Last (1999)

First/Last was based on reciting the first and last lines of 36 novels. This methodical reading was accompanied by a video of unrelated images, an improvising musician, and a page-turner who moved in slow motion. The result was unpredictable encounter of text, image, sound, and movement. Each element operated within its own tight constraints, so that their juxtaposition was never chaotic but endlessly opening to transforming interpretations of their details. Though the order of text and video images are fixed, the incorporation of improvised music and gesture insured the work's fluidity.

"The possibility for interpretation lies in the chance encounter of not only the first sentence with the last sentence of a given book, but of unrelated images to text. By presenting the written word, as private image-carrier, to the moving image, as potential material for description, the worlds of literature and image find a new setting place." SB