REEL REAL DOUBLE TIME
16mm film (digitized), 3-channel film installation, 4-channel sound, 41', 2023

Reels of rehearsal, reels of failure, reels of play, reels of boredom. Ordered chronologically these reels seek for rhythms, repetition and chance. Reel Real Double Time results from two summers of hanging and skating. Against a backdrop of rumors about an imminent skate ban on the iconic theater square, the urban infrastructure is questioned through filming with a group of street skaters. Infrastructure is not only understood as the architecture and spatial arrangement of the city, but also as the temporal structures of urban life. Not just the benches, railings and concrete walls, but also the ‘ledges’ between time of use and time of meaning are played with. With the skaters, Ans Mertens seeks out the tension between chronos and kairos while filming.

With Logan Da Silva Ortiz, Tomas De Keulenaer, Abel Kleinblatt, Arthur Le Duc, Mauro Posson, Oan Van Haverbeke, Bilail Meeuws & many others

Sound Design Adriaan Severins
Colors & Image Postproduction Thijs Paijmans
Screens Hans Luyten & Smila Zinecker

Supported by the Flemish Government, the City of Antwerp, LUCA School of Arts & Het Bos