1+1; 21
This work takes the title from Jean-Luc Godard deconstructed film One plus one (1968), also known as Sympathy for the devil, about the 60’s revolutions, rock and roll, and the Black Liberation movement. In Cambre’s video, a black man with braids aggressively performs concentrated Kung- Fu movements which are edited to synch with the distorted repetitive notes of a bass player, while two women seem to mysteriously loom towards them. Through edited jump cuts of images and sound, moments of stillness and silence uncannily coexist with instances of concentrated intensity and anticipation. The video explores within a bare and minimal approach the seductive power of the camera as register/mediator while appropriating the persuasive mechanisms of three cinematic genres, the black kung fu flick, the rock video and the thriller.