This new short film, titled The Supremacy of Mathematical Dreaming, by film director Julie Weber takes its departure from the live outdoor work, Night Shift by artist Liliane Puthod, at IMMA. Connecting both Weber and Puthod’s interest in circadian rhythms, the film explores how the experience of environments becomes heightened and strange at night, under a combined cloak of darkness and exhaustion.
Weaving elements from Puthod’s research into the uncanny experience of a night-guard worker at IMMA, inspired by a 19th century drawing, Weber captures a surreal and absurd journey traced through the museum grounds. By constructing a familiar, yet non-linear pilgrimage, the film evokes dream-like sensations through abrupt teleportations and pareidolic visuals.
Weber responds to Jean Epstein’s theory of rhythm, whereby a film work epitomises new types of movements and rhythmic behaviours as a reaction against everyday ever-changing modernisations. In this way, The Supremacy of Mathematical Dreaming examines the development of our now 24- hour days and evolved nocturnal communities – both in physical form and beyond.
The Supremacy of Mathematical Dreaming (2023) was commissioned by IMMA as part of IMMA Nights 2022–2023.
Night Shift (2022) by artist Liliane Puthod was commissioned by IMMA for Culture Night 2022 as part of A Radical Plot Residency.