Kiran Subbaiah

Flight Rehearsals

Flight Rehearsals by Kiran Subbaiah focuses on Subbaiah’s desire to fly as a means to highlight the relationship between human ambition and limitations of the physical world. The video presents philosophical explorations of the human desire to defy gravity and time. The minimalist set of a table highlights the intention and persistence of the protagonist rather than technological innovation. The video manipulates the camera angle to distort the appearance of space so that Subbaiah’s repeated attempts at beating gravity can achieve momentary flights. As the flight attempts move into the bedroom, what first appears to be a close up of an alarm clock turns out to be an oversized ringing alarm clock further back to create a distortion of space through manipulations in scale. Such effects highlight both the proximity and distance between apparent success and distorted perception.