Trip to the Barbican-Shall I This Time Hold You? Sophie Clements

"Shall I This Time Hold You? documents the split second after a dramatic moment of change – a series of gun powder explosions are frozen in time using state-of-the-art bullet time photography, producing seemingly tangible impossible objects. These ‘objects’ are displayed as a series of large scale video projections across a five metre screen, and are accompanied by a multi-channel score by Jo Wills and Sophie Clements, constructed from audio recorded during the shoot. The title of the piece is taken from the dedication at the beginning of Goethe’s ‘Faust’, in which he speaks of memory and the futile yearning to return and hold onto that moment which is passed. Playing with notions of ephemerality and duration, the installation is both a celebration of the present moment and a wistful look at how people deal with change and the passing of time."

It was interesting to see this work as it dealt with a frozen moment in time in a two dimensional representation of a three dimensional event. what was odd was to have the soundtrack alongside this working with time on another level and the interaction of the public. I found it fascinating how many people just passed this work by without even looking and yet a child stopped to investigate - a moment of wonder..