Het Grote Geheugen (The Big Memory), 2008

35 mm film loop, aspect ratio 4:3, colour, 0’22”
projector, loop system
approx. 300 x 400 cm
edition 3 + 1 AP
added: ProRes 422 HQ, aspect ratio 16:9

Note / For the International Sculpture Exhibition Sonsbeek ’08, Van Warmerdam made a film of an eye that has developed over thousands of years, from the woolly mammoth to the contemporary elephant. By filming an omniscient eye, she creates an ode to seeing. MvW: ‘I heard recently that scientific study has shown that three quarters of the brain is reserved for seeing. I don’t know what the further implications of that are, but I do know that I also experience it as such.’

Het Grote Geheugen – sculptuur (The Big Memory – sculpture), 2008

sculpture for digital film loop
concrete, iron, wood, polyester, 52 inch LCD screen
270 x 160 x 420 cm

Note / Van Warmerdam wished to extend the cautious blinking of an elephant’s eye, which must have already witnessed so much throughout evolution, towards the present day by placing the film in a sculpture with an elongated roof.

Het Grote Geheugen – doek (The Big Memory – cloth), 2008
painted elephant cloth : digital print, paint on fabric
151 x 332 cm

Note / This elephant in the procession on the opening day of the Sonsbeek exhibition helped draw the public’s attention to the film sculpture Het grote geheugen in Sonsbeek Park. The cloth on the animal’s back shows a film still, which, in the context of the procession through the city of Arnhem, was intended mainly as a promotional element.