Perfect Stranger
A look at Dara Friedman's video work at PAMM
Currently on view at the Pérez Art Museum Miami is the first mid-career survey of the video artist Dara Friedman. Entitled Perfect Stranger and organized by PAMM’s René Morales, the mere sixteen works on display are remarkable in their breadth and power.
Now living in Miami, Florida herself, Friedman (who lived and trained in Germany) seems to embody an updated version of nineteenth-century Romanticism. The viewer notices that the artist uses highly technical editing and camerawork for surprisingly emotional and overwhelming results. Looping tracks of sound clash and camera angles swivel or are turned upside down. Repetitive motions or boring scripts (like slamming a door in 1999’s Bim Bam or a couple asking each other the same questions in Sunset Island from 2005) are layered or out of sync with their audio tracks. Moments of extreme contemplation suddenly butt up against of even more extreme chaos through the simple cutting and splicing of film and audio.
This effect of editorial magic is enhanced by the design and installation of the exhibition. The first room combines most of Friedman’s early work in a single space, which only increases the sense of volatility and turmoil in the films. The second space leads you to various rooms that are dark, soundproofed, and completely private. While it is the opposite approach of the first half of the show, the power here comes from the environmental control that focuses a viewer’s senses. As a work of curation by Morales and Friedman, this is a very successful and impressive approach for these films and videos.
On view until March 4th, Perfect Stranger is simultaneously disturbing and hypnotic. It is certainly worth seeing in person. However, in case you’re not in Florida, we have included Friedman’s acclaimed 2011 work Dancer above, which is an ode to the people and the city of Miami.
