Promises: Through Congress

I loved Promises: Through Congress. Technically, Trevor Tweeten’s film is nothing more than a meditative zoom-out from the centre of Julie Mehretu’s Congress, soundtracked by Floating Points’ Promises. And yet, it’s so rewarding — the pleasure of listening to a painting for 46 minutes.

There is logic to this pairing. Sam Shepherd would refer to Congress when composing Promises, and the works now appear to explain each other.

I wanted to perpetuate this idea of being centred in the middle of the painting with its details swirling around you, and this film is an extrapolation of that idea, of being in the middle of this perfect storm which only slowly reveals itself.

The shot pulls out from an extreme closeup of ink marks that give visual form to the music’s repeating seven-note motif. Later, the appearance of the white trapezoid is timed to meet a climactic orchestral crescendo.

I appreciate this makes no sense unless you’re invested in the work, but I wanted to make a note because I love everything about it.

• music
• art
• film & tv
• floating points