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2009, 3 parts varying frin still images to 58 minutes digital video
The television program Lost woefully manhandled American audiences for nine seasons before delving into a theoretical abyss of its own creation. Each season, following the show's overall reception, flaccidly limped through the central segments only to be re-stimulated in the anti-climatic conclusion void of much-needed closure. The narrative repetitiously escapes into the beguiling underbrush of the series' own ratings. And yet, to cling to traditional narrative comparison would be a disservice to show as well as afford no explanation for its unmitigated popularity.
As a hermeneutic aid to viewers, each episode begins with a summary of points from previous episodes on which the writers felt compelled to expound. These were the beginning of structural inquiry. The first step, Lost (Time One) excerpted these summaries and aligned them to create a portrait not of the series' overall storyline, but instead the roving focus that exponentially complicates itself with each iteration. In this light, the summaries lack summation. Instead, they stretch further into the past while failing to organize fixes to the titanic endeavor. Less and less is able to occur or even make coherent stories. The resulting linear video is an ad hoc to an ad hoc device.
Lost (Time Two) vertically abridges (Time One) by using each excerpted summary to create an alpha-channel vale in which all play simultaneously. No single clip is given entire heirarchic priority, instead shuffling until the longest clip remains. A final plea that may as well be the voice of an interpreter is heard. Images, sounds, and structure overlap making a democratic forum from unexpecting parts.
Finally, in Lost (Time Three) still images are mechanically taken from the overlapping footage of (Time Two) and given titles of their birthdate and time.
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