Beny Wagner

"Constant" is a journey through the social and political histories of measurement. For most of recorded history, the human body was the measure of all things. “Constant” asks what led measurement to depart from the body and become a science unto itself. The film explores three shifts in the history of measurement standardization, from the land surveying that drove Early Modern European land privatization, to the French Revolution that drove the Metric Revolution, to the conceptual dematerialisation of measurement in the contemporary era of Big Science. Each chapter traces the relationship of measurement standardization to ideas of egalitarianism, agency, justice, and power. Cinematic and technical images that begin as products of measurement systems are stretched beyond their functions to describe the resistance of lived experience to symbolic abstractions.

"Constant" is a journey through the social and political histories of measurement. For most of recorded history, the human body was the measure of all things. “Constant” asks what led measurement to depart from the body and become a science unto itself. The film explores three shifts in the history of measurement standardization, from the land surveying that drove Early Modern European land privatization, to the French Revolution that drove the Metric Revolution, to the conceptual dematerialisation of measurement in the contemporary era of Big Science. Each chapter traces the relationship of measurement standardization to ideas of egalitarianism, agency, justice, and power. Cinematic and technical images that begin as products of measurement systems are stretched beyond their functions to describe the resistance of lived experience to symbolic abstractions.

"Constant" is a journey through the social and political histories of measurement. For most of recorded history, the human body was the measure of all things. “Constant” asks what led measurement to depart from the body and become a science unto itself. The film explores three shifts in the history of measurement standardization, from the land surveying that drove Early Modern European land privatization, to the French Revolution that drove the Metric Revolution, to the conceptual dematerialisation of measurement in the contemporary era of Big Science. Each chapter traces the relationship of measurement standardization to ideas of egalitarianism, agency, justice, and power. Cinematic and technical images that begin as products of measurement systems are stretched beyond their functions to describe the resistance of lived experience to symbolic abstractions.

"Constant" is a journey through the social and political histories of measurement. For most of recorded history, the human body was the measure of all things. “Constant” asks what led measurement to depart from the body and become a science unto itself. The film explores three shifts in the history of measurement standardization, from the land surveying that drove Early Modern European land privatization, to the French Revolution that drove the Metric Revolution, to the conceptual dematerialisation of measurement in the contemporary era of Big Science. Each chapter traces the relationship of measurement standardization to ideas of egalitarianism, agency, justice, and power. Cinematic and technical images that begin as products of measurement systems are stretched beyond their functions to describe the resistance of lived experience to symbolic abstractions.

Художественный дуэт Саши Литвинцевой и Бени Вагнера пытается представить себе взгляд естествоиспытателя начала Нового времени. В те времена ученые составляли каталоги монстров, а визуальная аналогия считалась адекватным методом научного изыскания. Авторы применяют эту необычную для современности идею к самому жанру фильма-эссе: его синтаксис в их исполнении выстраивается из образов, а не слов.

Художественный дуэт Саши Литвинцевой и Бени Вагнера пытается представить себе взгляд естествоиспытателя начала Нового времени. В те времена ученые составляли каталоги монстров, а визуальная аналогия считалась адекватным методом научного изыскания. Авторы применяют эту необычную для современности идею к самому жанру фильма-эссе: его синтаксис в их исполнении выстраивается из образов, а не слов.

Художественный дуэт Саши Литвинцевой и Бени Вагнера пытается представить себе взгляд естествоиспытателя начала Нового времени. В те времена ученые составляли каталоги монстров, а визуальная аналогия считалась адекватным методом научного изыскания. Авторы применяют эту необычную для современности идею к самому жанру фильма-эссе: его синтаксис в их исполнении выстраивается из образов, а не слов.

Художественный дуэт Саши Литвинцевой и Бени Вагнера пытается представить себе взгляд естествоиспытателя начала Нового времени. В те времена ученые составляли каталоги монстров, а визуальная аналогия считалась адекватным методом научного изыскания. Авторы применяют эту необычную для современности идею к самому жанру фильма-эссе: его синтаксис в их исполнении выстраивается из образов, а не слов.

The home is both an internal idea or state of mind, as it is a physical space with hard boundaries. obviously this is a girl’s apartment touches on questions regarding contemporary transformations of the home, and the gap between this perceived space and its physical realities. The private spaces contained within the walls of the home set the stage for the owner as human, a politicized entity with defined boundaries. The video shows a newly developed landscape in which ownership has become uncertain, consequently questioning the stability of identity (of gender or nationality) formed within the precarious boundaries of the home.

The home is both an internal idea or state of mind, as it is a physical space with hard boundaries. obviously this is a girl’s apartment touches on questions regarding contemporary transformations of the home, and the gap between this perceived space and its physical realities. The private spaces contained within the walls of the home set the stage for the owner as human, a politicized entity with defined boundaries. The video shows a newly developed landscape in which ownership has become uncertain, consequently questioning the stability of identity (of gender or nationality) formed within the precarious boundaries of the home.

The home is both an internal idea or state of mind, as it is a physical space with hard boundaries. obviously this is a girl’s apartment touches on questions regarding contemporary transformations of the home, and the gap between this perceived space and its physical realities. The private spaces contained within the walls of the home set the stage for the owner as human, a politicized entity with defined boundaries. The video shows a newly developed landscape in which ownership has become uncertain, consequently questioning the stability of identity (of gender or nationality) formed within the precarious boundaries of the home.

The home is both an internal idea or state of mind, as it is a physical space with hard boundaries. obviously this is a girl’s apartment touches on questions regarding contemporary transformations of the home, and the gap between this perceived space and its physical realities. The private spaces contained within the walls of the home set the stage for the owner as human, a politicized entity with defined boundaries. The video shows a newly developed landscape in which ownership has become uncertain, consequently questioning the stability of identity (of gender or nationality) formed within the precarious boundaries of the home.

short film by Beny Wagner