Previous State

Previous State, included in the series Trinomials of the Form, proposes a dialogue between two historical pieces from the Archive 94-20 and a contemporary short piece produced by the Observatory. This triple relationship functions as a node of recontextualisation and reconsideration: it seeks to recover meanings preserved in one of the project’s archives, bring them into play from the present and open them up to new interpretations, while also stimulating the Observatory’s current production and reinforcing its dimension as an authorial project.

Previous State develops from three derivations at different degrees of subjectivity that explore the state prior to difference, that instant in which separation has not yet been consolidated and, therefore, proves superfluous. This starting point is located in a subtle, blurred zone, where disorientation intertwines with otherness, and where experience becomes confused with unconditional exposure: the risk of what is not yet identified turns into a condition of possibility, an open horizon of discovery.

The session unfolds through temporal sequences that traverse a wide spectrum of materialities: from low-resolution analog to post-contemporary imaginaries. 

Previous State contextualises the intimate relationship between the medium that contains and delimits confessions, exposures, and inconsistencies of poetic reveries, and the dissolution of those same values in a no man’s land still devoid of clear denominators.

Previous State describes a space between times, a suspended passage between the known past and the indeterminate future, crossed by the unforeseen.


Ave Maria, 7 min, Ho Tam, 2000

An exploration articulated around choral music recorded during the worship of the Virgin of Montserrat. An approach to the universal meaning of maternal love. Filmed entirely in the New York City subway during the 1990s, this video piece presents itself as a visual metaphor for the passages one travels through in a world in constant change.

In the apparent reflections of unknown windows, simple gestures of closeness can be sensed: intimacies taken for granted, unnoticed in the rush. Unaccented normalities, proximities that at first glance say nothing, suddenly reveal the path toward a no man’s land where the singular dissolves among appearances.


Carlos Nader, 17 min, Carlos Nader, 1998

I have a secret that is my intimate secret. It is the greatest secret of my life. I have never told anyone, and I want to tell it now, in front of this camera, in this empty room. I’m going to tell it now, and if one day I am brave enough, I will show this videotape to someone.

In the nondescript room, framed by a casual composition, the confession is suddenly interrupted: the microphone turns off and the sound disappears. Anonymous figures hide among low-resolution shadows, shifting the passage of words toward descriptions of what lies behind appearances. The sense of the device that records moving images – of immediate, almost instantaneous character – contrasts with the depth of the play of masks: some self-imposed, others the unexpected result of inner echoes or of voices whispering between doubt and the desire for revelation.


Previous State, 10 min, Unidentified Video Observatory, 2026

A slow and sublime sequence composed of images sourced from the internet of anonymous and unknown people who come to life through gentle movements and expressions of clarity and serenity. In apparent gestures of repetition and anticipated reflections, it seeks to build a reconciling and unifying atmosphere, where self-imposed distinctions or personal attachments fade away. The intimacy of an instant merges into the unfolding of adventures devoid of a user manual.

Activity curated by Observatori de Vídeo No Identificat - Desorg punt Org