0,0116 RPM

0,0116 RPM (Revolution Per Minute) is a sound and video installation that sets a humorous stage for the urban landscape of Mulhouse, transforming it into a double turntable. When I saw the turning view of the cityscape and countryside from within the round panoramic restaurant Tour de L’Europe, I immediately pictured myself sitting at the center of a gigantic turntable while an imaginary DJ scratches a huge LP whose circumference is the horizon. To evoke two enormous turntables, I recorded images from two viewpoints : one trained on the city center and a wider shot framing the suburbs and surrounding countryside. These two circular pans of the city constitute the raw material of this installation. The restaurant completes one rotation on an average of 86 minutes, which equals 0.0116 revolutions per minute when expressed in the standard phonographic unit of frequency. For my project, I significantly accelerated the rotation to bring out the recording’s rhythmic and accidental phenomena, which are barely perceptible at regular speed. In the foreground of the videos, the regular passing of the window frames and three fire escape stairs interrupt the continuous turning movement and form a rhythm. Gradually they constitute the cadence of the very peculiar music produced by this colossal carousel, while the untimely jumps and skips of a turntable’s mechanism call up the crackling sound of an old, scratched-up record.