so real, so very nowso real, so very now

An open call was preceded by a workshop with students of Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam in order the investigate the nature of the real and now and set perimeters for the series. The workshop concluded with an artists' statement

"Perceptual reality is not objective since it is already framed (by the very act of looking), but it is also not subjective as it is not yet categorised (no meaning has been attached to it yet). It is more like a sort of state than actual reality. This state we will call 'pure perception', which is thus inherently open for interpretation. It coincides with the medium.

In art making, to stay in the realm of 'pure perception' means the work of art, for the viewer, should be as open for interpretation as possible.

The artist should stay within this ambiguous zone which you cannot fully grasp, since it is here where we seem to connect with or relate to the world as unknown given. (Regardless if this reality actually exists in the world or 'in the mind').

The camera, here understood as 'looking machine', is ideally suited for working in this realm of the 'pure perception'.

This is because the 'machine reality' is neither the reality before interpretation (the camera reality is already framed and transformation has already started), nor is there interpretation since the camera is not conscious, it is not a subject, it has no brain.

The artist working with photography and film who aims to work in the realm of 'pure perception' should 'go with' the output of the camera (working in a level of concentration where thought is virtually absent). And subsequently present it intuitively (abstain from attaching meaning, so far this is actually possible) in such a way that the final work is true to the realm of 'pure perception'.

The final work should be as open for interpretation as possible and perhaps even more importantly, it should almost magically incite the viewer to find new meaning the more he looks. (To look, to look again, to look anew)."

Misha de Ridder is a visual artist working mainly with photography and video, based in Amsterdam.

Misha de Ridder, Jette Kelholt, Sophie van den Berg, Cristina Planas, Tycho Hupperets, Luna Deckers, Marie Diamant, Jiyan Düyü, Alex Harris, Andrea Bordoli, Josh Lee, Heleen Mineur, and Tobias Niemeyer.

The One Minutes Foundation produces and distributes one-minute videos from an artistic point of view, offering an international stage for people to create, engage and connect. The One Minutes is active at the forefront of international contemporary art, as well as in education and welfare. It has exhibited at Power Station of Art (China), the National Gallery in Reykjavík (Iceland) and Whitney Museum of American Art in New York (USA), among other venues. Every two months, The One Minutes Foundation puts out a new series of 60-second films that investigate how we perceive and engage with the moving image. Museums and cultural organisations around the world subscribe to the series. Send in your videos and participate in the project!