death Valley. Through a series of delicate formal manipulations, he folds representations of a coldly beautiful landscape into images of seething video static, water sluicing out of a tap, and a surveillance view from one office tower into another. Stephen Vitiello's score echoes the image track in describing a gradual arc of inhospitable elegance, rhythmic grace, and decay.