I Am a Rock

2024; HD-video, 16:9: stereophonic audio; 03:55
By Teta TsybulnykMusic: Max Rakonto (based on “I Am a Rock” by Simon & Garfunkel)Color: Elias
Shot in Kärdla, Hiiumaa island, Estonia in November 2023with care and companionship of KORDONair, Ingel Vaikla, Tüüne-Kristin Vaikla, Urmo Vaikla, Ann Mirjam Vaikla, Rasmus Jensen, Jaan Tootsen
“We must admit between the figure and the text a whole series of intersections—or rather attacks launched by one against the other, arrows shot at the enemy target, enterprises of subversion and destruction, lance blows and wounds, a battle.” —Michel Foucault, “This Is Not a Pipe”
In the speechless wilderness, a rock is a rock is a rock. In the human realm of language, a rock can be many things — say, a meteorite. We drag it into the symbolic order to represent something different from itself. A rock then acquires a discourse — it can speak, signify, oscillate between meanings. There is a model of the Kärdla crater with a rock in the middle — or perhaps two rocks: one identical to itself, the other one elevated to the status of a meteorite. In a playful homage to Magritte and Simon & Garfunkel, the film explores the paradoxical relationship between nature, representation and language.
Public screenings:01.08.2024 within a retrospective at the third KORDON Art Film Festival (KOFF) in Kärdla, Hiiumaa island, Estonia