Thomas Struth

February 4-May 18, 2003
Times Square
Photo © 2003 Thomas Struth

In conjunction with his first major retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Thomas Struth’s Video Portraits aired as part of Creative Time’s video series known as The 59th Minute. In its American debut, Video Portraits showcased carefully selected subjects–an art dealer, an architect, a student, and Struth’s godson–gazing calmly at the camera, and, by extension, at us. Struth’s subjects endure the scrutiny of the camera for an entire hour, steady and unmoving except for the occasional blink of an eye. After their initial self-consciousness passes, Struth’s subjects sink into a fascinating meditative state, gradually revealing barely perceptible changes in mood and emotion evidenced through shifting eyes or even a stifled yawn. By subtly balancing distance and intimacy with the camera’s perspective, the videos reduced the entire vocabulary of art to its simplest premise–to look, to see, and to self-reflect–inviting the audience’s discernment, receptivity, and calm consideration.

For the Times Square venue, Struth appropriately selected the final, 59th minute of each portrait to calmly hover over the endless movement of the mediapolis.

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